Maduro and cabinet members being protected
BY TAIWO FAROTIMI
The president of Venezuela, Nicholas Maduro has alleged that president Manuel Santos of Colombia has a hand in Saturday’s failed attempt on his life. He said the far right political group in his country also collaborated. According to him, some people have been arrested and were being questioned in connection with the attack.
No word yet had come from Santos’ government. But the embattled Venezuelan leader may have suspected his Colombian counterpart because the latter has been his major critic of recent.
Maduro had to cut short an address on the country’s economy at a military event in Caracas, capital of Venezuela. The president had to run for cover after the military broke ranks following a twin explosion, suspected to have been from drones. His wife, Cilia Flores who was standing next to Maduro looked up in an apparent effort to figure out where the deafening sound came from.
Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said in an earlier statement that the president and his cabinet members were successfully taken to safety. He said,”Whoever carried out this attack, failed.” The president’s Security details covered him and his men with what seemed like apparent bullet- proof sheets. But some soldiers are said to have been injured in the attack.
Maduro said in a televised address shortly after the incident, “This was an attempt to kill me. Today they attempted to assassinate me.” He then went ahead to accuse Venezuela citizens living in Colombia of being behind the attack, stating that they worked hand in hand with the far right political group and also with the involvement of Santos. Though an obscure group, Soldiers in T-Shirt , has since claimed responsibility for the attack, Maduro said those in the direction of who he pointed accusing fingers are also assisted by an intellectual group in the United States.