Posted on 08/05/2018 9:25:49 PM PDT by robowombat
Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro dodged an apparent assassination attempt when drones armed with explosives detonated while he was delivering a speech, officials said.
Mr Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, looked up at the sky and winced on Saturday after hearing the sound of an explosion pierce the air.
He was giving a speech to hundreds of soldiers in Caracas which was being broadcast live on television when the incident occurred.
“This was an attempt to kill me,” the 55-year-old said later in an impassioned retelling of the events.
"Today they attempted to assassinate me." A uniformed official bleeds from the head following an incident during a speech by Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro. A uniformed official bleeds from the head following an incident during a speech by Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro. Credit: AP Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said the incident took place shortly after 5.30pm as Mr Maduro was celebrating the National Guard’s 81st anniversary.
The visibly shaken head of state said he saw a “flying device” that exploded before his eyes, and thought it might be a pyrotechnics display in honour of the event.
Within seconds, Mr Maduro said he heard a second explosion and pandemonium ensued.
Bodyguards escorted the Venezuelan leader out of the event and television footage showed uniformed soldiers standing in formation quickly scattering from the scene.
Venezuela’s Bolivarian National guards officers occupy the Bolivar Avenue. Credit: AP Venezuela's government accused “far right” activists working in coordination with detractors in the US and Colombia, including Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos, of responsibility for the apparent attack.
In the US, the national security adviser John Bolton told the Fox News Sunday programme he could "unequivocally" say there had been "no US government involvement in this at all".
Speculating on what had happened Mr Bolton said "it could be a lot of things from a pretext set up by the Maduro regime itself to something else."
A Colombian official with President Santos' office described Mr Maduro’s claims of Colombian involvement in the attack as baseless.
Venezuela’s government routinely accuses opposition activists of plotting to attack and overthrow Mr Maduro, a deeply unpopular leader who was recently elected to a new term in office in a vote decried by dozens of nations.
He has steadily moved to concentrate power as the nation reels from a crippling economic crisis.
A couple walks away from the venue where the government said that a drone armed with explosives detonated near Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro Credit: Fernando Llano/AP
In the midst of near-daily protests last year, a rogue police officer flew a stolen helicopter over the capital and launched grenades at several government buildings. Oscar Perez was later killed in a deadly gun battle after over six months on the run.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab said the attempted assassination targeted not only Mr Maduro, but rather the military’s entire high command on stage with the president.
Prosecutors have already launched their investigation and obtained critical details from the suspects in custody, said Mr Saab, adding that he would give more details on Monday.
“We are in the midst of a wave of civil war in Venezuela,” he said.
Firefighters at the scene of the blast disputed the government’s version of events.
Three local authorities said there had been a gas tank explosion inside an apartment near Mr Maduro’s speech where smoke could be seen streaming out of a window. They provided no further details on how they had reached that conclusion.
Adding to the confusion, a little known group calling itself Soldiers in T-shirts claimed responsibility, saying it planned to fly two drones loaded with explosives at the president, but government soldiers shot them down before reaching its target. Sorry, this content isn't available on your device. Whoever did this, he'll use it to further restrict liberty and purge the government and armed forces “We showed that they are vulnerable,” the group said in a tweet. “It was not successful today, but it is just a matter of time.”
David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America who has spent decades researching Venezuela, said the incident did not appear to be a staged attack by Mr Maduro’s government for political gain.
The “amateurish” attack prompted embarrassing images of Maduro cut off mid-sentence with droves of soldiers running away in fear, making the president appear vulnerable, Mr Smilde said.
“He will use it to concentrate power,” he said. “Whoever did this, he’ll use it to further restrict liberty and purge the government and armed forces.” Last updated Sun 5 Aug 2018
This was the lamest “assassination attempt” ever.
More like firecrackers or bottle rockets.
He probably thinks “The Fake-Coup” thing seemed to work for Erdogan in Turkey. He just got re-elected.
Mr. Maduro is just 56, he ought to consider this a warning.
He’s probably ripped off enough money from the Venezuelan treasury, he could live pretty comfortably in Spain.
If I were advising him, I tell him to seriously consider exile.
BS ... This “assassination attempt” is about as real as Hillary dodging sniper fire in Bosnia.
Exactly
If we wanted this guy or the mullahs gone
See ya
Ask taliban morons or ISIS shitheads
Blame Colombia? I can see him doing just that. Ultimately, it would end badly for them.
Second video shows Maduro looking upward after "drone" explodes. 53 second video.
Columbia can’t afford military grade hardware?
Let’s see, the people who hate him the most, the ones who desperately want him out of power, in defense of their homes, children, and very lives, are Venezuelans. They live right there, in Venezuela. They have the means, and the motive, the opportunity, and the justification. Yet he blames Columbia, and the U.S.? There will be a crackdown, but it won’t be on the U.S. or Colombians. The Maduro regime can count its existence in days, I would say.
This just keeps getting more interesting.
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This is a classic display of how Communist false flags are used to rally sympathy and justify a sledge hammer approach to knock down and lock up of all dissidents.
Venezuela’s Reichstag Fire.
AHA! A crack in the wall! No one blamed Trump or the Russians.
Uh oh.
The plan is to distract the populace by staging a Wag the Dog war with Colombia.
Big mistake, Muchacho. Trump will back the Colombians with everything we’ve got.
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