6 busted in plot vs. Venez prez
At least six people were arrested for allegedly plotting to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro using drones packed with explosives.
Interior Minister Néstor Luis Reverol on Sunday called the attempt on Maduro’s life a terrorist attack and said more people could be detained.
The South American leader was delivering an address to hundreds of soldiers Saturday when he and his wife, Cilia Flores, looked up at the sky and winced upon hearing the sound of two loud explosions.
Soldiers broke rank and ran in panic from the area as bodyguards moved to shield the president.
Nearby residents told The Associated Press they saw a drone crash into a building and explode blocks from where Maduro was speaking.
One witness recorded cellphone video of a drone hovering over a residential street two blocks away and then hitting a building, and said police arrested the operator.
Seven members of the Venezuelan National Guard were injured, three gravely, officials said.
Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López said the attackers were trying to eliminate the government’s entire top leadership, along with Maduro.
In an impassioned speech hours after the attempt on his life, Maduro blamed an international “far right” plot linked to people in Florida and Colombia, directly naming Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos.
“The preliminary investigation indicates that many of those responsible for the attack, the f inanciers and planners, live in the United States, in the state of Florida,” Maduro said.
He called on the Trump administration to “fight the terrorist groups that commit attacks in peaceful countries in our continent, in this case, Venezuela.”
National Security Adviser John Bolton told “Fox News Sunday” that he can state “unequivocally” that “there was no US government involvement in this at all.”
Colombian officials also denied having anything to do with the attack, telling Reuters the claim about Santos was “absurd.”
Venezuela’s government routinely accuses opposition activists of plotting to overthrow Maduro, a deeply unpopular leader in a nation crippled by an economic crisis and shortages of food and medicine.
“That drone came after me,” Maduro said.
“But there was a shield of love that always protects us. I’m sure I’ll live for many more years.”