Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro was the subject of an attempted attack Saturday while speaking at a military ceremony in the nation's capital, the president's communications minister said. The video footage of the alleged attack shows Maduro speaking in front of dozens of assembled military personnel before all the officials who accompanied Maduro on stage look up to observe the reported drones. Another video shows aerial footage of the soldiers running away from the explosion with the woman recording say, “All of those fancy cars of the plugged-in elites trying to get away at the same time.”
According to the minister, the president remains unharmed after “several flying devices, drones, that had explosives that detonated.” While the official report claimed that drones detonating explosives were a targeted attempt to hurt the president, the Associated Press reports that three firefighters on the scene claim that the incident was a result of a gas tank explosion inside an apartment building.
If the attack was indeed a targeted incident, it wouldn't be the first. The country has experienced anti-government protests in recent months accusing Maduro of authoritarianism. The president continues to limit civil and political freedoms, while also presiding over immense food shortages, which became more severe in 2014 when the country's economy began to collapse.
