A visual echo from the 1990s
In a “One Extraordinary Photo” essay, Associated Press photographer Matias Delacroix said that when he saw an armed woman riding on the back of a motorcycle, the image immediately reminded him of a well-known photograph from the 1990s by a Chilean photographer. Delacroix said the visual echo made him pause as he observed the scene decades later, in Caracas, “under very different circumstances.”
What he saw in Caracas after U.S. strikes
Delacroix said he was photographing the U.S. attack in Venezuela and its aftermath. In his account, the strikes ended with the capture of President Nicolás Maduro, and he described the period that followed as one in which “groups of pro-government civilians” took to the streets, some armed.
Where the picture was taken and how access was granted
Delacroix said he took the photo at a gas station guarded by armed civilians and police. He described motorcyclists arriving carrying weapons—“some were young, others much older”—and said they questioned who he was and what he was doing there.
He said he explained that he was an international news agency photographer covering the aftermath of the U.S. bombing, and that after that explanation, the group allowed him to continue working.
Delacroix said he had been working nonstop since the strikes. He wrote that after coordinating with the photo editor at dawn, he and the newsroom decided to expand coverage beyond Caracas to follow reports of damage at the port of La Guaira. He said he then moved by motorcycle to reach locations quickly and leave fast if the situation escalated.
Why he said the image “works”
Delacroix said the photo “condenses a tense moment into a single frame,” pointing to the elements he said drew attention in the image: armed civilians occupying public space, motorcycles as symbols of speed and control, and the woman carrying a weapon. He said the frame captured the way that “in the hours after the strikes, the line between civilian life and armed response blurred,” and that it conveyed instability and fear without the need for explanation.