An active-duty member of the military helped carry out a paramilitary
attack on an army base that ransacked an arsenal of weapons, a top
official said on Monday.
Sunday's pre-dawn raid on Paramacay Fort in the northern state of
Carabobo had the "complicity" of first lieutenant Yefferson Garcia Dos
Ramos, who was in charge of the arsenal of the 41st Armored Brigade
stationed there, Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez
said.
Dos Ramos "acted as an accomplice, providing information on the
inside operation of the installation to the terrorist group, in exchange
for huge amounts of money," said Padrino.
Authorities said on Sunday that a former lieutenant, Juan
Caguaripano, had served as a spokesman for the attack, which was mainly
carried out by civilians in uniform.
Caguaripano appeared in a video that was a call to arms against the
government of President Nicolas Maduro, but at the same time denied the
armed rebellion was a coup d'etat.
Padrino urged greater unity following the incident, saying it was designed to provoke "chaos and seize power through violence."
"I call ... for national unity. These imperialist attacks must unite
us as a country, as a nation. They are intervening against a nation, not
against President Nicolas Maduro, or Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino
Lopez. It is against a country, a nation," Padrino said in a statement
delivered at the Tiuna Fort in the capital Caracas.
Venezuela's National Bolivarian Armed Forces (FANB) issued a
statement on Sunday, condemning the attack that left one man dead and
another seriously wounded.
While the FANB said it "successfully repelled the criminal
paramilitary terrorists," members of the group managed to steal weapons
before fleeing.
Seven others were captured and admitted to having been hired "by
Venezuelan extreme right-wing activists, in connection with foreign
governments," added the military.