Another U.S. Coup Attempt Foiled in Venezuela

Date: 30 April 2019 - 21:56

News ID: ۶۵۴۳۸

CARACAS (Dispatches) -- Venezuela’s Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said on Tuesday "acts of violence” by some members of the armed forces had been "partly defeated” in an address broadcast on state television.
The country’s foreign minister, Jorge Arreaza, also tweeted at U.S. Vice President Mike Pence, calling him the "head of the attempted coup d’etat.”
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro said he had spoken with military leaders and they had shown him "their total loyalty,” after opposition leader Juan Guaido said he had the support of troops to oust Maduro.
"Nerves of steel!,” Maduro said on Twitter. "I call for maximum popular mobilization to assure the victory of peace. We will win!”
"The radical opposition in Venezuela has once again returned to violent methods of confrontation,” the foreign ministry said. "Instead of peacefully settling political differences, they have taken a course designed to whip up conflict, and provoke breaches of public order and clashes involving the armed forces.”
The ministry called on the opposition to renounce violence and embrace negotiations instead, saying it was vital to avoid bloodshed.
Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed the situation in Venezuela at a meeting of his Security Council earlier on Tuesday.
Russia has sent nearly 100 military personnel to Caracas, a contingent the Kremlin has described as military specialists. Russian news agencies cited the Russian embassy in Venezuela on Tuesday as saying the Russian personnel were not involved in the clashes between the opposition and the authorities.
Venezuela’s Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said the government was confronting a small group of "military traitors” that are seeking to promote a coup against President Maduro.
"We are currently facing and deactivating a small group of treacherous military personnel who took positions in the Altamira distributor road (in Caracas) to promote a coup d'etat,” said Rodriguez in a Twitter post.
Venezuela has been in political turmoil since U.S.-backed Guaido declared himself "interim president” late in January.
The administration of U.S. President Donald Trump has since been mounting economic pressure on Caracas and has repeatedly threatened to use military force to topple Maduro’s government.
Washington has also confiscated Venezuela’s U.S.-based oil assets in an attempt to channel revenue from them to Guaido.
Guaido, standing near the La Carlota air force base in capital Caracas surrounded by a group of some 70 armed men in uniform, called on Tuesday for military units to support him in the "final phase” of a plan to oust Maduro.
Guaido claimed that government troops "answered our call” in coming under his command to oust the incumbent president.
Rodriguez, however, vowed that the government would put down the U.S.- coup, calling on the Venezuelans to be on full alert.
"We call on the people to remain on maximum alert to -- with our glorious National Bolivarian Armed Forces -- defeat the attempted coup and preserve peace,” he said.
Defense Minister Padrino, in a series of tweets, stressed that that the National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela remained "firmly in defense” of the "legitimate” government of President Maduro.
Padrino emphasized that all military units across the South American country had reported "normality” in their barracks and military bases.