Maduro vows justice after army base attack
Military, police searching for fighters who fled
VALENCIA, VENEZUELA • President Nicolas Maduro vowed that a band of antigovernment fighters who attacked a Venezuelan army base will get the “maximum penalty” as his administration roots out his enemies.
Troops killed two of the 20 intruders who slipped into the Paramacay base in the central city of Valencia early Sunday, apparently intent on fomenting a military uprising, Maduro said in his weekly television broadcast.
One of the invaders was injured, seven captured and 10 got away, the embattled leader said.
“We know where they are headed and all of our military and police force is deployed,” Maduro said. He said he would ask for “the maximum penalty for those who participated in this terrorist attack.”
The attack came as Venezuela’s controversial constitutional assembly is getting down to work, signalling in its initial decrees last week that delegates will target Maduro’s foes as he had warned.
The new assembly, whose powers supersede all other branches of government, voted to remove the nation’s outspoken chief prosecutor Saturday. On Sunday, Maduro announced that a new “truth commission” created by the assembly had been installed to impose justice on those fuelling the unrest that has wracked the country since early April.
The constitutional assembly is expected to meet again Tuesday, while lawmakers in the opposition-controlled National Assembly scheduled their own session for Monday, vowing to continue fulfilling their responsibilities no matter what the assembly might do. Leaders of opposition groups, which boycotted the July 30 assembly election, called for renewed protests on Monday, though turnout at demonstrations has been sparse in recent days.
Residents who live near the army base in Valencia attacked Sunday said they began hearing bursts of gunfire around 4:30 a.m.
A video showing more than a dozen men dressed in military fatigues, some carrying rifles, began circulating widely on social media around that time. In the recording, a man who identified himself as Capt. Juan Caguaripano said the men were members of the military who oppose Maduro’s socialist government and called on military units to declare themselves in open rebellion.
“This is not a coup d’état,” the man said. “This is a civic and military action to reestablish the constitutional order.”
Maduro said 20 men entered the base and managed to reach the weapons depot undetected, but then an alarm sounded alerting troops. He said 10 of the invaders fled, some carrying off arms, while those left behind exchanged gunfire with soldiers until about 8 a.m. before all were either killed or captured.