It looks like there's a growing rift in Venezuela's military

AFP/Ronaldo Schemidt

Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela's top military brass appeared on state TV late Monday to show support for President Nicolas Maduro, as the government hunts for leaders of uniformed rebels who raided an army base and made off with weapons.

Surrounded by three tanks with raised barrels and hundreds of soldiers, the defense minister and head of the armed forces, General Vladimir Padrino, insisted that the armed forces were "united and with very high morale."

Padrino gave an updated report on Sunday's attack on the base in the northwestern city of Valencia by 20 men in uniform, an incident that fueled fears the country's worsening crisis could tip into armed conflict.

Padrino said that ex-National Guard captain, Juan Carlos Caguaripano, and a former lieutenant, Jefferson Gabriel Garcia, were behind the raid. He said that two attackers died and three soldiers were wounded.

Padrino insisted that it was a "terrorist attack" carried out by some 20 "mercenaries paid from Miami by far right-wing groups."

Eight men were detained following three hours of combat, he said.

Just before the raid, Caguaripano posted a video online declaring it part of a "legitimate rebellion... to reject the murderous tyranny" of president Maduro. 

Appearing with more than a dozen uniformed men, some armed, Caguaripano demanded a transitional government and "free elections."

Maduro said on state television Sunday that the attack saw a three-hour firefight in which two of the rebels died and eight were captured, including another lieutenant who was involved. 

Ten other attackers made off with an unspecified arsenal.

Padrino said that a "special operation" has been deployed to capture them and recover the weapons.

He said Garcia had been in charge of the base's weapons depot and acted as an accomplice from the inside, while Caguaripano had been discharged from the army in 2014 after multiple disciplinary offenses.

REUTERS/Marco Bello

"Growing discontent" 

The opposition coalition, the Democratic Unity Roundtable, said the country's crisis dividing Venezuela's society "is being seen... in the barracks of our armed forces."

The head of the opposition-controlled congress, Julio Borges, has demanded the "truth" from the government about what happened on Sunday.

Analysts said discord could be seen in the lower ranks of the security forces.

"There are indications of growing discontent in the middle ranks of the police and soldiers, even though military commanders remain allied to the government," said Diego Moya-Ocampos, of IHS Markit Country Risk in London.

"You can expect new incidents to occur as this unease grows," he said.

Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

Venezuela isolated 

On Monday, hackers calling themselves The Binary Guardians hijacked the home pages of several government bodies and private companies in support of the rebel raid. In several websites, they posted excerpts from Charlie Chaplin's movie "The Great Dictator."

Venezuela's opposition has repeatedly urged the military to abandon Maduro, so far to no avail.

The crisis in the oil-rich country is rooted in large part in the collapse of its economy due to a plunge in global oil prices. Public anger is spreading as people struggle for basics like food and medicine.

Maduro, however, blames an economic "war" that he says is fomented by the right-wing opposition in cahoots with the United States.

Venezuela has become increasingly isolated internationally as Maduro tightens his hold on power through a contested loyalist assembly that started work last week.

Opposition leaders are under increased threat of arrest after protests -- fiercely countered by security forces -- left 125 people dead in the past four months.

The new "Constituent Assembly" has moved quickly to clamp down on dissent. Its first act was to dismiss the attorney general, Luisa Ortega, who had broken ranks with Maduro to become one of his most vociferous critics.

It has also created a "truth commission" that Maduro wants to use to prosecute opposition lawmakers and leaders for alleged "crimes."

Then, lawmakers in the opposition-controlled legislature said late Monday their chamber was stormed by officials from the rival assembly loyal to Maduro with the backing of soldiers.

The legislature posted photos on its Twitter account of a group of people in the chamber it uses in the Legislative Palace in Caracas.

The people who invaded its chamber, it said, included the leader of the Constituent Assembly, Maduro's former foreign minister Delcy Rodriguez.

The United States accuses Maduro of installing an "authoritarian dictatorship" that has turned Venezuela into an international pariah.

The United States, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Peru have slammed the "illegal" sacking of Ortega.

Foreign ministers from across Latin America were to meet in Peru on Tuesday to decide what joint action they could take over Venezuela.