CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The Latest on Venezuela's announcement of a drone attack aimed at President Nicolas Maduro (all times local):

People living near the site of what appeared to be an assassination attempt against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro say they saw a drone crashing into an apartment building as explosions occurred during the event.

Officials say attackers flew drones loaded with explosives toward the president during an open-air military ceremony that was broadcast on live television. Maduro wasn't injured.

Witnesses interviewed by The Associated Press on Sunday confirmed seeing at least one drone apparently linked to an explosion.

One showed a cellphone video of a drone hovering over a residential street two blocks away and then crashing into a building. While the video doesn't show an explosion, the witness said it fell and then exploded, starting a fire.

Another resident apparently saw the same drone. Maerum Gonzalez says she heard a thundering explosion and in terror ran to her fifth-floor balcony. She says she saw a drone strike the same building mentioned by the other witness and then fall. Moments later she heard a second explosion and saw black smoke rising.

President Donald Trump's national security adviser says the U.S. played no role in the apparent assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Venezuelan officials say drones armed with explosives detonated while Maduro was delivering a speech to hundreds of soldiers being broadcast live on television.

Trump's adviser, John Bolton, says he can state "unequivocally" that "there was no U.S. government involvement in this at all."

As to what happened in Caracas, Bolton said "it could be a lot of things from a pretext set up by the Maduro regime itself to something else."

Maduro on Saturday did not directly blame the U.S. government, pointing instead at Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. But he asserted that the "intellectual authors" and financiers behind the plan live in Florida. And he said the attack's goal "is what U.S. imperialism is seeking" — "a Venezuela in conflict, in civil war."

He asked Trump to arrest the terrorists.

Apparently in response, Bolton said " ''If the government of Venezuela has hard information that they want to present to us that would show a potential violation of U.S. criminal law, we'll take a serious look at it." </s> The man who claims he planned the exploding-drone attack on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro along with defectors from the Venezuelan military has come forward to tell his story – to CNN, of all people.

The would-be drone bomber says he met with US officials three times after the attack that took place at a military parade in August last year. In an interview with CNN, he claims the US officials seemed receptive to giving them “things in return” for information about the assassination attempt.

A State Department spokesman declined to comment, saying only “Our policy is to support a peaceful transition in Venezuela.”

The assassin, who wished to remain anonymous for obvious reasons, provided video of the conspirators tinkering with the improvised drone bomb, which they reportedly built themselves in a farmhouse in Colombia using materials they purchased online from the US. His footage also showed the group practising flying the drones “high enough to not be seen,” then diving steeply to hit their target, before dismantling them and sneaking them into Venezuela.

The man acknowledged the attack could have killed innocent civilians, had the bombs not detonated prematurely when the cellular signal blockers protecting Maduro reactivated, but claimed he was desperate.

“We have tried every peaceful and democratic way to bring an end to this tyranny that dresses itself as democracy,” he told CNN, claiming he had friends who had been jailed and tortured by Maduro’s government.

While National Security Advisor John Bolton initially suggested the attack had been faked to create a “pretext” for a crackdown, US officials have since confirmed to CNN that they believe it was a “genuine attack gone wrong.”

Self-appointed president Juan Guaido believes the attack was staged, telling CNN, “I think this was something internal, done by the government. It ends up making them look like victims.”

Maduro ultimately blamed the “Venezuelan ultra-right in alliance with the Colombian extreme right” for the attack.

If you like this story, share it with a friend! </s> New videos obtained by CNN provide chilling insight into a mystery drone attack against Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last year-the world's first known attempt to kill a head of state with a retail drone,One man has come forward as an organizer of the attack,. In an exclusive interview with CNN, he recounted how they prepared for the attack, and provided cell phone videos of their drones, explosives, and practice flights in the rural farmlands of Colombia."We have tried every peaceful and democratic way to bring an end to this tyranny that dresses itself as democracy," he told CNN on condition of anonymity, referring to the Maduro regime. "We have friends who are in custody, tortured. This was a hard decision."He also acknowledged that the attackalongside their target.he said. "We cared about that as the Venezuelan people are always the ones feeling the consequences.""Such options are not good," he said. He added that. "I think this was something internal, done by the government. It ends up making them look like victims."US National Security advisor John Bolton said the morning after the attack that it might have been faked to provide the Maduro government with a "pretext," perhaps for a crackdown.As Maduro addressed a military parade on Avenida Bolivar, one of the capital's main thoroughfares, the sound of an explosion suddenly scattered civilians and soldiers alike. State news cameras and social media at the event captured fragmented images of mass confusion - smoke rising above the city, a formation of soldiers scattering, bodyguards leaping to shield the president.Only later would the story be pieced together: Two small drones flying over the event had exploded. Neither was close enough to do lethal damage, though seven members of the Venezuelan National Guard were injured. An unharmed Maduro would later say that he thought the explosions were fireworks.In the aftermath, dozens of people were arrested as Venezuelan officials launched an investigation to work out who had orchestrated the apparent attack. Some were tortured, activists say, while others on the government's list of suspects remain at large. Maduro also blamed far-right activists and the Colombian government, which denied any responsibility.The attack organizer told CNN that Colombia was not involved. He said that the drone attack was orchestrated by a groupdefectors from the Venezuelan military, with the aim to assassinate Maduro.The attacker claimed that. "After, they set up three meetings which I imagine was to collect information to study the case, but it didn't go past that," he said."They wanted to get information and then we asked for things in return. They took notes on this, and we asked if they would be able to help.."A US State Department spokesman declined to comment on the alleged meetings, but said: "Our policy is to support atransition in Venezuela." CNN has not found proof that the meetings happened.The plan was foiled by guards who caused the drones to explode prematurely, the attacker says.The Venezuelan government's account of the attack, provided by the interior minister,, including the drones' flight paths.The attack was prepared on a rented farm in rural Colombia. Weeks before Maduro's speech, the Venezuelan defectors had ordered commercially available drones online from the United States, and customized them to detonate a homemade bomb through the remote control app.In the videos the defector provided to CNN, you can hear men complaining that the drones' screws are too tiny. It's hard to read the Chinese lettering on the boxes, one says.Videos also show the group practicing the tricky bit: flying the drones high enough to avoid detection, and then swooping down at a steep angle to strike their target. They practice in different scenarios: amid green hills over a swimming pool, launched out of a car window, under cover of night. One drone would be later blown up in a test.Later, they dismantle the machines to be smuggled across the border into Venezuela. Once back in their homeland, they would slowly rebuild the two drones destined for the president. </s> In brief: Using drones for illegal activities is nothing new, but this weekend may have seen UAVs used in an attempted crime on a whole different level. Nicolás Maduro, the president of Venezuela, said he survived an alleged assassination attempt when drones carrying explosives detonated near him as he gave a speech.

We’ve heard reports of commercial UAVs helping to deliver drugs to prisoners, survey potential robbery locations, spy on people, and even disrupt an FBI hostage raid, but this could be the first time they’ve been used in an assassination attempt on a country’s leader.

Maduro was speaking at a military event in Caracas on August 4 when the apparent attack took place. Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said one of the explosives went off near the president, though he was unhurt. Seven National Guard soldiers are reported to have been injured.

The event was being shown live on national television. The audio was cut off at the time of the explosion, followed by footage of soldiers running away. Images on social media show Maduro being protected by black bulletproof panels.

Maduro has often been criticized for policies that undermine democracy and violate human rights. Falling oil prices have pushed Venezuela into the middle of an economic crisis, and the President’s recent re-election brought claims of fraudulent polling. Rodriguez claimed Venezuela's right-wing opposition was behind the attack. "After losing the vote, they failed again," he said.

Maduro, however, said Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos was responsible, a claim the Colombian government has called “absurd.” He also alleged that elements within the US were part of "a right-wing plot" to kill him.

Maduro said initial investigations indicated that “several of those intellectually responsible and the financiers of this attack live in the United States, in the state of Florida.” He called on Donald Trump to fight these “terrorist groups.”

A group called Soldiers in T-shirts used social media to claim responsibility for the drone attack, though it has offered no evidence. It claims the UAVs were shot down before reaching Maduro.

If this really was a drone attack—some authorities claim it was a gas tank explosion—it could mark the start of a practice where non-military UAVs are used in assassination attempts on high-profile targets. </s> Bogota, Colombia (CNN) New videos obtained by CNN provide chilling insight into a mystery drone attack against Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro last year—the world's first known attempt to kill a head of state with a retail drone, purchased online and armed by hand with military grade explosives.

One man has come forward as an organizer of the attack, saying it was perpetrated by a group of Venezuelan Army defectors and others. In an exclusive interview with CNN, he recounted how they prepared for the attack, and provided cell phone videos of their drones, explosives, and practice flights in the rural farmlands of Colombia.

"We have tried every peaceful and democratic way to bring an end to this tyranny that dresses itself as democracy," he told CNN on condition of anonymity, referring to the Maduro regime. "We have friends who are in custody, tortured. This was a hard decision."

He also acknowledged that the attack could have killed innocent civilians alongside their target. "That was the risk we had to take," he said. "We cared about that as the Venezuelan people are always the ones feeling the consequences."

Security forces check a nearby building after an explosion was heard during Maduro's speech.

The self-declared interim president of Venezuela, its opposition leader Juan Guaido, told CNN he disapproved of the attack.

Read More </s> One of the masterminds behind an attack on Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro claims to have used an online-bought drone fitted with hand grenades in a plot planned at a rural farmhouse in Colombia, according to reports.

The organizer of the attack spoke anonymously to CNN, telling the network: 'We have tried every peaceful and democratic way to bring an end to this tyranny that dresses itself as democracy.

'We have friends who are in custody, tortured. This was a hard decision.'

Footage appears to show those behind the attack taking the drones - bought over the web from the United States - on test runs in rural Colombia.

Video provided by the perpetrator shows the group flying the drones at green gazebo targets during the day and night.

It also shows them trying to read instructions in Chinese on the drone packaging and building the bomb.

Amid an idyllic backdrop the group try to fly the drones high before sending them down low. The devices would later be dismantled and taken into Venezuela.

The attacker, who says Colombia was not involved in the assault, also claims to have met with US officials three times after the failed assassination attempt.

He said: 'After, they set up three meetings which I imagine was to collect information to study the case, but it didn't go past that.

'They wanted to get information and then we asked for things in return. They took notes on this, and we asked if they would be able to help. Then they simply left with their notes, and they never appeared again.'

There is no proof of the meetings, CNN reports, and a US State Department spokesman declined to comment on the allegation.

In the aftermath of the attack questions were raised about whether it was faked.

Maduro had been addressing a military parade in Caracas on live TV, when he suddenly halted and looked to the sky after hearing an explosion.

He and his wife Cilia Flores were swamped with aides carrying bulletproof shields but both escaped uninjured.

Video showed hundreds of soldiers who were assembled in neat formation on a wide road scatter in all directions amid the sound of screaming.

In the months following Venezuela plunged into deeper political chaos triggered by the U.S. demand that Maduro step down a month into a second term that the U.S. and its allies in Latin America consider illegitimate.

His opponent, the 35-year-old Juan Guaido, burst onto the political stage in January in the first viable challenge in years to Maduro's hold on power.

As head of the Congress, Guaido declared himself interim president on Jan. 23, saying he had a constitutional right to assume presidential powers from the 'tyrant' Maduro.

The escalating crisis is taking place against a backdrop of economic and social turmoil that has led to severe shortages of food and medicine that have forced millions to flee the once-prosperous OPEC nation. </s> The 'masterminds' of the alleged drone assassination attempt on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maudro have been identified, authorities said, as Brazil temporarily closed its border to people from the crisis-hit nation.

Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab told a news conference that several suspects were in custody, including two people 'caught in the act' piloting one of the drones from a car close to the scene.

He called Saturday's drone attack, in which seven soldiers were wounded, 'an attempted massacre', and Maduro has already pointed fingers at political enemies in Colombia and the United States.

The incident took place on Saturday during a parade marking the 81st anniversary of the National Guard, in the capital Caracas.

Video footage from the event shows Maduro standing flanked by military chiefs and his wife when suddenly explosions are heard.

Soldiers can be seen seen scattering away from the stage, before the broadcast was cut.

Yesterday, Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said six people have been arrested over the alleged assassination attempt, claiming two drones had been used, each carrying a kilogram (2.2lbs) of C4 explosive.

No drones could be seen in the broadcast of the event, which was cut moments after the soldiers were seen scattering away from where Maduro was standing flanked by military chiefs and his wife.

Maduro and his allies insist it was a drone assassination bid, despite no evidence being provided to prove this.

The socialist leader's critics have said they feared the Venezuelan government would use the attack to step up repression of the opposition and dissidents.

Shortly before midnight last night, Maduro renewed his accusation against his Colombian counterpart, President Juan Manuel Santos, promising to release proof 'in the next few hours.'

The allegation has worsened already fraught ties between Caracas and Bogota. Santos, who hands over power to elected successor Ivan Duque on Tuesday, has categorically denied it.

International experts have expressed similar concerns in the wake of the incident, saying it is giving the President an opportunity to distract the population from the economic crisis.

'It's the [former President Hugo] Chavez and Maduro playbook – to blame others for their problems, whether it's food shortages, inflation, medicine shortages, diseases such as polio [reappearing], which was eradicated nearly 40 years ago,' Jason Marczak, director of the Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center, told Fox News.

'Colombia is increasingly seen as a scapegoat for Maduro for the problems he faces in Venezuela, problems he created in his own country,' Marczak said.

'There has been a ramp-up in Colombia's attention to the crisis in Venezuela and trying to facilitate some type of international response...to put pressure on Venezuela.'

A live broadcast of Saturday's incident on Venezuelan state television showed Maduro interrupted in mid-speech by an explosion and looking up in confusion.

Dozens of soldiers on parade are then seen breaking ranks and running away in panic.

Maduro and his government said the president had been targeted by two flying drones carrying explosives. But details of the incident remain unclear, with conflicting information coming from various sources.

The Maduro administration said Colombia had collaborated on the attack with the 'ultra far-right' Venezuelan opposition, and it was financed by unnamed figures in the US state of Florida.

No evidence was given to support the allegations. Thousands of exiled Venezuelans live in Colombia and in Florida.

On the first working day after the Maduro incident, Brazil briefly closed its northern border to Venezuelans on Monday - while allowing other nationalities entry.

It is not thought to be related to Maduro's alleged assassination attempt, as Brazil has been struggling to contain mass migration from Venezuela for some time.

The Supreme Court overturned a lower court decision that had suspended the entry of more Venezuelans until other immigrants from the country were transferred elsewhere in Brazil.

'It is not justified to take the easy path to 'close the doors' because of difficulties in hosting refugees,' Supreme Court justice Rosa Weber said in her ruling issued shortly before midnight.

The border had remained open to Brazilians and other nationalities, as well as to Venezuelans seeking to return to their home country.

It's a main crossing point for tens of thousands of Venezuelan migrants, an influx that has increased dramatically over the past two years.

An estimated 500 Venezuelans cross the land border into Brazil each day.

Maduro, a former bus driver who took over the reins from his mentor Hugo Chavez upon the latter's death to cancer in 2013, has been ruling in increasingly autocratic fashion with military support.

He controls almost all the country's institutions, and has used the supreme court, electoral authorities and a new super-legislative body, the Constitutional Assembly, to sideline the opposition-run parliament, the National Assembly.

Although he won a new six-year term in controversial snap elections boycotted by the opposition, Maduro remains widely reviled for presiding over a collapsing economy.

Inflation this year is projected to reach as high as one million percent, according to the International Monetary Fund. Oil exports - a vital money-earner for a country sitting atop the world's largest crude reserves - have declined sharply.

Venezuela's currency, the bolivar, is practically worthless and food and medicine are extremely scarce, prompting hundreds of thousands of Venezuelans to flee abroad.

The country is largely isolated internationally and is subject to US sanctions that greatly degrade Caracas's capacity to raise credit.

Maduro regularly accuses the 'imperialist' United States of plotting coups against him and waging 'economic war' on Venezuela. </s> Caracas: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on Monday renewed his accusation against his Colombian counterpart, blaming him for what Caracas has called a drone “assassination” attempt on the Socialist leader over the weekend.

 In a video posted on Twitter shortly before midnight, the 55-year-old said police and the military had captured some of the conspirators and were now hunting the masterminds.

 “There is sufficient evidence of the participation of the outgoing Colombian government of president Juan Manuel Santos,” he added, promising to release proof “in the next few hours.”

 The allegation has worsened already fraught ties between Caracas and Bogota. Santos, who handed over power to elected successor Ivan Duque on Tuesday, has categorically denied it.

 A live broadcast of Saturday’s incident on Venezuelan state television showed Maduro interrupted in mid-speech by an explosion and looking up in confusion.

 Dozens of soldiers on parade are then seen breaking ranks and running away in panic.

 Maduro and his government said the president had been targeted by two flying drones carrying explosives. But details of the incident remain unclear, with conflicting information coming from various sources.

 The Maduro administration said Colombia had collaborated on the attack with the “ultra far-right” Venezuelan opposition, and it was financed by unnamed figures in the US state of Florida. No evidence was given to support the allegations. Thousands of exiled Venezuelans live in Colombia and in Florida.

 Maduro had been expected to address his supporters — most of them workers — who marched through Caracas in what would have been his first public appearance since Saturday’s incident. But he failed to show. The communications ministry did not explain his absence. — AFP </s> Venezuela’s attorney general said Tuesday that two high-ranking military officers have been detained in the investigation into an alleged drone attack against President Nicolas Maduro.

Attorney General Tarek William Saab said National Guard Maj. Gen. Alejandro Perez and National Guard Col. Pedro Javier Zambrano were presented to court late Monday in the August 4 incident.

Opposition lawmaker Juan Requesens is accused of taking part in the plot, his lawyer said. Several other individuals have been arrested.

Army Gen. Armando Hernandez, in a video posted on social media, said he was being detained at his flat in Caracas by counterintelligence service DGCIM.

CNN could not independently verify the claim.

Maduro has accused opposition groups of orchestrating the failed attack and claimed the “financiers and planners” of the operation live in Florida.

Authorities have identified the masterminds of the assassination attempt as well as the people who assisted them, Saab said previously.

The investigation, which involves four prosecutors, has yielded the locations from where the drones were piloted, as well as the arrests of two of the drone pilots, the country’s top law enforcement official said.

“We also know the places where they stayed in the days leading to the attack. We have identified the people who made the explosives and prepared the weapons and their international links,” Saab said.

He further said the alleged assassination constituted a “betrayal to the motherland, intentional homicide attempt, terrorism, association to commit a crime and financing terrorism.”

Maduro survived the assault, during which the government says drones armed with explosives flew toward him as he spoke at a military parade. He earlier blamed the attack on far-right elements and Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Colombia called the claim absurd and said it had become “customary for Maduro to blame Colombia for any kind of problem in his country.”
A CNN reporter alleges an unnamed source has provided new video details about the August 2018 drone explosion in Caracas, claiming that it was part of a plot to kill Nicolás Maduro.