Explosions hit Venezuelan capital Caracas
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Venezuela accused the US of attacking the country after Caracas was hit by multiple explosions and residents reported dozens of aircraft flying low over the capital.
Videos posted on social media showed what appeared to be a series of strikes at about 2am local time on Saturday on Venezuela’s military complex Fuerte Tiuna in the west of Caracas, as well as the military air base at La Carlota in the centre of the capital. Several areas suffered power outages.
Venezuela’s government urged its supporters to take to the streets. “The Bolivarian government calls on all the social and political forces of the country to activate the mobilisation plans and repudiate this imperialist attack,” it said in a statement.
The statement added that there had been attacks in Caracas, as well as in nearby Miranda, Aragua and La Guaira states, and that President Nicolás Maduro had “ordered all national defence plans to be implemented” and had declared “a state of external disturbance”.
The Pentagon referred enquiries to the White House, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment by the AP news agency.
CBS News cited US officials as saying that President Donald Trump had given the order to strike days ago but other military operations took precedence and then weather delayed the plans.
The Federal Aviation Administration banned US commercial flights in Venezuelan airspace, citing “safety-of-flight risks” owing to “ongoing military activity”.
The attack was launched after the White House stepped up pressure on Maduro’s regime, with Trump declaring this week a “total blockade” on US-sanctioned oil tankers heading to and from Venezuela.
The American president has threatened for months that he could order strikes on targets on Venezuelan land. The US military has been attacking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific since early September. About three dozen boat strikes have taken place, with more than 100 people killed, according to the Trump administration.
The attacks have taken place alongside a big build-up of US forces in the Caribbean, including America’s largest aircraft carrier. Late last month, the US also carried out an attack on a “dock area” in Venezuela.
Maduro, who has been designated by the Trump administration as the head of a “foreign terrorist” drug cartel, has described the US naval build-up as a pretext for his ousting.
Gustavo Petro, president of neighbouring Colombia, said his country was watching the events unfold with “deep concern” and posted a list on social media of what he said were confirmed attacks. The sites included a series of military installations around Caracas, as well as the country’s National Assembly building.
A government official in Spain, which has significant commercial and diplomatic ties to Venezuela, said: “We can only confirm that it was an air attack.”
Bruno Rodríguez, foreign minister of Cuba, Venezuela’s closest ally, said Havana “strongly condemned” the attacks as a “cowardly” act against a nation that has not “attacked the US or any other nation”.
Additional reporting by Barney Jopson in Madrid
