Venezuela Unrest: attack on military base; state firms hacked

A manhunt is underway in Venezuela for 10 anti-government fighters who attacked an army base over the weekend in an apparent attempt to incite a military uprising.

President Nicolás Maduro vowed that the fighters would face the maximum penalty. According to the government and media reports, a group of 20 men entered the Paramacay base in Valencia, Carabobo state, early Sunday and took weapons. In subsequent fighting, two of the men were killed, a handful of others were detained and about 10 managed to escape.

The incident occurred after a tumultuous week in which Maduro installed a legislative superbody giving him powers to rewrite the constitution and sideline the opposition-controlled parliament. The first decision handed down by the so-called national constituent assembly (ANC) was to dismiss chief prosecutor Luisa Ortega, an outspoken critic of the government.

Meanwhile, the website of some 40 state-run public entities were hacked on Monday. A group calling itself the Binary Guardians carried out the cyberattack, which billed itself as the digital arm of the protests that have taken place over the past four months in Venezuela. The hackers told Reuters that they supported the attack on the Paramacay military base.

The website of electoral council CNE was among those hacked. The council played a controversial role in the July 30 vote to choose the ANC members, claiming some 8mn Venezuelans had voted. The company that provided the voting machines and software, Smartmatic, said the turnout figure had been altered by the government.

Pictured: Protesters clashed with police near Valencia's Paramacay base on Sunday