Explosions at Rally for Venezuelan President Maduro - Drones? Assassination? False Flag?

[Mick West]

Initial reports were mixed between it being a gas explosion and drones carrying bombs. There's a few videos

This one shows presumably what was on state TV, shows the initial reaction, then the reaction from the soldiers in the parade.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4X2dmYaKyWE


This one shows the reaction of the President and his security detail, and those around him

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xDapjigVAI


Both show people looking up, which seems to tally with the drone account

Here's a shot of an apartment, supposedly the site of one explosion - which understandably would look like a gas explosion if that's all you saw.

Multiple ways in which this could be interpreted as a "False flag". Story unfolding.

 

[vooke]

An explosion on an adjacent building and they covered the President. We have yet to see the drone wreckage so far.

 

[Hevach]

Looking up would also be consistent with any unknown explosion. People seem to no be lookigl in the same direction, suggesting they're looking for the source, not at it.


https://www.cbsnews.com/news/nicolas-maduro-speech-caracas-today-2018-08-04/
CBS cites alleged officials saying the explosion was a gas tank in the apartment building. Meanwhile, Venezuelan news Twitter feeds are saying Maudro has identified unnamed people in Florida and is calling on Trump to take action.

 

[Mick West]

Typical conspiracist response

Source: https://twitter.com/lukewearechange/status/1026139993096577024?s=21

 

[deirdre]

"We saw the drone that looked like the size of half a bicycle. It came from the sky and we thought it was a boy playing with it," said Pedro Peña, 62, who was in a seventh floor apartment with Gladys Miquelena, 56.

Seconds after they saw it, it exploded, he said. "We were scared. It sounded like a bomb."

The Associated Press had reported Saturday that three firefighters on the scene said a gas tank had exploded.

"It is not true that it was a gas leak," Peña, said. "Gas comes trough tubes here. I think it was a drone with explosives inside of it."

"It was not a gas leak. We have direct gas," said Catherine Pita, 24, another neighbor. "It was a drone that hit the building and caused the fire. One girl was hit by flying glass on the head and was taken to the hospital.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/worl...c897f17e185_story.html?utm_term=.c7020ea245bd

 

[Agent K]

There were two explosions in succession, as heard in this video.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-xDapjigVAI

Another witness showed The Associated Press cellphone video of a drone hovering over the street and then crashing into a building. The witness, who did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal, said he then saw the drone fall to the ground, setting off an explosion.
The witness said he saw police arrest a man purported to be piloting the drone.
...
A little-known group calling itself Soldiers in T-shirts claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack, saying it planned to fly two drones loaded with explosives at the president, but soldiers shot them down. The authenticity of the message could not be independently verified, and the organization did not respond to a message from the AP.
"It was not successful today, but it is just a matter of time," the group said in a tweet.
https://www.apnews.com/f5516be725fc4567a3f409a90a0526fc/Venezuela's-Maduro:-Drone-attack-was-attempt-to-kill-him

 

[Agent K]

Xinhua released a photo of an injured soldier, but he could've been injured in the stampede.

Caption: In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, an uniformed official bleeds from the head following an incident during a speech by Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, Saturday, Aug. 4, 2018. Drones armed with explosives detonated near Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as he gave a speech to hundreds of soldiers in Caracas on Saturday but the socialist leader was unharmed, according to the government. (Xinhua via AP)
https://www.washingtontimes.com/multimedia/image/ap_venezuela_maduro_22001jpg/

 

[Mick West]

Video of drone Exploding

Source: https://twitter.com/AbreuReport/status/1026208113265975300

Translation:
#ENVIDEO: The video of the moment of the first explosion of the Drone is released in the Av. Bolívar de Caracas near Nicolás Maduro. (V/Courtesía)

Video of drone seemingly hitting building, falling, then smoke.

Source: https://twitter.com/Adriananunezr/status/1026185087283552256

Translation:
The Telemundo @ csaavedrareport cameraman captured the moment when the second drone falls in Residencias Don Eduardo. For reasons of exclusivity, I can not share it in its entirety

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Why does it have lights on it? That would imply that a distant operator needed to see it in his line of sight.

But can't you control these things via the camera on the drone and VR goggles?

Seems pretty primitive if the operator was in line of sight. And then lost line of sight, which would explain lack of effective control?

 

[Mick West]

Why does it have lights on it? That would imply that a distant operator needed to see it.

But don't you control these things via the camera on the drone?

Probably just standard. Most drones have basic nav lights. Like:

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XU4rEbCxSW0

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

You should disable lights with tape, if nothing else.

 

[Mick West]

Also it's quite possible they removed the camera to increase the explosive payload.

You should disable lights with tape, if nothing else.

I don't see it being an issue. It was in daylight, the drone was quite visible regardless of lights.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Okay, I'm convinced. The important question: were the operators using line of sight method?

Guessing that for safety, the operators were so far away that they lost line of sight, which would explain ineffectiveness.

 

[Mick West]

You'd think this is going to be a signification security problem now. Essentially a drone could deliver a bomb to a precise location in seconds. Could come in high, from the sun, at 100 mph.

Consider this real-time video of drone flying around a stadium

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTifvVZBNWs


If anything it's a bit surprising it worked so poorly. The drone that exploded seemed to be moving very slowly, and the other one seemed to slowly bump into a building.

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

Which will make people suspect this was just for show. I suspect incompetence.

Another question: Were the drones simply overloaded and difficult/impossible to control? Exceeded operator skill level; or impossible to control by anyone?

 

[Agent K]

You'd think this is going to be a signification security problem now. Essentially a drone could deliver a bomb to a precise location in seconds. Could come in high, from the sun, at 100 mph.

That's what the fictional Slaughterbots video imagines.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CO6M2HsoIA


It takes an explosive drone to take down an explosive drone.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5VJ7ZMqO3xs


Or lasers or high-power microwaves.

Forty-five unmanned aerial vehicles and drones fell out of the sky, downed by Raytheon's advanced high-power microwave and laser dune buggy in a U.S. Army exercise.
https://www.raytheon.com/news/feature/forty-five-down

 

[Agent K]

Which will make people suspect this was just for show. I suspect incompetence.

Another question: Were the drones simply overloaded and difficult/impossible to control? Exceeded operator skill level; or impossible to control by anyone?

The group that claimed responsibility said that soldiers shot them down.

A little-known group calling itself Soldiers in T-shirts claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack, saying it planned to fly two drones loaded with explosives at the president, but soldiers shot them down. The authenticity of the message could not be independently verified, and the organization did not respond to a message from the AP.
"It was not successful today, but it is just a matter of time," the group said in a tweet.
https://www.apnews.com/f5516be725fc4567a3f409a90a0526fc/Venezuela's-Maduro:-Drone-attack-was-attempt-to-kill-him

 

[Z.W. Wolf]

The assailants flew two drones each packed with 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds) of C-4 plastic explosive toward Maduro, his wife and other top leaders as he spoke Saturday evening at an event celebrating the 81st anniversary of the National Guard, said Interior Minister Nestor Reverol. One of the drones was to explode above the president while the other was to detonate directly in front of him, he added.

But the military managed to knock one of the drones off-course electronically and the other crashed into apartment building two blocks away from where Maduro was speaking to the hundreds of troops, Reverol said.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/venezuelas-maduro-drone-attack-attempt-kill-him-040352057.html

Knocked off course electronically, yet:

- It was shown hovering and then exploded.

- No alarm was given before the explosions.

The knocked of course electronically thing would seem to be more consistent with the one that crashed into the building, so maybe the message was garbled somewhere along the line. Although I guess hovering steadily may be what a drone would do without any radio control at all?

But if they were aware of the drones why was no alarm given? Everyone was just standing there until after the explosions. Maybe it was not deemed necessary to give an alarm? After all, they may not have known the things were carrying explosives. This incident may reset policy about the things worldwide.

But if the drones' radio controls were jammed how did the explosives go off? A different frequency? A timed fuze?

 

[Jay Reynolds]

Not so easy to knock out a drone electronically. If there were a drone attack underway Maduro's guards would have given him cover not just stay in the open.
Venezuelan government says the model was DJI Matrice 600 which is a heavy commercial drone.
https://www.uasvision.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Venzuela-drone-pic.jpeg

My thought is with thousands of people carrying cell phones where are the hundreds of pics or vids of the same puff of smoke in the sky? Why just one such video?

 

[Jay Reynolds]

By coincidence I just began learning to fly a drone this week, 3 batteries worth so about 45 minutes. Mainly by line of sight but beginning to fly by video feed on an Ipad. They could be very dangerous as the video Mick posted at the stadium shows. Any drone racing competition video shows what they are capable of. Drones used with the VR goggles amount to human guided Kamikaze missiles making shooters on a rooftop completely obsolete. They can pass through tiny openings, windows or doors, around obstacles and probably be controlled from a continent away or even autonomously.

Beware the drones!

 

[Spectrar Ghost]

Not so easy to knock out a drone electronically. If there were a drone attack underway Maduro's guards would have given him cover not just stay in the open.
Venezuelan government says the model was DJI Matrice 600 which is a heavy commercial drone.
https://www.uasvision.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/08/Venzuela-drone-pic.jpeg

My thought is with thousands of people carrying cell phones where are the hundreds of pics or vids of the same puff of smoke in the sky? Why just one such video?

How may of those cell phones were likely pointed at the drone instead of Maduro? It's just a drone, until it's not. I'm not surprised by that at all.

 

[Jay Reynolds]

How may of those cell phones were likely pointed at the drone instead of Maduro? It's just a drone, until it's not. I'm not surprised by that at all.

I'm waiting on even a single photo showing some context. There were professional news cameras rolling. Even a camera panning or a snapshot to a puff of smoke over the crowd but none seem to exist. That surprises me.

 

[Agent K]

I'm waiting on even a single photo showing some context. There were professional news cameras rolling. Even a camera panning or a snapshot to a puff of smoke over the crowd but none seem to exist. That surprises me.

I've been waiting for the AP to release the cell phone video they were shown. As I quoted above, "Another witness showed The Associated Press cellphone video of a drone hovering over the street and then crashing into a building." Perhaps the witness didn't give them the video for the same reason he "did not want to be identified for fear of reprisal."

But Telemundo released its video of the crashing drone.


Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DzTNgl9I0BU

 

[Jay Reynolds]

Fire appears to me to be confined mainly at one of two windows on the 3rd floor, with signs of heat and heaviest smoke on one window. Adjacent windows show signs of smoke but no heat possibly because they are separate rooms. No signs of heat or smoke coming upwards from lower floors or on the awning roof below.
If you didn't know about the drone story you would assume the fire was in a single room on the third floor, with smoke damage to adjacent rooms.

Photo of fire confirms it was confined to one room and not from below.

This guy(area neighbor) is disputing the news stories about firefighters saying it was a gas explosion, he is saying the drone came down around the seventh floor and crashed down to the first floor(choco a piso uno).

If the drone crashed down to the first floor how did it set fire to one room on the third floor of the building?

Also, if you were attempting a 'magnicide', would you leave lights burning on the drone?

 

[GregMc]

But if they were aware of the drones why was no alarm given? Everyone was just standing there until after the explosions. Maybe it was not deemed necessary to give an alarm? After all, they may not have known the things were carrying explosives. This incident may reset policy about the things worldwide.

But if the drones' radio controls were jammed how did the explosives go off? A different frequency? A timed fuze?

It does seem astoundingly incompetent. No line of sight required. Fully encrypted hd video transmission with 7+km range easily fitted . S600s can fly at 60km/hr and can be set up to fly autonomously using waypoints using alternative software to DJI Go app.
Many similar size drones of equal payload capacity can easily be fitted with flight controllers that have full gps waypoint programming that can fly to a location and carry out a function via pwm servo actuation such as release fertiliser, operate camera trigger etc all with operator transmitter switched off. The drones will carry out detailed flight plans and operations with no contact with a ground station at all.
I guess the military may have equipment that could simply overload/ disable the gps reception of the electronics onboard regardless of not needing to receive a transmitter control signal.

 

[Jay Reynolds]

If fakery is evident it might be revealed by this anti-Maduro news outlet from Miami. Their videos can be autotranslated to other languages with so-so results.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCVFiIRuxJ2GmJLUkHmlmj4w/videos

 

[Jay Reynolds]

It does seem astoundingly incompetent.

Whoever did this spent $10,000 USD on the drones.
https://store.dji.com/product/matri...nLVsPnnUQlHKmDDkaIYF6d1C2g_3NknAaApWrEALw_wcB

 

[GregMc]

Whoever did this spent $10,000 USD on the drones.
https://store.dji.com/product/matri...nLVsPnnUQlHKmDDkaIYF6d1C2g_3NknAaApWrEALw_wcB

Yes a bit paltry sum it would seem for trying to change a govt but that's just the base price and usually payloads such as camera gear, thermal imaging /mapping sensors/ lidar , gimbals spare batteries etc can easily double that.
I'm consulting with a surf lifesaving/rescue enterprise that use exactly the same model of drone and have been developing a corporate logo bearing vacuform canopy for them. They can drop life preservers/first aid kits, food rations etc etc
A photography drone is an effective ruse to initially allay suspicion and can easily carry a drama inducing payload but would need to approach very close to have any hope of succeeding. I can easily think of far more effective approaches but would rather not elaborate publicly.

 

[Mechanik]

I'm new to the site so I thought I'd try some research.

This looks like the location of the area of the incident. Note the red-roofed market in this photo and in the RT video:

I found a photo, taken from the Courthouse, that is similar to the elevation and angle of Mick's RT video posting.

Another photo of the Courthouse, taken from the plaza below the Simon Bolivar statue, shows that the photo above was probably taken from one of the landings/balconies on the left side.

And last but not least, a screen grab from the same first video. The soldiers in this area are the first to break ranks and react to the initial explosion.

My guess is that this group was directly under the initial blast, which would explain the soldier with the head wound. On my monitor, the group also seems to be a little more green in color which might indicate a similar uniform to the wounded soldier and his comrades. Of course, he could have been injured in the stampede from the right that occurs a few seconds later.

Given the conditions in Venezuela, I'm skeptical that we'll ever get enough information to figure out what really happened.

 

[Jay Reynolds]

New York Times has done some checking on the area. Interesting that Maduro and others on the grandstand looked up at something two minutes before the first explosion.


Link to video by NYT:

 

[Mechanik]

Found a couple of articles that I thought were helpful. The first ties into the False Flag vs. Assasination Attempt question. If you wanted to assassinate someone, would you use a drone?

And yet, while commercial drones remain an ineffective means of killing people, the Maduro incident shows they are marvelously effective as weapons of terrifying propaganda.

Source: https://foreignpolicy.com/2018/08/16/consumer-drones-are-propaganda-tools-not-killing-machines/

The second is from a site I've never heard of, Bellingcat, but it has nice, high-quality, video, photo, and analysis of facts and locations. Not as good as Metabunk, of course, but I see a lot of new-to-me information. Many pictures I've not seen before.

This article was written in collaboration with Giancarlo Fiorella, who runs the In Venezuela Blog and Twitter account, and the Bellingcat Investigation Team.

Summary

1. Open source information indicates two drones attempted to attack a parade at which President Maduro was speaking.
2. Both drones likely carried some form of explosive device. One detonated near the parade, the other crashed and then likely detonated, causing a fire.
3. Despite apparent claims from one group, it is not possible to accurately attribute this apparent attack without further information.

Source: https://www.bellingcat.com/news/americas/2018/08/07/drones-attack-maduro-caracas/

Mods: Did I get the quotes right this time?

 

[dc_hatman]

I'm just waiting for the false flag people to claim this is part a secret plot by the powers to be to make an excuse to take away our drones.