Groups of armed civilians known as colectivos have long been known to support the leftist Venezuelan government — often with violence — but it was unclear on Saturday what role the paramilitaries would take to support the ousted president.
In the early hours of Saturday, groups of armed men in civilian clothes had begun to appear on the streets in Caracas, but not in large numbers.
Several men in civilian clothes were seen just after daybreak guarding the Gen. Francisco de Miranda air base outside of Caracas when the airstrikes hit. The men did not allow photographers to work in the area.
Later, Venezuelan soldiers, who allowed photographs, guarded the post.
Two pickup trucks filled with men wearing vests and civilian clothes, carrying gas cans as well as long weapons and handguns, were seen unloading outside the Centro Ciudad Comercial Tamanaco, a shopping mall near the air base that had been hit hours earlier. And in Cumaná, Sucre, a state about 250 miles east of Caracas, one resident reported seeing a caravan of colectivo members drive by, which sowed fear in the community.
Experts said it was notable that the thousands of armed men dispersed throughout the country seemed to be keeping a relatively low profile. However, the colectivos are often used to repress protests, and very few Venezuelans left their homes in the wake of the airstrikes Saturday.
Government officials who are still in power are probably eager to show the Trump administration that they can maintain order, and do not want images of chaos in the streets, said Alejandro Velasco, a Latin America historian at New York University, who is Venezuelan. Their only bargaining chip to stay in power is the ability to keep the peace, he said.
“I have to imagine colectivos have been given the order to lay low,” Mr. Velasco said.
Venezuela has long used the armed civilians to fight back against protesters. They have been known to work alongside police or military forces with no consequences for the excessive or even fatal force often used.
Their precise numbers are impossible to ascertain, but there are at least thousands of them throughout the country, Mr. Velasco said. They are funded by the government and often maintain public-sector jobs, although their true missions are as enforcers.
When protesters hit the streets in large numbers last summer after the Maduro administration announced that it had won the elections — contrary to what poll watchers had tallied — colectivos were unleashed throughout the country to repress protesters.
They originated as pro-government community organizations that have long been a part of the landscape of leftist Venezuelan politics. Experts say the civilians are essentially state-sanctioned paramilitaries, often used to fight back against protests, whether by students, labor unions or others.
The groups date back to the early days of President Hugo Chávez, who conceived them as social organizations to advance his vision of a socialist revolution to transform Venezuela’s poor neighborhoods.
About 300 colectivo members gathered Saturday afternoon at a pro-government rally a few blocks from Miraflores, the presidential palace. Several speakers went up on a stage to denounce the attack.
By early afternoon, they had yet to come out in large numbers throughout the city — particularly since no Venezuelans were in the streets to support the U.S. attack.
President Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela has low approval ratings, and it was unlikely that he had enough support outside the colectivos to show force on the streets, as Mr. Chávez did when he was briefly ousted in 2002, according to a leading human rights activist who spoke anonymously to avoid reprisals.
On Saturday, the colectivos appeared to have been deployed only at the organized rallies that government supporters held in several locations, he said.
Frances Robles is a Times reporter covering Latin America and the Caribbean. She has reported on the region for more than 25 years.
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