Venezuela's Maduro object of 'attack', but fine: official

[mountaineer]

Here's a tweet from Reuters:

Reuters Venezuela Verified account @ReutersVzla

Drones loaded with explosives detonated close to a military event where Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was giving a speech on Saturday, but he and the rest of the government escaped unharmed in what Information Minister Rodriguez said was an "attack" against the  leader.

Reuters story:

Venezuela's Maduro object of 'attack', but fine: official
CARACAS (Reuters) - Drones loaded with explosives detonated close to a military event where Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro was giving a speech on Saturday, but he and the rest of the government escaped unharmed in what Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said was an “attack” against the leftist leader. Seven National Guard soldiers were injured, Rodriguez added.

LINK

That's all for now.
Video at this Spanish language news site

[mountaineer]

More, plus video, at BBC:

Venezuela President Maduro 'survives drone attack'
    3 minutes ago

Venezuelan officials say explosive drones went off as President Nicolás Maduro was giving a live televised speech in Caracas, but he is unharmed.

Communications Minister Jorge Rodriguez said this was an attempt on Mr Maduro's life, and seven soldiers were injured.

Mr Maduro was seen speaking at an outdoor military event when he and other officials suddenly looked upwards - startled. The audio then went.

Dozens of soldiers were seen running away before the broadcast was cut off.

Loud bangs could also be heard in the footage.  ...

Full story

[TomSea]

Thank you @mountaineer
Big story really.

@mountaineer again, Since I'm board moderator humbly speaking and I consider this a big story, I will give it a temporary sticky for now... if that is okay with the powers that be. Hope you get the message. This has me electrified somewhat and a number of news sources are largely out for the weekend.

[TomSea]

If anyone actually cares what the Venezuelan government says, "Telesur" is basically their State Sponsored Media, in English:

https://telesurtv.net/english/index.html

[berdie]

Where are Danny Glover and Sean Penn for cryin' out loud!!!

[DCPatriot]

Thank you @mountaineer
Big story really.

@mountaineer again, Since I'm board moderator humbly speaking and I consider this a big story, I will give it a temporary sticky for now... if that is okay with the powers that be. Hope you get the message. This has me electrified somewhat and a number of news sources are largely out for the weekend.

@TomSea

Think that's a great idea.

With people not being to eat...who could afford drones and have the balls to do it at a military parade?

Anwar Sadat...redux?

Or?  Was it a stage event in order for Maduro to call for Martial Law?

[TomSea]

@DCPatriot
That crossed my mind, staged event? Maybe. What in me says maybe not is that reportedly some soldiers were injured. So, we'll keep track of this.  And saying there are injuries could be propaganda too, come to think of it.

[mountaineer]

One has to wonder if things aren't about to boil over in Venezuela.  How much more will the masses tolerate?

[TomSea]

Turkey had their "Coup" 2 years ago, that looks pretty fake, Turkey wants that Cleric Gulen who lives in the USA. They can have him if they come up with convincing evidence, I guess they can't do that.

So,  this incident has some wondering as well:

The Latest: Expert says Maduro may use attack for purge
[Associated Press]
Associated Press•August 4, 2018

A Venezuela expert says it's likely President Nicolas Maduro will use a suspected assassination attempt to purge disloyal officials and further clamp down on liberties.

Authorities in Venezuelan said Saturday that drones loaded with explosives targeted Maduro speaking at a military celebration, but exploded before reaching the president.

David Smilde of the Washington Office on Latin America says the amateurish attack didn't appear to be staged by Maduro's government for political gain.

Continued at: https://www.yahoo.com/news/latest-venezuela-says-explosions-attack-maduro-232405083.html

[Suppressed]

Or?  Was it a stage event in order for Maduro to call for Martial Law?

BINGO!  (Or, at least using the event as an excuse...)

From CBSNews:

Earlier, frefighters at the scene disputed government's version of events.

[...]

Three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case say the incident was actually a gas tank explosion inside an apartment.

[Right_in_Virginia]

WATCH: Assassination Attempt Made On Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Reports Suggest
Daily Caller, Aug 4, 2018, Ryan Saavedra

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro survived an apparent assassination attempt on Saturday when several drones armed with explosives were detonated near the socialist leader in Caracas.

The assassination attempt was made while Maduro was speaking at an anniversary event for the nation's National Guard. ABC News reported that the explosions "near the presidential area and along the parade route occurred, Jorge Rodriguez, the Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information, said on Venezuelan state television."

"This was an attempt against the president," Rodriguez said. "They failed and will continue to fail. He is in perfect health and shape."

ABC News notes that Rodriguez signaled that approximately seven people sustained injuries from the blasts and are receiving treatment at a hospital.


More: https://www.dailywire.com/news/34051/watch-assassination-attempt-made-venezuelan-ryan-saavedra?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=idealmedia&utm_campaign=dailywire.com&utm_term=68707&utm_content=1

[Right_in_Virginia]

   Ask Merkel, we're busy.

'Trump needs to help me fight these terrorists': Venezuelan president survives a drone assassination attempt then claims ex-pats exiled in Florida colluded with Colombia to plot his murder
Daily Mail/UK, Aug 4, 2018

The President of Venezuela has called on Donald Trump to help him fight 'terrorist groups' after blaming an apparent assassination attempt using explosives-rigged drones on 'far-right' exiles from his poverty-stricken regime living in the US and Colombia.

Nicolas Maduro was addressing a military parade in Caracas on live TV this Saturday when he suddenly halted and looked to the sky after hearing an explosion. A terrified expression crossed his face before he and his wife Cilia Flores were swamped with aides carrying bulletproof shields. They both escaped uninjured.

The visibly shaken head of state said he saw a 'flying device' that exploded before his eyes but no drones appeared to be captured in footage of the incident.

'This was an attempt to kill me,' the 55-year-old said later in an impassioned retelling of the events, before promising a crackdown of his rivals as he vowed to bring down those responsible, 'no matter who falls'.

He added: 'They have tried to assassinate me and everything points to the Venezuelan ultra-right in alliance with the Colombian far right and that the name of [Columbian President] Juan Manuel Santos is behind this attack.'

Video showed hundreds of soldiers who were assembled in neat formation on a wide road scatter in all directions amid the sound of screaming. Microphones could be heard being dropped at the state channel that was filming the event, which quickly froze.

In a statement three hours later, Maduro said 'everything points' to a right-wing plot that early investigation suggested was linked to Colombia, its president Juan Manuel Santos, and the US state of Florida - where many Venezuelan exiles live. He said several plotters had been arrested, without giving any further details.


More:  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6027507/Venezuelan-President-Nicolas-Maduro-survives-alleged-drone-assassination-attempt.html

[Right_in_Virginia]

Foreign powers, or hoax: who's behind Venezuela 'drone attack'?
The Guardian/UK, Aug 5, 2018

Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, has survived an apparent and – if true – audacious assassination attempt when, according to official reports, drones loaded with explosives flew towards the president while he was speaking at a military parade in Caracas.

But many are now wondering: who could have been behind the attack?

Foreign powers
According to Maduro, the plot was concocted by an international cabal of rightwing schemers. He claimed the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, was “behind the attack”, supported by a network of plotters and financiers based in Florida, adding that a group of hired assassins had already been captured.

Maduro, whose country is in economic and political turmoil, with inflation predicted to reach 1m% this year, has long accused the international community of waging economic war on him. He regularly lambasts the US as “imperialist” and says it is out to destroy socialism while taking over Venezuela’s oil – of which it has the largest reserves in the world.

The opposition within Venezuela is also a regular target. Maduro claims it wants to undo the social reforms brought about by previous president Hugo Chávez, the charismatic revolutionary who died in 2013. Maduro has jailed and sidelined many opposition activists, regularly accusing them of plotting to overthrow him.

It is this conspiracy that Maduro claims will be unearthed in an ongoing investigation.


More:  https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/aug/05/foreign-powers-rebels-or-a-hoax-whos-behind-venezuela-drone-attack

[XenaLee]

If the SOB (Maduro) had any decency (fat chance) at all he would resign and let someone that is NOT a card-carrying commie crook (pardon redundancy) try to heal the damage done by himself and by Chavez.   

Venezuela used to be a thriving country with a healthy economy before the radical leftists took over  running and ruining it.  I was there in the 80's and it was on its way up as a nation, not down.  Perfect example of how socialism (communism w/a smiley face) doesn't work.... putting it mildly.

Message to Maduro from America:  Hold your breath for that help to come, ahole.  And don't call us...

we'll call you.  Honest.   

[TomSea]

Topics merged.

Please note stickied article at top of page of World News.

[XenaLee]

So.... was it a drone attack?  Or was it merely an apartment gas explosion?

From TOS:

However, firefighters near the scene are disputing the government's version of events. And three officials who spoke on condition of anonymity said the incident was actually a gas tank explosion inside an apartment.

[TomSea]

So.... was it a drone attack?  Or was it merely an apartment gas explosion?

From TOS:

You are correct to bring up such anomalies, what I wonder about is the reaction of the soldiers in parade and as to why President Maduro and others up on the podium appear to look at something up in the air. So, in this, we need more details as to what happened.

! No longer available

Why do soldiers at the back left react first? It's very noticeable.

[TomSea]

Per CNBC:

...A Venezuelan who was visiting family nearby told Reuters she heard two explosions.

...

A little-known group called the “National Movement of Soldiers in T-shirts” claimed responsibility for the attack. In a series of posts on social media, the group said it had planned to fly two drones but that snipers shot them down.

“We demonstrated that they are vulnerable. We didn’t have success today, but it’s just a question of time,” said the group, which says it was founded in 2014 to bring together all of Venezuela’s “groups of resistance.”

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/05/venezuelas-maduro-says-drone-blast-was-bid-to-kill-him-blames-colomb.html

[XenaLee]

You are correct to bring up such anomalies, what I wonder about is the reaction of the soldiers in parade and as to why President Maduro and others up on the podium appear to look at something up in the air. So, in this, we need more details as to what happened.

! No longer available

Good point. 

[Right_in_Virginia]

Venezuela: Always a bad sign when your military scatters and runs
American Thinker, Aug 5, 2018, Monica Showalter

As with everything else in socialist Venezuela, truth is experiencing some shortages.

So it's not all that clear whether the 'incident' that went down in Venezuela on Saturday afternoon, seen in this video here, was really an 'assassination attempt' on President Nicolas Maduro, from two drones carrying the moldable explosive known as C-4,  as the Venezuelan government claimed, or else the noise from a gas canister explosion from a nearby apartment building, as local firemen have alleged. (CBS had a pretty good report on that, along with a Getty photo, here.)

What's also not known is who did it. Was it an internal coup, or something Colombia did, as Maduro has just a little too quickly claimed, or was it the sheer shambles of socialism as the country falls apart across the board that led to the unscripted (or who knows, maybe scripted) explosion? Was it a combination of the two? Or, as Venezuelan Twitter dissidents have alleged, was it something the embattled Maduro set off himself, in a bid to win sympathy for himself along with an excuse to arrest dissidents?

But based on the pictures seen, here's one thing that isn't in confusion:

The military ran. It broke up like a mob of scared rabbits. They were the picture of chaos and disorder and it was all caught on camera. The whole grand parade Maduro was making a speech at the head of absolutely fell apart as the soldiers broke and fled in panic. It kind of looked like the Winter Palace scenes from the 1917 Russian revolution, except in tropical Technicolor. Here is a CNN screengrab from a VTV report (VTV is a coopted private Venezuelan network that has long been tamed by the regime), which can be viewed in full on Youtube.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A-OLJ1dor5E

! No longer available

The sorry specter of Venezuela's army falling into rapid disorder is the one takeaway that we know the Maduroites didn't want to get out. The other thing that doesn't do Maduro any good is the expressions of panic on his own and the first lady's faces from the pictures. Never helpful for a strongman to look so very weak. Here is a screengrab from CNN and you can see the whole report on Youtube here.


More:  https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2018/08/venezuela_always_a_bad_sign_when_your_military_scatters_and_runs.html

[thackney]

https://venezuelanalysis.com/news/13976

...Towards the end of the parade, various industrial DJIM600 drones --costing US $5000 each and more commonly used to carry cinematic cameras -- loaded with C4 explosives were shot down by snipers at 5.41pm, causing two explosions just metres away from the president, his wife, and the minister of defence. Maduro was addressing the nation on live television broadcast at the time.

Following the explosions, panicked crowds ran from the parade as the presidential bodyguards covered Maduro and his entourage before rushing them away from the scene.

Neither the president nor his entourage were injured in the attack, but it has been reported that seven members of the National Guard received emergency medical care for injuries, with three remaining in a serious condition. No fatalities have been reported....

- - - - - - - - - - -

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-no-us-government-involvement-in-drone-blast-in-venezuela-john/

Investigators continued searching the blackened apartment building near the speech site, and authorities said officers also raided six hotels, where some of the suspects were arrested and “film” evidence was collected. Officials gave no details.

Two witnesses who live in nearby apartment buildings said they saw a drone hovering over a residential street Saturday evening and then heard an explosion.

One witness showed The Associated Press cellphone video of a drone crashing into a building. He said the drone fell to the ground and exploded, igniting a fire in an apartment.

[kevindavis007]

You are correct to bring up such anomalies, what I wonder about is the reaction of the soldiers in parade and as to why President Maduro and others up on the podium appear to look at something up in the air. So, in this, we need more details as to what happened.

! No longer available

Why do soldiers at the back left react first? It's very noticeable.

1. It looks like it was staged. I don't think anyone against Maduro has the funds to spend $5,000 for a drone.
2. Not a good sign that your military runs away after the drone 'attack'

[mountaineer]

Even Jerry Rivers thinks it was fake:

Geraldo Rivera   Verified account @GeraldoRivera
12h12 hours ago

My old talk show aired in #Venezuela so we frequently visited & broadcast from the lovely vibrant proud prosperous country, w miraculous scenery from Angel Falls to Las Islas Margaritas So sad to see it reduced to begging by incompetent corrupt socialist hacks. Did #Maduro stage?

[Fishrrman]

My take:
The "coup" was fake.

There were no "drones", just a gas explosion in a nearby apartment.

Too bad that WE don't take him out with a real drone.
He'd be "done gone" by now....!

[thackney]

My take:
The "coup" was fake.

There were no "drones", just a gas explosion in a nearby apartment.
Hi
Too bad that WE don't take him out with a real drone.
He'd be "done gone" by now....!

There is video of at least one drone exploding.