Speaking on state TV, the 54-year-old president, who has faced three months of opposition protests and some dissent from within government ranks, said that special forces were after the "terrorists" behind the attack.

The helicopter had also flown over the Interior Ministry, he said. "I demand that the MUD (opposition coalition) condemns this eminently coup-mongering attack," Maduro added.

The pro-government Supreme Court is particularly hated by Maduro's opponents for its string of rulings bolstering his power and undermining the opposition-controlled legislature.

Earlier, Venezuela's leader warned that he and supporters would take up arms if his socialist government was violently overthrown by opponents who have been on the streets since April. At least 75 people have died in the unrest.

"I'm telling the world, and I hope the world listens after 90 days of protest, destruction and death," Maduro said then.

"If Venezuela was plunged into chaos and violence and the Bolivarian Revolution destroyed, we would go to combat. We would never give up, and what couldn't be done with votes, we would do with weapons, we would liberate the fatherland with weapons."

Maduro is pushing a July 30 vote for a special super-body called a Constituent Assembly, which could rewrite the national charter and supersede other institutions such as the opposition-controlled congress.

He has touted the assembly as the only way to bring peace to Venezuela. But opponents, who want to bring forward the next presidential election scheduled for late 2018, say it is a sham poll designed purely to keep the socialists in power.

They are boycotting the vote, and protesting daily on the streets to try and have it stopped. Opposition leaders call Maduro a dictator who has wrecked a once-prosperous economy, while he calls them violent coup leaders.

Maduro, who accuses Washington of backing his opponents and seeking to control the nation's oil wealth, said the "destruction" of Venezuela would lead to a huge refugee wave dwarfing the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.

"You would have to build 20 walls in the sea, a wall from Mississippi to Florida, from Florida to New York, it would be crazy ... You have the responsibility: stop the madness of the violent Venezuelan right wing."

Opposition to the July 30 vote has come not just from Venezuelan opposition parties, but also from the chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega and onetime government heavyweights like former intelligence service boss Miguel Rodriguez.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Rodriguez criticized Maduro for not holding a referendum prior to the Constituent Assembly election, as his predecessor Chavez had done in 1999.

"This is a country without government, this is chaos," he said. "The people are left out ... They (the government) are seeking solutions outside the constitution ... That deepens the crisis."</s>President Nicolas Maduro says a helicopter fired on Venezuela’s Supreme Court in a confusing incident that he claimed was part of a conspiracy to destabilize his socialist government.

The incident occurred as Maduro was speaking live on state television to journalists gathered at the presidential palace. He said the chopper fired upon offices of the court and launched a grenade that didn’t explode. He said air defense was activated, thwarting what he called a “terrorist attack.”

An Associated Press reporter heard gunfire as a helicopter buzzed through downtown but was unable to confirm where the shots were being fired from.

There were unconfirmed witness reports the chopper was carrying an anti-government banner and being flown by a policeman who had declared himself in rebellion in a video on social media.</s>CARACAS, Venezuela — President Nicolas Maduro says a helicopter fired on Venezuela's Supreme Court in a confusing incident that he claimed was part of a conspiracy to destabilize his socialist government.

The incident occurred as Maduro was speaking live on state television to journalists gathered at the presidential palace. He said the chopper fired upon offices of the court and launched a grenade that didn't explode. He said air was activated, thwarting what he called a "terrorist attack."

An Associated Press reporter heard gunfire as a helicopter buzzed through downtown but was unable to confirm where the shots were being fired from.

There were unconfirmed witness reports the chopper was carrying an anti-government banner and being flown by a policeman who had declared himself in rebellion in a video on social media.</s>A police helicopter has attacked Venezuela's Supreme Court, President Nicolas Maduro says, in a ratcheting up of the nation's political crisis, but a grenade tossed at the building did not explode.

Speaking on state TV, the 54-year-old President, who has faced three months of opposition protests and some dissent from within government ranks, said special forces were after the "terrorists" behind the attack.

The helicopter had also flown over the Interior Ministry, he said.

"I demand that the MUD [opposition coalition] condemns this eminently coup-mongering attack," Mr Maduro added.

The pro-government Supreme Court is particularly hated by Mr Maduro's opponents for its string of rulings bolstering his power and undermining the opposition-controlled legislature.

Earlier, Venezuela's leader warned he and supporters would take up arms if his socialist Government was violently overthrown by opponents who have been on the streets since April.

At least 75 people have died in the unrest.

"I'm telling the world, and I hope the world listens after 90 days of protest, destruction and death," Mr Maduro said then.

"If Venezuela was plunged into chaos and violence and the Bolivarian Revolution destroyed, we would go to combat. We would never give up, and what couldn't be done with votes, we would do with weapons, we would liberate the fatherland with weapons."</s>CARACAS, June 27 (Reuters) - President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday a police helicopter had attacked the Supreme Court in a ratcheting up of Venezuela's political crisis, but a grenade tossed at the building did not explode.

Speaking on state TV, the 54-year-old president, who has faced three months of opposition protests and some dissent from within government ranks, said that special forces were after the "terrorists" behind the attack.

The helicopter had also flown over the Interior Ministry, he said. "I demand that the MUD (opposition coalition) condemns this eminently coup-mongering attack," Maduro added.

The pro-government Supreme Court is particularly hated by Maduro's opponents for its string of rulings bolstering his power and undermining the opposition-controlled legislature.

Earlier, Venezuela's leader warned that he and supporters would take up arms if his socialist government was violently overthrown by opponents who have been on the streets since April. At least 75 people have died in the unrest.

"I'm telling the world, and I hope the world listens after 90 days of protest, destruction and death," Maduro said then.

"If Venezuela was plunged into chaos and violence and the Bolivarian Revolution destroyed, we would go to combat. We would never give up, and what couldn't be done with votes, we would do with weapons, we would liberate the fatherland with weapons."

Maduro is pushing a July 30 vote for a special super-body called a Constituent Assembly, which could rewrite the national charter and supersede other institutions such as the opposition-controlled congress.

He has touted the assembly as the only way to bring peace to Venezuela. But opponents, who want to bring forward the next presidential election scheduled for late 2018, say it is a sham poll designed purely to keep the socialists in power.

They are boycotting the vote, and protesting daily on the streets to try and have it stopped. Opposition leaders call Maduro a dictator who has wrecked a once-prosperous economy, while he calls them violent coup leaders.

Maduro, who accuses Washington of backing his opponents and seeking to control the nation's oil wealth, said the "destruction" of Venezuela would lead to a huge refugee wave dwarfing the migrant crisis in the Mediterranean.

"You would have to build 20 walls in the sea, a wall from Mississippi to Florida, from Florida to New York, it would be crazy ... You have the responsibility: stop the madness of the violent Venezuelan right wing."

Opposition to the July 30 vote has come not just from Venezuelan opposition parties, but also from the chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega and onetime government heavyweights like former intelligence service boss Miguel Rodriguez.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Rodriguez criticized Maduro for not holding a referendum prior to the Constituent Assembly election, as his predecessor Chavez had done in 1999.

"This is a country without government, this is chaos," he said. "The people are left out ... They (the government) are seeking solutions outside the constitution ... That deepens the crisis." (Additional reporting by Deisy Buitrago, Girish Gupta, Eyanir Chinea, Andrew Cawthorne and Andreina Aponte; Writing by Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Andrew Hay)</s>President says a helicopter fired on Venezuela's Supreme Court in a confusing incident that he claimed was part of a conspiracy to destabilize his socialist government.

 

 The incident occurred as Maduro was speaking live on state television yesterday to journalists gathered at the presidential palace. He said the chopper fired upon offices of the court and launched a grenade that didn't explode. He said air defense was activated, thwarting what he called a "terrorist attack."

An Associated Press reporter heard gunfire as a helicopter buzzed through downtown but was unable to confirm where the shots were being fired from.There were unconfirmed witness reports the chopper was carrying an anti-government banner and being flown by a policeman who had declared himself in rebellion in a video on social media.</s>Caracas, Venezuela | AFP | Venezuela’s army has been put on alert after four grenades were hurled at the Supreme Court from a helicopter, President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday, in a potentially dramatic escalation of the violence gripping the oil-rich South American country.

The helicopter assault comes a day after Maduro announced the arrests of five opponents he accused of plotting against him to clear the way for a US invasion.

The beleaguered president, who for weeks has been thundering about alleged coup attempts against him, said the helicopter was flown by a pilot who worked for a former minister.

Around 15 shots were fired at the Interior Ministry, Maduro added.

“I have activated the entire armed forces to defend the peace,” he said in remarks from the Miraflores presidential palace.

“Sooner or later, we are going to capture that helicopter and those that carried out this terror attack.”

No one was hurt in the incident, he said.

The government identified the helicopter pilot as a former member of Venezuela’s main police force, known as the CICPC.

Maduro called on the opposition MUD alliance to denounce the attack but one of its leaders, Freddy Guevara, tweeted there was not yet enough information to comment.

Guevara urged people to take part in anti-government rallies Wednesday — the latest in nearly three months of daily streets protests that have left 76 people dead.

Photos circulating on social media showed a helicopter flying over Caracas with a banner that read “350 Freedom” — alluding to a constitutional clause recently invoked by the opposition to assert the Maduro government’s lack of legitimacy.

The photos showed two people on the chopper, one with his face covered with a mask and the other with it visible.

Videos on social media showed a man who identified himself as a CICPC detective and said he was fighting tyranny, wants Maduro to resign and for Venezuela to hold early elections.

Earlier Tuesday, Maduro repeated claims of a US-backed coup attempt and angrily warned President Donald Trump that Venezuela would fight back against such a move.

“If Venezuela were dragged into chaos and violence… we would fight,” Maduro bellowed in a speech to supporters.

If a coup prevented his side fulfilling his contested reform plans, he said, “we would achieve it by arms.”

He said an armed intervention in his country would spark a crisis that would dwarf those caused by conflicts in the Middle East.

Addressing Trump, he said: “You are responsible for restraining the madness of the Venezuelan right-wing.”</s>CARACAS – A Venezuelan police helicopter attacked the Supreme Court on Tuesday, ratcheting up a political crisis in what President Nicolas Maduro condemned as a “terrorist” attack.

The 54-year-old socialist leader, who has faced three months of opposition protests as well as dissent from within government, said the helicopter shot at the judicial building and also threw some grenades.

Witnesses reported hearing several detonations in downtown Caracas, where the pro-Maduro Supreme Court, the presidential palace and other key government buildings are located.

READ MORE: Why major airlines are cutting flights to Venezuela

The helicopter also flew over the Interior Ministry, Maduro said in a speech.

The Supreme Court is particularly hated by Maduro’s opponents for its string of rulings bolstering his power and undermining the opposition-controlled legislature.

“There was a social activity going on in the Supreme Court. They could have caused dozens of deaths,” Maduro said of the helicopter attack.

Opposition leaders have long been calling on Venezuela’s security forces to stop obeying a president they call a murderous dictator.

But there was also some speculation on social media among opposition supporters that the helicopter attack could have been staged to justify repression or cover up drama at Venezuela’s National Assembly, where two dozen lawmakers said they were being besieged by pro-government gangs.

READ MORE: Venezuela crisis: Hundreds of thousands hit streets to mark 50 days of anti-regime protests

Earlier on Tuesday, Maduro warned that he and supporters would take up arms if his socialist government was violently overthrown by opponents who have been on the streets since April. At least 75 people have died in the unrest.

“If Venezuela was plunged into chaos and violence and the Bolivarian Revolution destroyed, we would go to combat. We would never give up, and what couldn’t be done with votes, we would do with arms, we would liberate the fatherland with arms,” he said.

Maduro, who replaced Hugo Chavez in 2013, is pushing a July 30 vote for a special super-body called a Constituent Assembly, which could rewrite the national charter and supersede other institutions such as the opposition-controlled congress.

He has touted the assembly as the only way to bring peace to Venezuela. But opponents, who want to bring forward the next presidential election scheduled for late 2018, say it is a sham poll designed purely to keep the socialists in power.

They are boycotting the vote, and protesting daily on the streets to try and have it stopped. Opposition leaders call Maduro a tyrant who has wrecked a once-prosperous economy, while he calls them violent coup leaders following U.S. orders.

Maduro, who accuses Washington of seeking to control the nation’s oil wealth, said the “destruction” of Venezuela would lead to a huge refugee wave dwarfing the Mediterranean crisis.

“Listen, President Donald Trump,” he said earlier on Tuesday. “You would have to build 20 walls in the sea, a wall from Mississippi to Florida, from Florida to New York, it would be crazy … You have the responsibility: stop the madness of the violent Venezuelan right wing.”

WATCH: In April, deadly protests erupted in Venezuela in effort to oust president

Opposition to the July 30 vote has come not just from Venezuelan opposition parties, but also from the chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega and one-time government heavyweights like former intelligence service boss Miguel Rodriguez.

At a news conference on Tuesday, Rodriguez criticized Maduro for not holding a referendum prior to the Constituent Assembly election, as his predecessor Chavez had done in 1999.

“This is a country without government, this is chaos,” he said. “The people are left out … They (the government) are seeking solutions outside the constitution … That deepens the crisis.” Maduro said an ex-pilot of Rodriguez was involved in Tuesday’s helicopter attack.</s>CARACAS, June 28 (Reuters) - The Venezuelan government hunted on Wednesday for a rogue policemen who attacked key installations by helicopter, but critics of President Nicolas Maduro suspected the raid may have been manipulated to justify repression.

In extraordinary scenes over Caracas around sunset on Tuesday, the stolen helicopter fired shots at the Interior Ministry and dropped grenades on the Supreme Court, both viewed by Venezuela's opposition as bastions of support for a dictator.

Nobody was injured and the aircraft escaped.

Officials said special forces sought Oscar Perez, a police pilot named as the mastermind of the raid by the helicopter that carried a banner saying "Freedom!"

In 2015, Perez co-produced and starred in "Death Suspended," an action film based on real events in which he played the lead role as a government agent rescuing a kidnapped businessman.

There was no sign of Perez on Wednesday, though police sources said the helicopter was dumped in Higuerote, on the Caribbean coast.

The attack exacerbated an already full-blown political crisis in Venezuela after three months of opposition protests demanding general elections and fixes for the sinking economy.

At least 75 people have died since April, with hundreds more arrested and injured in what Maduro terms an ongoing coup attempt with U.S. encouragement.

"It's a terrorist attack that is part of an insurrectional offensive by Venezuelan right-wing extremists with the support of foreign governments and powers," said a Venezuelan government communique on the helicopter raid.

The attack fed a conspiracy theory by opposition supporters that it may have been a government setup and overshadowed other drama on Tuesday, including the besieging of opposition legislators by gangs in the National Assembly.

The helicopter raid also coincided with a judicial measure weakening the powers of dissident chief state prosecutor Luisa Ortega, who has emerged as a major challenger to Maduro.

"It seems like a movie," said Julio Borges, leader of the opposition-controlled legislature, of the helicopter raid.

"Some people say it is a set-up, some that it is real ... Yesterday was full of contradictions ... A thousand things are happening, but I summarize it like this: a government is decaying and rotting, while a nation is fighting for dignity."

Though Perez posted a video on social media showing himself in front of four hooded armed men and claiming to represent a coalition of security and civilian officials rising up against "tyranny," there was no evidence of deeper support.

The government, however, accused the policeman of links to the CIA and to Miguel Rodriguez, a former interior minister and intelligence chief under Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez, who has recently broken with government.

"I'm not at all convinced by the helicopter incident," Rodriguez told Reuters on Wednesday, saying the figures behind Perez in the video looked like dolls and expressing surprise the helicopter could fly freely and also not injure anyone.

"Conclusion: a cheap show. Who gains from this? Only Nicolas for two reasons: to give credibility to his coup d'etat talk, and to blame Rodriguez," he added, referring to himself.

Around the time of the attack, the pro-government Supreme Court expanded the role of the state ombudsman, a human rights guarantor who is closely allied with Maduro, by giving him powers previously held only by the state prosecutor's office.

Tarek Saab, an ardent Maduro ally, can now lead criminal investigations by ordering state officials to conduct autopsies and carry out ballistics tests, powers previously reserved for state prosecutors. He will also have access to the case files associated with criminal trials.

Opposition leaders described that as an attempt to supplant chief prosecutor Ortega, who has confronted both Maduro and the Supreme Court this year after splitting ranks.

Adding to Venezuela's tinder-box atmosphere, Venezuelan opposition supporters planned to take to the streets again on Wednesday, to block roads around the nation for four hours with barricades. A similar event on Monday brought much of Caracas and other cities to a standstill.

Opposition supporters hope that cracks within government may swing the crisis their way, and have been delighted to see heavyweights like Ortega and Rodriguez oppose Maduro.

But there seemed to be little enthusiasm for the pilot Perez. "It's a joke. How many people have been arrested for raising a flag? Yet someone who takes a helicopter, gets away," said Gary Guillen, walking in a Caracas street. "This sounds more like government tactics than anything else."

Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada complained at a news conference about the lack of international condemnation of Tuesday's helicopter attack in Caracas, saying it contrasted with the barrage of foreign criticism of the government.

"In Europe it's now eight at night, but we've not had any reaction from European Union countries," he said of a bloc that has been strongly critical of Maduro in recent months.

The minister rejected accusations that the attack was carried out by the government for its own purposes.

"Who can believe we are that sophisticated? Sending someone to throw grenades, who can believe that?" he asked, calling Perez a "psychopath." (Additional reporting by Brian Ellsworth, Herbert Villaraga, Diego Ore and Girish Gupta; Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe)</s>Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro said on Tuesday that a police helicopter had attacked the Supreme Court in Caracas but a grenade tossed at the building did not explode.

Speaking on state TV, the 54-year-old president, who has been facing three months of opposition protests and some dissent from within government ranks, said that Venezuelan special forces were after the "terrorists" behind the attack.
The Supreme Court of Venezuela bars Luisa Ortega Díaz, the chief prosecutor and outspoken critic of president Nicolás Maduro, from leaving the country and freezes her assets.