NOS News••Amended
Venezuela’s government says the US has carried out attacks in several places in the country. Eyewitnesses reported hearing explosions and the sound of low-flying helicopters around 2 a.m. local time in the capital Caracas.
In a statement, the Maduro government also mentions the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira. Venezuela claims the US is behind the attacks and condemns the “military aggression”. President Maduro has declared a national emergency.
American government officials confirm anonymously to the Reuters news agency and Fox News, among others, that the US is behind the attacks. President Trump has not yet responded.
Military complex
Images from Caracas shared online show clouds of smoke and high flames. People ran into the streets in several neighborhoods.
The explosions there appear to come from a large military complex south of the city, Fuerte Tiuna. This has not been officially confirmed, but there are reports that the complex is being evacuated. The power has gone out in the area.
“The whole ground was shaking,” a woman on the street told the AP news agency. “This is terrible. We heard explosions and planes in the distance.”
Residents filmed the explosions in the distance:
Major explosions in the capital of Venezuela
The messages follow threatening language towards Venezuela from the US. That country has assembled a war fleet off the coast of Venezuela and the US military has attacked boats at sea in recent months, with the US saying they were drug smugglers.
Since September, the US military has carried out 35 attacks on suspected drug boats, but the country has so far failed to prove that they were actually drug smugglers. According to American figures, at least 115 people were killed.
This week, Trump claimed that the US attacked a Venezuelan drug port. However, the White House has not confirmed such an attack.
It is not clear whether the US had anything to do with last night’s explosions, but Trump has threatened several times to launch land attacks in Venezuela to stop drug traffickers. The US has also seized oil tankers.
‘Trump is exaggerating’
Washington says it is engaged in a campaign against “narcoterrorism”. The Americans accuse Maduro and his regime of leading the Cartel de los Soles, which is said to smuggle drugs into the US on a large scale. Independent experts say Trump is exaggerating Venezuela’s role in international drug trafficking.
Washington no longer recognizes the Venezuelan president as the legal head of state. The US government makes no secret of the fact that the US is after regime change: the ouster of President Maduro and his government.
Maduro says he has nothing to do with drug smuggling and wants to discuss this with the US.
