Multiple Explosions Reported In/Around Caracas, Venezuela (Update: Maduro Arrested, Brought to U.S.)

(The Guardian) Explosions reported in Caracas
Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the developing situation in Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.

Witnesses have reported hearing explosions and aircraft in Caracas in the early hours of Saturday morning.

A southern area of the city, near a major military base, is reported to be without electricity.

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The Guardian’s Latin America correspondent Tom Phillips has more on the situation in Caracas: Explosions, loud noises and low-flying aircraft have been heard in the Venezuelan capital of Caracas, amid reports that Donald Trump had ordered strikes against the South American country.

In the early hours of Saturday the president of neighbouring Colombia, Gustavo Petro, claimed on social media that Venezuela had come under attack. “Right now they are bombing Caracas … bombing it with missiles,” Petro wrote on X, calling for an immediate emergency session of the UN security council.

Soon after CBS News reported that Trump had had ordered the attacks - including on military facilities.

At least seven explosions were heard about 2am local time and people in various neighbourhoods rushed to the street, the Associated Press reported.

“The whole ground shook. This is horrible. We heard explosions and planes in the distance,” said Carmen Hidalgo, a 21-year-old office worker.

Eyewitnesses reported seeing smoke pouring from two key military installations in Caracas: the La Carlota military airfield at the heart of the city and the Fuerte Tiuna military base where Venezuela’s authoritarian leader, Nicolás Maduro, has long been thought to live.

Venezuela’s government did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The explosions come after a five-month US pressure campaign against Maduro, which many analysts believe is designed to topple the Venezuelan leader. Since August, Donald Trump has ordered a massive military buildup off Venezuela’s northern coast and conducted a series of deadly airstrikes on supposed “narco boats”.

The White House and Pentagon did not immediately respond to request for comment on Saturday morning.

(The Guardian) 1:38pm Summary
--The governments of Spain, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Uruguay put out a strong joint statement saying the US actions in Venezuela “constitute an extremely dangerous precedent for peace and regional security and endanger the civilian population”, in an apparent reference to the Trump administration’s assertion that the US will “run” Venezuela and oversee oil production there.
--Venezuela’s defense minister, General Vladímir Padrino López, issued a statement recognizing the vice-president, Delcy Rodríguez, as the country’s acting president. He said Venezuela’s military “categorically reject the cowardly kidnapping” of the dictator Nicolás Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores by the US.
--US Secretary of State Marco Rubio attempted to distance this weekend’s invasion of Venezuela from other invasions such as the US in Iraq more than 20 years ago, saying the events, despite their apparent similarities, are “very different.”
--Rubio said on CBS that the US will continue to place pressure on Venezuela by seizing Venezuelan oil shipment boats. The Trump administration has repeatedly expressed a desire to take control of Venezuela’s vast oil reserves after ousting Maduro..
--Prominent US Republicans including Rubio and Senators Tom Cotton and Jim Jordan, both senate committee chairmen, on Sunday were swiftly backpedaling on Donald Trump’s assertions in a press conference on Saturday, just hours after the military intervention in Venezuela and the snatching of Maduro, that the US “will run” Venezuela in transition. The men essentially talked about pressuring the country’s Venezuelan leadership to comply with US demands about its future conduct.
--Pope Leo – the first American pontiff - said Venezuela must remain an independent country, as he called for respect of human rights after Nicolás Maduro’s capture by the US. Addressing crowds at the Vatican in Rome after Sunday prayer, the Pope - who spent years as a missionary in Peru - said: “The good of the beloved Venezuelan people must prevail over any other consideration.”

Dead2009 said:

Of course Democrats in this country are defending Maduro too.

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I don't defend Maduro, but I do take the mindset of the US needing to mind their own business and let other countries do their thing for the most part. I'll pass on being involved in some war, and I'm sure China and Russia will have something to say about this. I would compare this to Saddam Hussein 20 years ago, but I guess we'll see.