Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro survives drone assassination attempt: President blames Colombia after aerial devices appeared to explode while he was making a speech to troops in Caracas: The Guardian, Sat 4 Aug 2018 21.33 EDTFirst published on Sat 4 Aug 2018 18.59 EDT

Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.

Soldiers scatter in Caracas after explosions during an address by president Nicolás Maduro.: photo by HO/AFP/Getty Images, 4 August 2018

Security is tightened following the blasts.: photo by Juan Barreto/AFP/Getty Images, 4 August 2018

Security forces check a nearby building.: photo by Anadolu Agency/Getty Images, 4 August 2018

 
Investigators search for evidence after the explosions.: photo by Miguel Gutierrez/EPA, 5 August 2018  

Foreign powers, rebels or a hoax: who's behind Venezuela drone attack?  President Nicolás Maduro has blamed an international cabal but observers are suspicious of his account of events: Joe Parkin Daniels, The Guardian, 5 August 2018 

 

Nicolás Maduro has accused the Colombian president and a network of plotters of trying to assassinate him.: photo by Miraflores/EPA, 5 August 2018

Venezuela’s president, Nicolás Maduro, survived an apparent and – if true – audacious assassination attempt on Saturday when, according to official reports, drones loaded with explosives flew towards the president while he was speaking at a military parade in the capital Caracas.

But many are now wondering: who could have been behind the attack?

Foreign powers

According to Maduro, the plot was concocted by an international cabal of rightwing schemers. He claimed that the Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, was “behind the attack”, supported by a network of plotters and financiers based in Florida, adding that a group of hired assassins had already been captured.

Maduro, whose country is mired so deep in economic and political turmoil that inflation is predicted to reach 1m per cent this year, has long accused the international community of waging economic war on him. He regularly lambasts the US as “imperialist” and out to destroy socialism while taking over Venezuela’s oil – of which it has the largest reserves in the world. 

The opposition within Venezuela is also a regular target. Maduro claims it wants to undo the social reforms brought about by previous president Hugo Chávez, the charismatic revolutionary who died in 2013. Maduro has jailed and sidelined many opposition activists, regularly accusing them of plotting to overthrow him.

It is this conspiracy that Maduro claims will be unearthed in an ongoing investigation.

Rightwing rebels

No one has claimed responsibility for the alleged assassination attempt outright, though one group – Soldiers Franelas – suggested involvement in a tweet. “We have shown [the government] is vulnerable,” the group, whose members are not known, said. “[The attack] wasn’t achieved today but it is just a matter of time [until it is].” Little is known about Soldiers Franelas beyond their Twitter presence, where the group regularly posts anti-Maduro missives.

Saturday’s episode reminded many in Venezuela of a similar incident last year when Óscar Pérez, a rogue police officer, launched grenades from a stolen helicopter at government buildings in Caracas. Pérez was killed in a shootout six months later. Some analysts suspect Soldiers Franelas of involvement in that similarly curious incident.

It’s a hoax

Some observers are suspicious of Maduro’s account of events, which seems a little too neat in a country where the government has long twisted the truth to its own ends.

“The official ‘investigation’ of today’s alleged assassination attempt against president Maduro takes the usual course: begin with the conclusions and work backwards,” Phil Gunson, a consultant with non-profit Crisis Group, tweeted on Saturday evening. “In a country where 98% of crime goes unpunished, government sleuths resolve this kind of case in a matter of hours.”

Firefighters interviewed by the Associated Press, meanwhile, claim that the bangs heard were caused by a gas tank explosion in a nearby apartment, rather than the drones. Some local journalists have backed up the claim, posting photos on Twitter of smoke billowing from the Residancias Don Eduardo apartment building on the street where the attack took place.

David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America, voiced doubts that the incident was a staged attack. In an interview with AP, he claimed footage of the chaotic scenes at the parade – which for a short while were broadcast to the nation before being abruptly cut off – made Maduro look weak. But Smilde said the embattled president will still likely use the attack to cement his power.

“He will use it to concentrate power, whoever did this,” Smilde said. “He’ll use it to further restrict liberty and purge the government and armed forces.”

Imágenes en la que es sacado el presidente Maduro del balcón presidencial en la av. Bolívar de Caracas. Gobierno asegura que explosión en acto de la GNB fue un atentado contra el Jefe de Estado. Reportan 7 efectivos militares heridos Fotos: Agencia Xinhua: image via NTN24 Venezuela @NTN24ve, 4 August 2018

Imágenes en la que es sacado el presidente Maduro del balcón presidencial en la av. Bolívar de Caracas. Gobierno asegura que explosión en acto de la GNB fue un atentado contra el Jefe de Estado. Reportan 7 efectivos militares heridos Fotos: Agencia Xinhua: image via NTN24 Venezuela @NTN24ve, 4 August 2018

An injured soldier being helped following the explosions.: photo by Xinhua/AP, 4 August 2018

Angry diaper president lashes out at LeBron James on Twitter: image via Deadspin @Deadspin, 4 August 2018

 
Journalists stand around President Franklin D. Roosevelt, #OTD in 1933, during one of the daily press conferences held on the lawn of his estate at Hyde Park, N.Y. where the chief executive is vacationing.: image via AP Images @AP_Images, 4 August 2018

Portland police confront anti-fascists during a rally in Portland, Oregon on Saturday.: photo by Terray Sylvester for the Guardian, 4 August 2018

Members of the right-wing Patriot Prayer group gather before a rally in Portland, Oregon, US August 4, 2018: photo by Jim Urquhart/Reuters, 4 August 2018

Supporters of the far-right group Patriot Prayer in Portland.: photo by Terray Sylvester for the Guardian, 4 August 2018

US Senate candidate Joey Gibson speaks at a rally in Portland, Oregon.: photo by Terray Sylvester for the Guardian, 4 August 2018

Counterprotesters march in opposition to a rally organized by the far-right group Patriot Prayer in Portland, Oregon.: photo by Terray Sylvester for the Guardian, 4 August 2018

A counterprotester argues with police in Portland, Oregon: photo by Bob Strong/Reuters, 4 August 2018

A counterprotester throws an object towards police in Portland.: photo by Bob Strong/Reuters, 4 August 2018



 Proud Boys in a truck just sprayed bear mace at antifa blocking their way, leaving a street full of coughing, tearing people behind.: image via Brendan O'Connor @grendan, 4 August 2018


  
Proud Boys in a truck just sprayed bear mace at antifa blocking their way, leaving a street full of coughing, tearing people behind.: image via Brendan O'Connor @grendan, 4 August 2018



 Proud Boys in a truck just sprayed bear mace at antifa blocking their way, leaving a street full of coughing, tearing people behind.: image via Brendan O'Connor @grendan, 4 August 2018



Proud Boys in a truck just sprayed bear mace at antifa blocking their way, leaving a street full of coughing, tearing people behind.: image via Brendan O'Connor @grendan, 4 August 2018



 We’ve got a Q person: image via Brendan O'Connor @grendan, 4 August 2018


Lol proud boys just got jumped by the sprinkler system: image via Brendan O'Connor @grendan, 4 August 2018

#ProudBoy at #Portland rally that called for migrants to be murdered by smashing their "heads into the concrete" and the forced separation of children from families, is set to speak at #Berkeley rally on August 5th.  #AllOutAugust: image via It's Going Down @IGD_News, 25 July 2018 

Just a reminder. Stay safe and come ready! See you there. #AllOutAugust: image via Pompo Pompono @PompoTheGuru, 4 August 2018

 

Trump waves to fans after speaking at the rally.: photo by Mandel Ngan/AFP/Getty Images, 4 August 2018

An attendee wears a top reading ‘I really don’t care, do U’, echoing a jacket worn by Melania Trump en route to the US-Mexico border.: photo by Leah Millis/Reuters, 4 August 2018

A helicopter drops water on a fire in Lake county north of San Francisco.: photo by Mark McKenna/ZUMA Wire/REX/Shutterstock, 4 August 2018

 
 A landscape blackened by wildfire damage is shown from wildfire damage near Keswick, California : photo Alexandria Sage: image via Reuters Pictures @reuterspictures, 4 August 2018