The Venezuelan government’s account of Saturday’s attempted assassination-by-drone of President Nicolás Maduro has raised more questions than it has answered. Here’s what we know: A video of the event shows the chaos that ensued when the drones exploded, with Maduro abruptly stopping his speech and soldiers in the crowd fleeing. The president was unharmed, but seven National Guard soldiers were injured. Hours later, Maduro appeared on national television to accuse the outgoing Colombian president, Juan Manuel Santos, and far-right elements in the U.S. of plotting the alleged attack. A little-known group called “Soldados de Franelas” claimed responsibility for the attack on Twitter. The group regularly posts anti-Maduro content but little else is known about them. Advertisement The government has said that attackers used two DJI M600 drones that each had 1 kilogram of C4 plastic explosive, CNN reported. One drone flew over the presidential stage but was diverted by the authorities to detonate outside the area the attackers had targeted. The other drone lost control and landed in an apartment building, exploding on the first floor, according to the government. (That explosion was later confirmed by two residents in an interview with the Washington Post.) Advertisement Advertisement Colombia and the U.S. have denied involvement, with National Security Advisor John Bolton calling on Venezuela to produce “hard information” of a U.S. link to the explosion. To make matters even more complicated, seven journalists covering the story were stopped and interrogated by security forces, with some of their cameras confiscated, according to Venezuela’s National Union of Press Workers. Advertisement Along with doubts about what really happened, there is also now increasing worry that Maduro may use the incident to consolidate power. “The official ‘investigation’ of today’s alleged assassination attempt against president Maduro takes the usual course: begin with the conclusion and work backwards,” Phil Gunson, a consultant with the nonprofit International Crisis Group, tweeted on Saturday. “He will use it to concentrate power, whoever did this,” David Smilde, a senior fellow at the Washington Office on Latin America, told the Associated Press on Saturday. “He’ll use it to further restrict liberty and purge the government and armed forces.” And it comes at a turbulent political moment, as Venezuela’s inflation nears 1 million percent and dozens of soldiers have been arrested for rebellion and desertion. It recalled an attack last year, in which intelligence police commander Oscar Pérez launched grenades at government buildings in Caracas from a helicopter. (He was killed in January after a nine-hour siege.) Hundreds of soldiers have deserted their posts this year, driven by low wages, food shortages and a government crackdown on dissent within the ranks. International scrutiny has intensified after Maduro won an election in May that was widely considered fraudulent.<doc-sep>Venezuela’s government said explosives carried by drones were detonated near President Nicolás Maduro and his entourage at a military ceremony Saturday in what the leader called an assassination attempt by right-wing foes. Mr. Maduro was unharmed, but the blasts injured seven soldiers taking part in a military parade honoring the National Guard in the capital of Caracas, the government said. “It was an attempt to kill me, they tried to assassinate me today,” Mr. Maduro said on national television three hours after the incident, as his aides listened and applauded him. The president said suspects had been arrested but didn’t specify a number. He vowed that others would be rounded up in what he said would be a harsh crackdown. “You’ve failed again,” he said, referring to his opponents. “There will not be forgiveness. We will chase you and we will capture you wherever you are.” The chaos at the scene in Caracas was captured on television and witnessed by residents who lived near Bolivar Avenue, a major thoroughfare where the ceremony was being held. “I was at home when I heard a strong explosion,” one woman, who asked not to be identified, said by telephone. “I went to window and saw the area where the armed forces were. I saw a white cloud.” Venezuela’s Maduro Survives Alleged Assassination Attempt Explosives carried by drones were detonated near the president in what he called an attempt to kill him Security forces protect Mr. Maduro after his speech was interrupted in Caracas. XINHUA/ZUMA PRESS 1 of 10 • • • • • 1 of 10 Show Caption Security forces protect Mr. Maduro after his speech was interrupted in Caracas. XINHUA/ZUMA PRESS Mr. Maduro blamed the government of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, who has been critical of growing repression in Venezuela, as well as unnamed right-wing forces in Florida. He didn’t provide evidence for his assertions. Mr. Maduro and his aides frequently blame Colombia, a close ally of the U.S., for orchestrating operations aimed at destabilizing Venezuela’s leftist government. In the Colombian capital of Bogotá, where Mr. Santos will hand over power to President-elect Ivan Duque in four days, government spokesman Camilo Granada dismissed Mr. Maduro’s claims. “There’s no basis” to the accusations, Mr. Granada said. Mr. Santos spent Saturday focused on the baptism of his granddaughter, “and not on overthrowing foreign governments,” he added. Mr. Maduro said opponents wanted to end his life because he was moving forward with an economic recovery plan as well as efforts to deepen what he calls a revolution to remake Venezuela. “I am fine, I am alive and I can say after this attempt that I am more dedicated than ever to fight for this revolution and continue on the only path that we have,” he said. Mr. Maduro, standing beside his wife Cilia Flores, looked up at the sky momentarily as he was promising that “the hour of the economic recuperation” had arrived. His speech ended abruptly, and the broadcast then panned to the face of a young soldier before focusing on the street in front of a makeshift stand where Mr. Maduro had been standing. Soldiers, who had been standing at attention, could be seen scrambling. In the midst of the confusion, a voice could be heard saying, “Let’s go to the right.” Scholars who closely follow Venezuelan politics said Mr. Maduro could use the incident to detain foes and tighten his grip on the military. “It’s standard practice for their government to use any public disturbance to crack down further,” said Eric Farnsworth, head of the Washington office of the Council of the Americas. Some analysts suggested that Saturday’s incident could have been staged by the government for that purpose. They noted that throughout 19 years of rule, Mr. Maduro and predecessor Hugo Chávez frequently claimed to have uncovered plots to depose them without offering details. But Harold A. Trinkunas, deputy director of Stanford University’s Center for International Security and Cooperation, said the images of soldiers running and people onstage being startled were “both dramatic and unfavorable to Maduro.” “If you wanted an excuse for repression, I think the government would have chosen something that would not make Maduro appear as vulnerable,” he said. Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro speaking in Caracas on Saturday. The government says a drone attack targeted the president in an assassination attempt at the event. Photo: Miguel GutiéRrez/Zuma Press The incident comes on the heels of a difficult week for Mr. Maduro. Residents of the capital blamed government mismanagement for a chain of power failures that left Caracas without lights or working phones. The problems underscore the economic collapse facing Venezuela, which Mr. Maduro says he plans to fix with a series of reforms that take effect Aug 20. Mr. Maduro, who has governed a country suffering from hyperinflation, hunger and rampant violence, is deeply unpopular, polls show. The discontent is evident in the armed forces, say current and former military officers. Members of the armed forces were planning a coup against Mr. Maduro when they were arrested in March, The Wall Street Journal reported in May. Several other coup attempts have also been thwarted by the president’s intelligence services over the past year, leading to dozens of arrests and a military purge, according to several former and current Venezuelan officers. “The Venezuelan military is a time bomb, a pressure-cooker,” one Army captain, who had fled Venezuela, recently told The Journal. “It could explode at any time because everyone is unhappy.” —José de Córdoba in Mexico City contributed to this article. Write to Juan Forero at Juan.Forero@wsj.com and Kejal Vyas at kejal.vyas@wsj.com<doc-sep>
WASHINGTON – Two drones packed with explosives reportedly flew toward Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday night in what the government has described as a failed assassination attempt. Here's a look at the details: What happened? Assailants launched two drones filled with a total of more than 4 pounds of plastic explosives toward Maduro, his wife and other top Venezuelan leaders, according to the Associated Press. The attack occurred while Maduro was making a speech at a huge outdoor event in Caracas to celebrate the 81st anniversary of the country's national guard. One of the drones was set to explode above the president while the second was set to detonate in front of him, according to Interior Minister Nestor Reverol. The Venezuelan military knocked one of the drones off-course electronically. The second drone crashed into an apartment building about two blocks from where Maduro was speaking to hundreds of troops, Reverol said. Photos taken at the event showed security officers surrounding Maduro with some sort of large black shields as they escorted him away. "That drone came after me," Maduro said. "But there was a shield of love that always protects us. I’m sure I’ll live for many more years." Who launched the drone attack? The Venezuelan government alleges that Maduro's political opponents conspired with individuals in Miami and Bogota, Colombia, to try to kill Maduro. They have so far offered no real proof to support this claim, and opposition leaders charge that Maduro is using the attack as an excuse to crack down on his critics. Government authorities said Sunday that they have detained six people – whom they described as "terrorists and assassins" – in connection with the attack. Among those detained: a man who took part in 2014 protests against the government and a man who had a warrant out for his arrest for attacking a military barracks. Maduro accused the “far right,” working with conspirators in Miami and Bogota –including Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos – of launching the attack. Colombia’s government has denied any role in the violence. Maduro, who accuses the U.S. of supporting his opponents, called on President Donald Trump to hold the "terrorist group" accountable. John Bolton, Trump's national security adviser, said Sunday he would like to see solid evidence to support Maduro's claims. "If the government of Venezuela has hard information that they want to present to us that would show a potential violation of U.S. criminal law, we’ll take a serious look at it," Bolton said on "Fox News Sunday." What is the political and economic situation in Venezuela? Venezuela is in the midst of an economic crisis that has been described as worse than the Great Depression that devastated the United States and much of the rest of the world in the 1930s. The inflation rate is set to hit a stunning 13,000 percent this year. There are shortages of food and medicine and a soaring crime rate, spurring refugees to flee into neighboring countries. More than 600,000 Venezuelans have crossed into Colombia, and Brazil has declared a state of emergency because of all the Venezuelans sweeping into that nation. Maduro is viewed by the United States and other democratic countries as a corrupt, left-wing dictator who imposes strict controls on his people and on the press. He won re-election to a six-year term in May, but the process was widely viewed as a rigged farce. The Trump administration imposed new economic sanctions on Venezuela immediately after the election in an effort to stop Maduro from selling off government debt to enrich himself. What could happen next? Reverol said there could be more arrests. Critics fear an even greater government crackdown on Maduro's political opponents. "The investigation will get to the bottom of this," Maduro said. "No matter who falls." More:Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says drone attack was 'attempt to kill me' More:Venezuelan opposition leaders taken from their homes by state security agents