Venezuela Braces for Possible Crackdown After Apparent Drone Attack on Maduro
Venezuela Braces for Possible Crackdown After Apparent Drone Attack on Maduro
He’ll use the incident to radicalize; purge the military, strengthen his personal guard, and embellish the narrative about being under attack from the U.S. and Colombia and others in a bid for sympathy and support, says AS/COA's Eric Farnsworth on Maduro's potential reaction to Saturday's events.
CARACAS, Venezuela — The Venezuelan government made more arrests Sunday in connection with an apparent assassination attempt on President Nicolás Maduro, as the crisis-plagued South American nation braced for a possibility of wider crackdown on dissent.
Interior Minister Néstor Luis Reverol said six “terrorists” were detained Sunday, a day after the government said drones carrying explosives targeted Maduro in the midst of a nationally televised address. Reverol said all the “material and intellectual authors inside and outside of the country” have been identified, but he did not provide further details.
Maduro was unharmed in the incident, which officials said injured seven soldiers in an extraordinary scene captured on video that showed hundreds of Maduro’s troops seemingly fleeing in panic at the sound of an explosion. Saying a “shield of love” had protected his life, the president accused “far right” extremists linked to Colombia and Venezuelan dissidents living in the United States for the alleged attack during an impassioned speech delivered three hours after the incident.
