CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — At least seven explosions and the sound of low-flying aircraft were heard in the capital, Caracas, around 2 a.m. local time on Saturday. The Venezuelan government has accused the United States of attacking civilian and military installations in several states.
The Pentagon referred a request for comment to the White House, which did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment. Meanwhile, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration banned U.S. commercial flights from Venezuelan airspace due to “ongoing military activity” before the Caracas explosion.
Thick smoke could be seen rising from a hangar at the Caracas military base. Another military installation in the capital was without power.
People from every neighborhood took to the streets. Some can be seen from a distance in various areas of Caracas.
“The whole ground was shaking. It was terrible. We heard explosions and planes,” said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker, her voice shaking. She was walking briskly with two relatives, returning from a birthday party. “We felt like the air was hitting us.”
In a statement, the Venezuelan government called on its supporters to take to the streets.
“People are taking to the streets!” the statement said. “The Bolivarian government calls on all social and political forces in the country to launch a mobilization plan to condemn this imperialist attack.”
The statement also said President Nicolas Maduro had “ordered the implementation of all defense plans” and declared a “state of external unrest”.
In recent days, the U.S. military has been targeting ships suspected of smuggling drugs. Venezuela said on Friday it was willing to negotiate a deal with the United States to combat drug trafficking.
Maduro also said in a pre-recorded interview aired Thursday that the United States wants to force a change in Venezuela’s government and gain access to its vast oil reserves through a months-long pressure campaign that began with a massive military deployment in the Caribbean in August.
Maduro has been charged with narco-terrorism in the U.S. The CIA last week carried out a drone strike on a staging area believed to be used by Venezuelan drug cartels, the first known direct action on Venezuelan soil since the U.S. began attacking ships in September.
U.S. President Donald Trump has threatened for months that he may soon order strikes against targets on Venezuelan soil. The United States has also seized sanctioned oil tankers off the coast of Venezuela, and Trump has ordered blockades of others, a move that appears aimed at tightening the stranglehold on the South American country’s economy.
The U.S. military has been attacking ships in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific since early September. As of Friday, there were 35 known boat strikes, with at least 115 fatalities, according to figures released by the Trump administration.
It follows a massive U.S. military buildup in South American waters, including the arrival of America’s most advanced aircraft carrier in November, adding thousands of troops to the largest military presence in the region in generations.
Trump called the ship attacks a necessary escalation to stop the flow of drugs into the United States and claimed the United States was in an “armed conflict” with drug cartels.
Meanwhile, Iranian state television reported the bombings in Caracas on Saturday and showed images of the Venezuelan capital. Iran has had close ties with Venezuela for years, in part because of their shared hostility to the United States
