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Venezuela government claims control after 'terrorist' attack on military base Venezuela government claims control after 'terrorist' attack on military base
(about 4 hours later)
The head of Venezuela’s ruling party, Diosdado Cabello, said on Sunday there had been a “terrorist” attack at a military base controlled by troops loyal to the government and several people had been arrested. An apparent military uprising has been quashed in Venezuela, after a small group of men dressed as soldiers were reported to have attacked an army base, declaring themselves in rebellion against the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
Cabello reported via Twitter that troops acted quickly to control the situation at the Paramacay base near the city of Valencia. One witness in the area, in the town of Naguanagua, reported hearing gunshots before dawn. Remigio Ceballos, strategic commander of the armed forces, tweeted on Sunday that seven people had been arrested. Local media reports of two dead could not immediately be confirmed.
The defense ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The leader of Venezuela’s ruling party, Diosdado Cabello, first reported the attack at the Fort Paramacay base near the city of Valencia via Twitter early on Sunday. He said the situation had been controlled by troops loyal to the socialist government, which has come under widespread condemnation for moves seen as attempts to strengthen its grip on power.
Cabello’s announcement came after a small group of men dressed in military fatigues, some armed with assault rifles, released a video declaring themselves in rebellion against President Nicolás Maduro in Carabobo state, where Valencia is located. Ceballos said the armed forces had quickly repelled the “terrorist, criminal and paramilitary” attack.
In the video, a man identifying himself as Capt Juan Caguaripano said that any unit refusing to go along with its call for rebellion would be declared a military target. Gen Suárez Chourio, the army chief, said in a video statement from the Paramacay base the attackers were “detained and defeated” and that “peace has triumphed”.
“We demand the immediate formation of a transition government,” he said. “This is not a coup d’etat. This is a civic and military action to re-establish constitutional order. But more than that, it is to save the country from total destruction.” However, local television reports broadcast images of the base throughout the morning, with sporadic explosions heard in the distance. Civilians near the base spilled out on to the streets in apparent support for the dissident troops. Minor clashes between the civilians and national guard units posted outside the base were reported.
Venezuela is wracked by tension and violence, as the unpopular Maduro government seeks to hold on to power. More than 100 people have been killed, nearly 2,000 wounded and more than 500 detained. In a video released early on Sunday on social media, a man who identified himself as Capt Juan Caguaripano was flanked by about a dozen men in fatigues, some holding assault rifles, as he declared a rebellion against Maduro.
On Saturday chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega was removed and replaced after her office was surrounded by soldiers. “This is not a coup d’etat,” he said. “This is a civic and military action to re-establish the constitutional order. But more than that, it is to save the country from total destruction.
Delegates to the constitutional assembly later swore in as her replacement ombudsman Tarek William Saab, who was recently sanctioned by the Trump administration for failing to protect protesters from abuses in his role as the nation’s top human rights official. “We demand the immediate formation of a transition government.”
The assembly was seated despite strong criticism from the US, other countries and the Venezuelan opposition, which fear that it will be a tool for imposing dictatorship. In 2014, amidst a wave of anti-government protests, Caguaripano, a captain in the national guard, released a 12-minute video denouncing Maduro. He later reportedly sought exile after a military tribunal ordered his arrest.
Two prominent opposition leaders were taken from their homes by intelligence agents last week. On Saturday one, Leopoldo Lopez, was returned home to serve his sentence under house arrest. Live footage from residential buildings facing the Paramacay base showed military and civilian helicopters flying low over wooded areas. Several detonations could be heard in the distance. There was widespread speculation as to the nature of events.
Lopez was released from prison on 8 July and placed under house arrest after serving three years of a 13-year sentence on charges of inciting violence at opposition rallies. Many human rights groups considered him a political prisoner. “There is considerable doubt as to whether this is promoted somehow by the government as an excuse for a crackdown or whether it’s wholly genuine,” said Phil Gunson, Venezuela analyst for the International Crisis Group.
The apparent rebellion took place a day after the opening session of a new super-powerful constituent assembly, which dozens of countries and the Venezuelan opposition have called illegitimate and say serves only to support a Maduro “dictatorship” by bypassing the opposition-controlled legislature.
As its first act, the assembly summarily dismissed the nation’s chief prosecutor, Luisa Ortega, a long-time government loyalist who broke with Maduro and has become one of the government’s sharpest critics. Delegates later swore in as her replacement ombudsman Tarek William Saab, who was recently sanctioned by the Trump administration for failing to protect protesters from abuses in his role as the nation’s top human rights official.
Ortega said her dismissal was illegitimate. “I do not recognize that removal [from office],” she said in a speech on Sunday. “I am still the chief prosecutor of this country.”
The US, which has imposed sanctions on Maduro, called the sacking “illegal”, with a state department spokeswoman saying it was aimed at tightening the “authoritarian dictatorship of [the] Maduro regime”.
Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Peru also slammed the decision. Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay and Brazil announced Venezuela’s indefinite suspension from the South American trading bloc Mercosur, for its “rupture of the democratic order”.
“The countries of the region … must continue to tell the Venezuelan regime that in the Americas, there is no place for dictatorships or for the tyrants that lead them,” the secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) said in a statement.
More than 100 people have been killed, nearly 2,000 wounded and more than 500 detained in months of anti-government protests.
Two prominent opposition leaders, Antonio Ledezma and Leopoldo López, were taken from their homes by intelligence agents last week, then returned to house arrest on Thursday and Saturday respectively.
The opposition has vowed to maintain street protests against the assembly but rallies grew more muted this week as the assembly vowed to go after those seen as inciting street action.