Venezuela’s foreign minister condemned the opposition and their foreign backers for their silence over Tuesday’s helicopter attack on the capital.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada said Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition leader Henry Ramos’ only comment on social media was that the attack was “useless.”
“Firstly that does not condemn it,” Mr Moncada said. “Secondly it appears he was condemning it because it didn’t have the desired effect, that is to say, that it would blow up the building.”
And he asked why fellow Mud leader Henrique Capriles lacked the “moral courage to... repudiate a terrorist act.”
The newly-appointed minster and former ambassador to Britain accused fellow members of the Washington-based Organisation of American States of “feigning ignorance” and so protecting the culprits.
And he accused sections of the media of portraying the culprit — Police investigator and one-time action film star Oscar Perez — as a “Rambo type.”
Mr Perez stole a helicopter from an airbase in the capital on Tuesday and attacked the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Justice Tribunal (TSJ) with gunfire and grenades.
That was in apparent support of three months of MUD-incited rioting seeking the overthrow of United Socialist Party (PSUV) President Nicolas Maduro.
The helicopter used in the grenade attack was found abandoned near the beach town of Osma in Vargas state, northeast of Caracas, on Wednesday.
The government said Mr Perez was under investigation for links to the CIA and the US embassy in Caracas.
Police were also probing his connections to former interior minister Miguel Rodriguez — who was also tied to the CIA in recently-released documents.
Meanwhile pro-opposition Attorney General Luisa Ortega accused the government of “state terrorism” after the TSJ banned her from leaving the country and froze her bank accounts.
That was in response to a complaint by PSUV MP Pedro Carreno accusing Ms Ortega of breaching her office’s duty of political non-partisanship and becoming "a political activist for the right."
Ms Ortega refused to recognise the TSJ’s ruling and insisted she would continue in her post despite the investigation into her conduct.
And she continued to attack other TSJ decisions against the opposition.
This included Tuesday’s ruling lifting MP’s immunity from prosecution and instructing Mr Maduro to enforce the rule of law and granting prosecutorial powers to Public Defender Tarek William Saab — formerly Ms Ortega’s fiefdom.
At a press conference on Wednesday, Foreign Minister Samuel Moncada said Democratic Unity Roundtable (MUD) coalition leader Henry Ramos’ only comment on social media was that the attack was “useless.”
“Firstly that does not condemn it,” Mr Moncada said. “Secondly it appears he was condemning it because it didn’t have the desired effect, that is to say, that it would blow up the building.”
And he asked why fellow Mud leader Henrique Capriles lacked the “moral courage to... repudiate a terrorist act.”
The newly-appointed minster and former ambassador to Britain accused fellow members of the Washington-based Organisation of American States of “feigning ignorance” and so protecting the culprits.
And he accused sections of the media of portraying the culprit — Police investigator and one-time action film star Oscar Perez — as a “Rambo type.”
Mr Perez stole a helicopter from an airbase in the capital on Tuesday and attacked the Interior Ministry and the Supreme Justice Tribunal (TSJ) with gunfire and grenades.
That was in apparent support of three months of MUD-incited rioting seeking the overthrow of United Socialist Party (PSUV) President Nicolas Maduro.
The helicopter used in the grenade attack was found abandoned near the beach town of Osma in Vargas state, northeast of Caracas, on Wednesday.
The government said Mr Perez was under investigation for links to the CIA and the US embassy in Caracas.
Police were also probing his connections to former interior minister Miguel Rodriguez — who was also tied to the CIA in recently-released documents.
Meanwhile pro-opposition Attorney General Luisa Ortega accused the government of “state terrorism” after the TSJ banned her from leaving the country and froze her bank accounts.
That was in response to a complaint by PSUV MP Pedro Carreno accusing Ms Ortega of breaching her office’s duty of political non-partisanship and becoming "a political activist for the right."
Ms Ortega refused to recognise the TSJ’s ruling and insisted she would continue in her post despite the investigation into her conduct.
And she continued to attack other TSJ decisions against the opposition.
This included Tuesday’s ruling lifting MP’s immunity from prosecution and instructing Mr Maduro to enforce the rule of law and granting prosecutorial powers to Public Defender Tarek William Saab — formerly Ms Ortega’s fiefdom.