Miguel Gutierrez / EPA
Fires in Caracas after US attacks
Several explosions were heard in the Venezuelan capital last night. Trump claims that the United States took Nicolás Maduro and his wife out of the country.
Strong explosions, with sounds similar to aircraft flying over Caracas, occurred today around 02:00 (06:00 in Lisbon) in the capital of Venezuela, said a journalist from the France-Presse news agency.
The explosions come after the President of the United States, Donald Trump, who sent a unprecedented military deployment to the waters of the Caribbean, raise the hypothesis of land attacks against Venezuela and affirm that the days of the Venezuelan counterpart, Nicolás Maduro, were numbered.
The US head of state also states on his social network Truth Social that US forces captured Maduro: “The United States of America successfully carried out a large-scale attack against Venezuela and its leader, President Nicolás Maduro, who was captured and taken out of the country together with his wife.”
According to CBS, Maduro was arrested by Delta Force, the main anti-terrorism unit of the American army. “There was a lot of good planning, excellent troops and incredible people. It was a brilliant operationin fact,” Trump said in a statement to .
The sounds of explosions continued to be heard around 02:15 (06:15 in Lisbon). For now, the existence of victims is unknown.
At least seven explosions and low-altitude aircraft were heard in Caracas, leading residents of several neighborhoods in the capital to abandon their homes and run into the streets.
Images of large fires with columns of smoke were published on social media, but it is not possible to precisely locate the explosions, which appear to have occurred in the south and east of Caracas.
Some cybernauts reported detonations at the country’s main military base, Fort Tiuna, west of the capital, and at the La Carlota air base.
“Fort Tiuna is exploding“, said people who recorded videos from their home windows.
On December 22, Donald Trump stated that Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro would be wise to abandon powerat a time when Washington increased military pressure on Caracas.
“It’s up to him [Maduro] decide what you want to do. I think it would be wise on his part,” said the US leader. The US claims that the military mobilization in the Caribbean and Pacific aims to intercept vessels allegedly loaded with drugs that Washington associates with the Maduro Government, accused of leading the so-called Cartel of the Suns, something that Caracas vehemently denies.
Last Monday, Donald Trump stated that the United States destroyed a docking area used by ships accused of involvement in drug trafficking in Venezuela, in what was the .
According to two US officials told CBS News, Trump ordered air strikes inside Venezuelan territory a few days ago.
With Maduro’s arrest, the Venezuelan Constitution establishes that power would pass to the vice-president Delcy Rodríguezresponsible for economic policy.
Speaking to Venezuelan public television, Rodríguez confirms that he does not know the whereabouts of Maduro and his wife and demanded that Trump “immediate proof of life” from both.
“Very serious military aggression”
The Government of Venezuela denounced the “very serious military aggression” after the explosions that shook the capital overnightand President Nicolás Maduro declared a state of exception.
“Venezuela rejects, repudiates and denounces […] the very serious military aggression perpetrated by the […] USA against Venezuelan territory and populationin civil and military locations in Caracas and in the states of Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira, on the outskirts of Caracas”, says a Government statement.
President Nicolas Maduro decreed a state of emergency and appealed to “all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans,” according to the statement.
The Government of Venezuela, in the statement, called on its supporters to take to the streets. “People take to the streets!”, refers in the statement.
“The Bolivarian Government calls on all social and political forces in the country to activate mobilization plans and we will repudiate this imperialist attack”, he adds.
Caracas also announced that it will denounce to the United Nations the “very serious military aggression” of the United States in the country.
The statement adds that Maduro ordered “the implementation of all national defense plans” and declared “state of external disturbance,” an emergency plan that gives him the power to suspend people’s rights and expand the role of the armed forces.
US Air Force bans commercial flights
However, the United States Air Force issued an official warning prohibiting all aircraft from circulating in Venezuelan airspace.
The United States Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) banned North American commercial planes to operate at any altitude over Venezuelan airspace, citing security risks arising from ongoing military activity in the South American country.
The warning, known as NOTAM, came into force at 02:00 local time today (06:30 in Lisbon), and will be valid for 23 hours.
In the document, the North American aviation authority does not specify which military forces would be involved in the operations that led to the restriction.
Colombia talks about aggression, Portugal follows
From Bogotá, the Colombian President, Gustavo Petro, has already denounced the missile attack against Caracas, following the strong explosions in the Venezuelan capital, and called for an “immediate” meeting of the Organization of American States (OAS).
“General Alert, they attacked Venezuela”, wrote the Colombian President, close to Maduro, stressing that, both the OAS and the UN, “they must pronounce on “international legality” of this “aggression” against the neighboring country.
On Friday, the Colombian President had already warned that a North American missile had hit a target in the Venezuelan region of Alta Guajira, which borders Colombia.
Portugal is “monitoring the situation in Venezuela at the minute”, a Government source told Lusa, after several explosions in Caracas. According to the same source, the Portuguese authorities are in contact with the embassy in Caracas and with several European governments.
In a note published on the website of the Presidency of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa also says that he is “monitoring the situation in Venezuela in conjunction with the Minister of State and Foreign Affairs”.
A Venezuela hosts one of the largest Portuguese communities in the diaspora, being the second largest in Latin America, after Brazil.
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