Venezuela asks Peru to find drone blasts suspects

Lima, August 16

Venezuela has asked Peruvian police to help locate two Venezuelan citizens it says were involved in drone explosions during a speech by President Nicolas Maduro earlier this month, Peru’s foreign ministry said in a statement on Wednesday.

Venezuela’s government has accused opposition politicians and anti-Maduro activists abroad of scheming to assassinate the leftist leader with explosives-laden drones during a military parade.

On Tuesday, two high-ranking military officers were arrested on suspicion of involvement in the incident. Fourteen people have been arrested, while others remain at large, including in neighboring Colombia and the United States, according to Venezuelan authorities.

“Today the Peruvian embassy in Caracas received Venezuela’s foreign ministry’s request to find two Venezuelan citizens sought by that country’s authorities for their presumed involvement in what that government calls an ‘attack against the President of Venezuela,’” Peru’s ministry said.

It added that it had passed the information on to the relevant Peruvian authorities, who would locate the two Venezuelans “in case they have entered Peru.” Maduro’s critics say he is using the incident to stifle dissent and cement his power in the oil-rich nation amid the economic crisis that has brought with it hyperinflation and power cuts. He says his government is the victim of an “economic war” led by opposition activists with the help of Washington. Reuters