Venezuela say they have ID of masterminds of the failed ‘drone assassination’ on Nicolas Maduro

The ‘masterminds’ of the alleged drone assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maudro have been identified, authorities said, as Brazil temporarily closed its border to people from the crisis-hit nation.

Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab told a news conference that several suspects were in custody, including two people ‘caught in the act’ piloting one of the drones from a car close to the scene.

He called Saturday’s drone attack, in which seven soldiers were wounded, ‘an attempted massacre’, and Maduro has already pointed fingers at political enemies in Colombia and the United States.  

Conspiracy claims: Venezuela claims to have identified the ‘masterminds’ behind the alleged drone bomb assassination attempt on President Nicolas Maduro, pictured, who has since gone on to blame his Colombian counterpart

The incident took place on Saturday during a parade marking the 81st anniversary of the National Guard, in the capital Caracas.

Video footage from the event shows Maduro standing flanked by military chiefs and his wife when suddenly explosions are heard.

Soldiers can be seen seen scattering away from the stage, before the broadcast was cut.

Yesterday, Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said six people have been arrested over the alleged assassination attempt, claiming two drones had been used, each carrying a kilogram (2.2lbs) of C4 explosive. 

No drones could be seen in the broadcast of the event, which was cut moments after the soldiers were seen scattering away from where Maduro was standing flanked by military chiefs and his wife. 

Maduro and his allies insist it was a drone assassination bid, despite no evidence being provided to prove this. 

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reacts during an event which was interrupted by an explosion, in this still frame taken from video on Saturday

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro reacts during an event which was interrupted by an explosion, in this still frame taken from video on Saturday

Venezuelan National Guard soldiers run during an event which was interrupted by an explosion

Venezuelan National Guard soldiers run during an event which was interrupted by an explosion

The socialist leader’s critics have said they feared the Venezuelan government would use the attack to step up repression of the opposition and dissidents.

Shortly before midnight last night, Maduro renewed his accusation against his Colombian counterpart, President Juan Manuel Santos, promising to release proof ‘in the next few hours.’

The allegation has worsened already fraught ties between Caracas and Bogota. Santos, who hands over power to elected successor Ivan Duque on Tuesday, has categorically denied it.

International experts have expressed similar concerns in the wake of the incident, saying it is giving the President an opportunity to distract the population from the economic crisis.

‘It’s the [former President Hugo] Chavez and Maduro playbook – to blame others for their problems, whether it’s food shortages, inflation, medicine shortages, diseases such as polio [reappearing], which was eradicated nearly 40 years ago,’ Jason Marczak, director of the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, told Fox News.

‘Colombia is increasingly seen as a scapegoat for Maduro for the problems he faces in Venezuela, problems he created in his own country,’ Marczak said. 

‘There has been a ramp-up in Colombia’s attention to the crisis in Venezuela and trying to facilitate some type of international response…to put pressure on Venezuela.’  

A live broadcast of Saturday’s incident on Venezuelan state television showed Maduro interrupted in mid-speech by an explosion and looking up in confusion.

Dozens of soldiers on parade are then seen breaking ranks and running away in panic. 

Members of different security forces stand guard and take evidence after an explosion targeted President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela

Members of different security forces stand guard and take evidence after an explosion targeted President Nicolas Maduro, in Caracas, Venezuela

Reporters wait as they try to get access to an apartment complex where an allegedly armed drone crashed, causing a fire, in Caracas, Venezuela on Sunday

Reporters wait as they try to get access to an apartment complex where an allegedly armed drone crashed, causing a fire, in Caracas, Venezuela on Sunday

A couple walks away from the venue where the government said that a drone armed with explosives detonated near Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas

A couple walks away from the venue where the government said that a drone armed with explosives detonated near Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas

Maduro and his government said the president had been targeted by two flying drones carrying explosives. But details of the incident remain unclear, with conflicting information coming from various sources.

The Maduro administration said Colombia had collaborated on the attack with the ‘ultra far-right’ Venezuelan opposition, and it was financed by unnamed figures in the US state of Florida.

No evidence was given to support the allegations. Thousands of exiled Venezuelans live in Colombia and in Florida.  

On the first working day after the Maduro incident, Brazil briefly closed its northern border to Venezuelans on Monday – while allowing other nationalities entry.

It is not thought to be related to Maduro’s alleged assassination attempt, as Brazil has been struggling to contain mass migration from Venezuela  for some time. 

The Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that had suspended the entry of more Venezuelans until other immigrants from the country were transferred elsewhere in Brazil.

‘It is not justified to take the easy path to ‘close the doors’ because of difficulties in hosting refugees,’ Supreme Court justice Rosa Weber said in her ruling issued shortly before midnight.

The border had remained open to Brazilians and other nationalities, as well as to Venezuelans seeking to return to their home country.

It’s a main crossing point for tens of thousands of Venezuelan migrants, an influx that has increased dramatically over the past two years. 

An estimated 500 Venezuelans cross the land border into Brazil each day. 

Closed and opened: People stand at the border with Venezuela, seen from the Brazilian city of Pacaraima, Roraima state, Brazil, in November last year

Closed and opened: People stand at the border with Venezuela, seen from the Brazilian city of Pacaraima, Roraima state, Brazil, in November last year

Maduro, a former bus driver who took over the reins from his mentor Hugo Chavez upon the latter’s death to cancer in 2013, has been ruling in increasingly autocratic fashion with military support.

He controls almost all the country’s institutions, and has used the supreme court, electoral authorities and a new super-legislative body, the Constitutional Assembly, to sideline the opposition-run parliament, the National Assembly.

Although he won a new six-year term in controversial snap elections boycotted by the opposition, Maduro remains widely reviled for presiding over a collapsing economy.

Inflation this year is projected to reach as high as one million percent, according to the International Monetary Fund. Oil exports – a vital money-earner for a country sitting atop the world’s largest crude reserves – have declined sharply.

Venezuela’s currency, the bolivar, is practically worthless and food and medicine are extremely scarce, prompting hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to flee abroad.

The country is largely isolated internationally and is subject to US sanctions that greatly degrade Caracas’s capacity to raise credit.

Maduro regularly accuses the ‘imperialist’ United States of plotting coups against him and waging ‘economic war’ on Venezuela. 



Read more at DailyMail.co.uk