Always Being Watched: Venezuelan Recalls Life Under Socialist Rule

From Caracas to Queensland: a Venezuelan asylum seeker reflects on freedom after Maduro’s capture.Sarah Machmud says Venezuelans had waited years for the U.S. to take action in her country.Courtesy of Sarah Machmud1/14/2026|Updated: 1/14/2026Sarah Machmud is a typical Queenslander—she has a passion for food, health and fitness and loves the summer sun—but deep down she longs to return to her home.The Venezuelan-Australian who arrived as an asylum seeker in 2016 remembers all too well the smothering sense of oppression she left behind in her home country, more than 15,000 kilometres away.Crystal-Rose Jones is a reporter based in Australia. She previously worked at News Corp for 16 years as a senior journalist and editor.Author’s Selected Articles