This is The Guardian.

Today, four months on for Maduro's abduction.

What next for Venezuela? The last time I flew out of Venezuela was right at the start of August 24 just after the disputed presidential election.

Tom Phillips is the Guardian's Latin America correspondent.

And it was a moment of real turmoil.

There was a huge wave of repression that was unfolding as Nicholas Maduro tried to silence any kind of dissent to his bogus claim to have won that election.

Thousands were thrown in prison, many were going underground and journalists were racing to get out of the country.

I flew out to Portugal, of all places,

on one of the last flights available. And we all flew out thinking, what on earth is coming next?

And then nearly two years later, when I come back, the reception could not have been more different.

Now, four months on from the dramatic abduction of Nicolas Maduro by US Special Forces, Tom has returned to the country.

Landed, stood in a very short queue, showed that my visa,

breezed through immigration, and couldn't quite believe that for the first time in years,

it had felt like I was entering a normal country.

After Maduro's capture, Donald Trump promised Venezuelans an end to tyranny and a bright new future.

But with Maduro's second-in-command, Dalton Rodriguez still in charge, American oil tycoons rushing in,

and no elections in sight, will Venezuelans get real change, or is it just an illusion?

Ordinary Venezuelans feel a sense of optimism.

But I think alongside this optimism, there is also real anxiety and trepidation about what comes next and it's striking how so many of the

interviews that I did whilst I was there and in tears tears of nervousness about

what comes next that they are not yet fully convinced that they've escaped.

From The Guardian, I'm Annie Kelly.

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