A video has emerged on social media purporting to show the exact moment a drone, reportedly aimed at Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, bursts into pieces in Caracas skies after apparently being shot down by the military.
The footage, which has since been shared over 1,200 times, was posted on Sunday by Cesar Guardiola, who describes himself as a security advisor and retired military serviceman. It’s unclear what the source of the video is or whether Guardiola filmed it himself.
Maduro can be heard giving his speech in the background as the camera focuses on a drone flying in the sky. Shortly after, the drone is seen engulfed in a fireball, followed a split second later by a loud bang. The cameraman then briefly lowers the camera, as agitated voices of people standing nearby and rushing from the scene can be heard. As the camera shows the sky again, no trace of any flying object can be seen.
Earlier, the Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information, Jorge Rodríguez, announced that six people had been detained in connection with the reported plot to kill Maduro amidst an army commemoration event on Saturday. The assassination attempt, according to Rodrigues, involved three drones, laden with explosives, all of which went off. One of them exploded right in front of the presidential box, while the second detonated to the right of the platform. The third drone, previously unreported, exploded to the south of the platform in the vicinity of a building, he said.
Earlier, it was reported that a building near the scene caught fire. Possible explanations voiced included a gas tank explosion and one of the drones crashing into it.
Read more
Maduro has blamed domestic ‘ultra-right’ opposition and Colombia for orchestrating the attack, which, according to Rodríguez, had taken six months to plot.
Maduro also alleged that “financiers and planners” of the attack, resided in the US state of Florida, and asked the US authorities for assistance in bringing the alleged perpetrators to justice.
Colombia has since refuted the claims that it had anything to do with the attack. The US President’s national Security Adviser John Bolton has also “unequivocally”dismissed speculation that Washington might have had a hand in the incident.
Leaders of several Latin American countries, including Venezuela’s closest allies Cuba, Nicaragua and Bolivia, have condemned the attack, with Bolivian President Evo Morales pinning the blame on the US and its ‘lackeys.’
Moscow has denounced the attempted assassination as an attempt to further destabilize the situation in the country, which is in severe economic crisis, calling it “the use of terrorism for political struggle.”
