The most important:
– Caracas was shaken in the night from Friday to Saturday;
– Nicolás Maduro announced in Venezuela;
– Donald Trump accuses Maduro of being the head of the drug cartels;
– Maduro denies the allegations and says the US is trying to topple the Maduro regime in order to gain access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves.
ONLINE
9:56 – Let us recall that the US attacks in Venezuela come after several months of US military deployment in the Caribbean. The Trump administration has deployed about 15,000 US troops and 11 naval vessels there, including the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford.
Since September, the Trump administration has carried out more than 30 raids on ships allegedly smuggling drugs. In these attacks, it killed more than 110 people and seized several oil tankers.
But the nighttime attacks are the first US strikes on the Venezuelan mainland. Before that, the US only attacked ships in international waters.
9:48 – Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro declared a “state of external threat” throughout the country and ordered the activation of all national defense plans. According to a government statement, the attacks on Caracas are an attempt by the US to seize Venezuela’s strategic resources, especially oil and minerals, and to forcibly disrupt the country’s political independence.
At the same time, Caracas called on all social and political forces to mobilize and condemn what it called an imperialist attack.
9:45 – What do we know so far about the US military strikes in Venezuela?
At least seven explosions rocked Caracas around 2 a.m. local time. Witnesses saw low-flying planes. After the attacks, electricity went out in several districts of the capital.
The US strikes targeted key military facilities, including Fuerte Tiuna, Venezuela’s largest military complex, and the La Carlota airbase in eastern Caracas.
World media reports also indicate attacks on the El Libertador Air Base in Maracay, a strategic hub for the Venezuelan Air Force.
9:41 – The US Civil Aviation Authority has issued an order prohibiting all US civilian aircraft from flying in Venezuelan airspace.
9:39 – Colombian President Gustavo Petro said on social networks that Caracas had been hit by rockets, but did not name the culprit of the attacks. He called for an immediate emergency meeting of the UN Security Council.
9:36 – The explosions did not only echo through the capital city of Caracas, but also from other cities in the country. Attacks have been confirmed in the capital and on the La Carlota air base and other military facilities in Caracas, such as the Cuartel de la Montaña, where the remains of Hugo Chávez lie, and in Maracay and La Guaira, as well as the Higuerote airport on the central coast, reports . In addition to the capital Caracas, the attacks also hit the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira. Maduro’s government called them “military aggression” by the United States.
9:33 – The United States is behind the attacks in Venezuela. This is reported by American television with reference to unnamed representatives of the Trump administration.
