Officers arrested after ‘uprising’
VENEZUELA has captured a group of military officers who stole weapons and kidnapped four officials, the government said in a statement yesterday, hours after the circulation of a social media video showing a sergeant demanding the removal of President Nicolas Maduro.
Protesters burned trash and a car outside the National Guard outpost where the officers were arrested, in a sign of growing tension following Maduro’s inauguration to a second term that governments around the world have called illegitimate.
Maduro was inaugurated on January 10 under an avalanche of criticism that his leadership was illegitimate, following an election last year that was widely viewed as fraudulent.
In the video on Twitter, a group of armed soldiers stood in darkness, while their apparent leader addressed the camera and called for Venezuelans to support their uprising.
“You all asked that we take to the streets to defend the constitution. Here we are. Here we have the troops, it’s today when the people come out to support us,” said the man, who identified himself as Luis Bandres.
He said he was speaking from a military outpost in the Caracas neighbourhood of Cotiza, where the government said the group of officers was arrested.
Security forces surrounded the outpost early yesterday morning. In response, several dozen residents barricaded streets and set fire to rubbish. Troops fired tear gas to disperse them.
The US and many Latin American nations say Maduro has become a dictator whose failed state-led policies have plunged Venezuela into its worst ever economic crisis, with inflation approaching 2000000%.