Venezuela’s President has declared a national emergency after multiple explosions rocked Caracas early Saturday morning. Smoke billowed from a hangar at a military base in the city, while another installation in the capital reportedly lost power, and low-flying aircraft were heard.
Residents in several neighborhoods rushed into the streets, some watching from a distance as the situation unfolded. “The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes,” Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, told The Associated Press. “We felt like the air was hitting us.” It was unclear what caused the explosions, and Newsweek contacted the White House and the Pentagon for comment via email outside of regular working hours.
What To Know:
- The explosions come amid recent U.S. military strikes on suspected drug-smuggling vessels in the Caribbean Sea and eastern Pacific Ocean. Venezuela’s President Nicolás Maduro has claimed the attacks were an attempt by the U.S. to take his country’s natural resources.
- On Friday, Venezuela signaled its willingness to negotiate an anti-narcotics agreement with Washington. In a prerecorded interview broadcast on Thursday, Maduro accused the U.S. of seeking regime change and access to Venezuela’s vast oil reserves through a months-long campaign that began with a military deployment to the Caribbean in August.
- Maduro faces U.S. charges of narco-terrorism. Last week, a CIA drone strike targeted a docking area allegedly used by Venezuelan drug cartels—the first known direct operation on Venezuelan soil since U.S. strikes on boats began in September.
- President Donald Trump had long warned he might authorize strikes on land targets. The U.S. has also seized sanctioned oil tankers off Venezuela’s coast, and Trump ordered a blockade of others in a move aimed at tightening economic pressure on the country.
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