Maduro survives drone assassination attempt
Mystery rebel group claims responsibility
CARACAS: A drone attack caused pandemonium at a military ceremony where President Nicolas Maduro of Venezuela was speaking on Saturday, making the first lady flinch and sending National Guard troops scurrying in what administration officials called an assassination attempt.
The president, who was unharmed, later told the nation, “To all of our friends in the world, I am fine, I am alive.” He blamed right-wing elements and said, “The Bolivarian revolution keeps its path”.
Mr Maduro has presided over a spectacular economic collapse in Venezuela, where inflation is expected to reach 1 million percent later this year despite the country’s large oil reserves. Economists pin the blame on decades of mismanagement under Mr Maduro and his predecessor, Hugo Chavez.
The drone attack was the latest in a string of attempts in recent years to end the tenure of Mr Maduro, who was declared the victor of an election in May that carries his term until 2025. No previous assaults have been
as bold, though, and this appeared to have been the first assassination attempt on a head of state using drones.
It was an attack that seemed scripted for Hollywood: Low-flying drones exploding in midair. The president and first lady ducking for cover. Thousands of soldiers in a military parade suddenly fleeing in a stampede that was broadcast to the country, live.
Jorge Rodriguez, the communications minister, said the attackers had used “several flying devices, drones, that had explosives that detonated” near where the president was standing.
The attack came shortly after 5.30pm. during an event the government said was meant to celebrate the 81st anniversary of the country’s National Guard.
During the president’s speech, which was broadcast live on state television, the camera began to shake. Mr Maduro then looked into the air as his wife, Cilia Flores, flinched and reached for another official to brace herself.
The video feed was interrupted, but Mr Maduro could be heard continuing to talk as voices in the background yelled for people to flee.
The video feed then showed figures dressed in black breaking through a barrier from the sidelines of a wide street where hundreds of uniformed guardsmen were arrayed in formation. The figures in black run toward the guardsmen, who flee in panic.
The transmission then cut off. Mr Maduro immediately blamed neighbouring Colombia and unidentified “financiers” in the United States for being behind the blast, while some of his officials blamed Venezuela’s opposition
However, a mysterious rebel group made up of Venezuelan civilians and military claimed responsibility late on Saturday for the attempt on Mr Maduro’s life, according to a statement posted on social media.
Carlos Julio Rojas, an activist in Caracas, said he had just arrived to protest water shortages when he felt the first explosion.
“We thought it was a bolt of lightning, but with the second explosion we could see the wall vibrating,” he said. “We saw the soldiers running.”
“This is not the way out of the Venezuelan crisis,” said Nicmer Evans, a political scientist who has campaigned with the opposition. “No one wants the exit to be the death of someone to resolve this country’s situation.”
It was not the first time that the government, which has presided over years of food shortages and rules with an authoritarian fist, has suffered a attack in its capital.
In June 2017, Oscar Perez, a rogue police officer, commandeered a helicopter and used it in a brazen midday assault to drop grenades on the Supreme Court building and to fire on the Interior Ministry. Perez took to Instagram to call for others to join his cause and wage attacks against military bases, but he was killed by the government during an assault in January.
In another attack last year, a group of soldiers struck a military barracks west of Caracas. Like Perez, they released videos calling for others to join their cause, but no rebellion materialised.
And in 2016, Mr Maduro himself was attacked by a mob who chased him down the street banging pots and pans and screaming that they had no food.
Despite widespread discontent, Mr Maduro continues to hold power. His most popular rivals were banned from running in elections this spring.