An influential Republican lawmaker blamed the Venezuelan government for an aerial assault on the country’s Supreme Court, despite the fact that it was led by a man who identified himself as being opposed to the country’s leftist president, Nicolas Maduro.
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-Fla.), a hawkish conservative and the former head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, leveled the accusations on Wednesday morning, at a hearing held by the committee.
“Things have taken a turn for the worse just in the last 24 hours, as you know,” Ros-Lehtinen told US Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley, referring to the ongoing political crisis in Venezuela.
“There was a helicopter attack targeting the Supreme Court by Maduro,” Ros-Lehtinen said. “And Maduro-controlled armed colectivos surrounded the National Assembly.”
While there were reports of pro-Maduro forces clashing with legislators on Tuesday, there is no evidence whatsoever that the same-day attack on the Supreme Court was carried out by those siding with the Venezuelan president.
According to multiple press reports, the assault was conducted by a rogue policeman and actor named Oscar Perez, who decried Maduro as leading a “criminal government,” in a video explaining the attack.
Perez and others boarded a helicopter and opened fire on the Interior Ministry before dropping four grenades on the Supreme Court, according to officials. Both buildings are located in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital. Officials said the team fled and abandoned their aircraft on the Caribbean coast.
While opposition forces have said the attack may have been staged as an excuse to crackdown on protests, there is no evidence that the assault was carried out “by Maduro,” as Ros-Lehtinen claimed.
“We need to keep the pressure on Maduro,” Ambassador Haley told Ros-Lehtinen, in response to questions about US policy toward Venezuela. “There are signs that he’s now gonna start using his military, and use weapons. And anything you see on TV, it is so much worse.”
“Almost 80 people dead, thousands arrested, thousands in jail,” Ros-Lehtinen responded.
“They just wanna be heard,” Haley said.
According to public opinion polling, however, ongoing protests in Venezuela aren’t simply a manifestation of opposition from “the Venezuelan people,” as Ros-Lehtinen claimed.
One opinion polling firm showed that a plurality of the country, 48 percent, want dialogue between the opposition and the government, according to the Venezuelan state-run English language outlet Telesur. Many demonstrators are hoping to oust Maduro.
Another poll cited by Telesur found that 35 percent of the country backs Chavismo, the Hugo Chavez-founded ideology allied with Maduro, while 29 percent of Venezuelans support the opposition.
Either way, Maduro himself remains unpopular—with an approval rating of only about 20 percent.
Violence that has occurred in recent protests hasn’t been solely perpetrated by pro-government forces, either. According to the left-leaning Venezeulanalysis.com, 15 of the deaths at recent protests occurred at the hands of state authorities or pro-government civilians, while 22 people were killed by opposition violence. The reason for 46 of the other killings was either disputed or attributed to looting.
Protests have been raging in Venezuela for more than three months. They were triggered in the Spring, when the Supreme Court dissolved the National Assembly—a decision reversed just days later.
Demonstrations have also been fueled by an economic crisis, which was triggered by the decline of oil prices in recent years.
