MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuelan gov't speaks of terrorist attack as oil pipe burns

Cabello insisted the perpetrators stemmed from US imperialist actions

Venezuelan authorities were speaking of a “terrorist attack” Monday after a state-owned gas pipeline went up in smoke Sunday in the country's eastern region.

Oil Minister Tareck El Assami said on social media that the usual “same terrorist groups” were behind the attack, although he failed to specify where exactly it had taken place. The only other piece of information released to the press was that the facilities belonged to the state oil company PDVSA in the state of Monagas.

”Together with the working class of Pdvsa, the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), technical personnel, and firefighters, we will be able to recover our gas pipeline immediately,“ wrote Assami, who also said the fire had been caused by criminal action.

According to local media reports, this is not the first time that an event of this nature has occurred in Venezuela. State-owned companies such as PDVSA or Corpoelec have already suffered this type of situation. The Venezuelan State usually blames the opposition for these ”attacks.”

Meanwhile, United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV) First Vice-President Diosdado Cabello blamed “US imperialism” for the attack.

“This is part of the policy of US imperialism, the attack on our oil installations, bringing here mercenaries, some of them detained, others tried for attempted coups and assassinations in our country, sent by the US government,” Cabello said during a press conference Monday.

Cabello insisted that “every attack” would be responded to by the security agencies. He also recalled that at least two Americans had been caught at oil refineries while they were about to attack them, but gave no further details about those detentions.

“We have captured, for example, in the refineries, at least two people of US nationality with a plan, a map, of the refineries. Here in Venezuela, there have been sectors of the opposition calling for the release of these people who were going to attempt against the installations in Venezuela. We know that all this has its origin in the US,” Cabello stressed.