Nicolas Maduro said in a press conference yesterday that the Tuesday explosion in the important Amuay oil refinery in Falcón, was caused by an armed attack. Maduro told reporters that the attacker had used an unidentified “powerful weapon”, capable of destroying one of the towers of the refinery which, according to Maduro, was made of steel “thicker than that of a war tank.”
“Yesterday they attacked the Amuay refinery, they wanted to provoke a total explosion of the whole refinery. We are facing a permanent conspiracy payed by the United States and spurred by the opposition,” said Maduro. He also reminded reporters that “recently, two days ago, two foreigners that were in Venezuela planning to assassinate leaders of the Bolivarian Revolution, were captured.”
Colombian President, Iván Duque, and US President, Donald Trump, were mentioned by Maduro as having “made a pact” for an attack against Venezuela before the US elections: “In the North of Santander, in Cali, Antioquia, in the Guajira border, there are four camps with 1,000 Colombian and Venezuelan mercenaries, and other criminals... Because Duque promised Trump that he would do something against Venezuela before the elections.”
Maduro said that in the “next few hours” his Communications Minister will give details of the attack against Amuayand of the type of “powerful weapon” used. “Venezuela has faced a permanent conspiracy by political groups that want to generate violence and move money and weapons... It is a permanent conspiracy, sanctioned, promoted and financed by the Government of the United States, with the complicity of several European Governments,” ended his press conference.
