All eyes are on Venezuela this week, following the U.S. raid in Caracas that seized President Nicolás Maduro on Saturday.

The South American leader and his wife, Cilia Flores, have a lengthy trial ahead after pleading not guilty to “narco-terrorism conspiracy” charges; their next court appearance is scheduled for March 17. In Maduro’s stead, Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodriguez has been sworn in as the country’s acting president; on Thursday the government announced that it would begin to release political prisoners held during Maduro’s tenure.

Originating in Caracas, the Grammy-winning band Rawayana first formed in 2007, during an era of political and economic upheaval under Maduro’s predecessor, the late President Hugo Chavez. Now, as the future of Venezuela and its 30 million citizens is clouded in uncertainty, the timing of the band’s latest release feels strangely fated.

On Jan. 1, the band dropped its patriotic sixth studio album, “¿Dónde Es El After?” — which features an all-star cast of fellow countrypeople, such as Elena Rose, Servando & Florentino, Mazzarri and Joaquina.

Conceptually, the new LP is rooted in Rawayana’s vision of Venezuela as a dreamlike space filled with joy, poetry and memory — as opposed to the concrete dystopia that foreigners have pieced together from foreboding headlines in international media.

“After so many years running toward the future, I understood that the real after isn’t ahead or behind: it’s here, in the present, in the instant where music, body and consciousness meet,” said Beto Montenegro, Rawayana’s lead vocalist, in a statement.

“This album celebrates that now,” Montenegro added. “It leaves nostalgia behind to embrace the pleasure of existing, of creating, of feeling. It’s an invitation to look around and recognize ourselves. The after is no longer being sought. It’s being felt. And we’re all invited.”

Its opening track, “Si Te Pica Es Porque Eres Tú,” already seems to have riled up fans in the YouTube comments. Some quickly clocked the parallels in Rawayana’s lyrics to the events that occurred last week. “Un feliz año te desea Rawa, y que por fin los hijue — ya se vayan,” wrote one user. “ Rawa wishes you a happy new year, and may those sons of b— finally leave.”

This would not be the first time that Rawayana has evoked a strong public response from its music. In 2024, the group, along with featured artist Akapellah, received criticism from Maduro himself for the song “Veneka,” in which the artists sought to reclaim an otherwise derogatory term for Venezuelan people.

“The majority of us are the greatest. We are people who lead, everything beautiful that ‘Veneka’ expresses, and more than that!” said Montenegro in a 2025 Times interview. “They’re trying to misconstrue it, like they have with other realities, which I try to ignore.”

Rawayana’s “¿Dónde Es El After?” is indeed a political record, but not the sobering kind. Some songs, like the lovestruck bachata-EDM number “Playa Pantaleta,” or the flirty pop ballad “Como de Sol a Sol” with Grupo Frontera and Carín León, make for an upbeat after-party. Rawayana sustains its signature tropical-funk levity well throughout the record, tapping into the vibrant history of Caribbean music.

Yet one captivating political element presents itself on the album cover, which highlights the phone number +1 (414) 261-2692. When dialed, one is directed to a 1996 interview of Arturo Uslar Pietri, a Venezuelan intellectual, historian and politician long heralded as the nation’s conscience.

In the voice memo, which appears to be an audio clip shared by the Uslar Pietri foundation, the late scholar critiques Venezuela’s dependency on oil — which has been a focal point for President Donald Trump, who has recently asserted U.S. control of Venezuelan reserves.

“We don’t know how to put our house in order because we have to undertake a gigantic task as great as independence itself,” said Uslar Pietri, “which is to reduce the oil state, that monster that devoured the country, and create a space for a nation to emerge, to become the nation we failed to create with abundance.

“Venezuela failed, the men who led Venezuela during the oil boom failed,” the voice of Uslar Pietri continued. “Venezuela should be the envy of Latin America.”

In a 1995 interview with The Times, the scholar summarized the history of Venezuela in nine words: “Columbus discovered it. Bolívar liberated it. Oil rotted it.”

Before his death in 2001, Uslar Pietri was a member of a civilian government that was overthrown by Venezuela’s military in 1945. He went into exile in New York City, where he continued writing and taught classes at Columbia University. Once Venezuela reestablished democracy in 1958, he returned to his homeland and unsuccessfully ran for president in 1968 under a small independent party. Uslar Pietri eventually distanced himself from the political realm in 1973 to turn his focus to writing.

In later years, Uslar Pietri grew wary of President Chavez — Maduro’s mentor — and regarded the left-wing Venezuelan leader as a authoritarian ruler, “a man with a messianic view of himself.”

Uslar Pietri is not the only prominent Venezuelan figure mentioned in the new Rawayana album. The entire track titled “El After Del After” is the recording of a 1973 speech by Renny Ottolina, a Venezuelan entertainer and broadcaster. He died mysteriously in a 1978 plane crash, while campaigning for presidency under his own political party.

“It’s utter foolishness to hold onto resentment in your heart because space is space, and if it’s filled with resentment, there’s no room in that space for love,” said Ottolina in the audio — a clip from the final episode of his program, “El Show de Renny.”

“No group has a monopoly on truth,” stated Ottolina. “When you choose one group, you easily lose the truth that other groups might possess.”

The ballad that follows is “Tonada por Ella,” which breaks into a traditional Venezuelan folk song, in the style of artist-composer Simón Díaz’s “Tonada de Luna Llena.” In the song, Rawywana’s Montenegro voices endless adoration for the country’s vast landscapes — desperate with hope for its renewal. The song was also composed by Servando Primera, son of Alí Primera, a prominent left-wing artist and political activist known for condemning exploitation and repression in his music.

Now that Venezuela has a chance at a new future, Rawayana’s album poses a pressing existential question, not just for Venezuelans, but for the whole international community to consider: When change comes, what can we do to move forward?

And ... where are the afters?

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