The United States on Friday condemned alleged arbitrary detentions and forced confessions by the Venezuelan government in its investigation into the failed August 4 drone "attack" on President Nicolas Maduro.

In a statement, department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said the US condemns the "political violence" of August 4, which Caracas says was an attempt by the opposition to assassinate Maduro, and urged the Venezuelan leader to respect the rule of law in the probe of the incident.

"The Venezuelan government's response to this incident has been to arbitrarily detain some individuals and a failure to follow due process," she said.

"In addition, there have been violations of parliamentary immunity, which is protected by Venezuela's Constitution. The United States condemns the alleged use of torture to elicit confessions."

Venezuela has arrested 14 people over the attack, including an opposition politician, a general and a colonel.

Maduro has said the blasts that day were from explosives-laden drones sent to assassinate him, though opposition figures accuse Maduro of fabricating the incident to step up repression.

Nauert said the United States supports calls by the international community for an independent expert commission to investigate the incident.

She reiterated the US call "for the immediate release of all those who are arbitrarily detained, including political prisoners."

Related Links
All About Oil and Gas News at OilGasDaily.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

North Sea oil and gas find bigger than expected
Washington (UPI) Aug 16, 2018
The Norwegian government reported results Thursday from an appraisal well in the North Sea that were better than operator Equinor expected. The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate, the nation's energy regulator, reported that Equinor has finished drilling an appraisal well at its Sigrun oil and gas discovery just south of the producing Gudrun field in the Norwegian waters of the North Sea. Equinor before the results were in put the estimated reserve potential at between 1.8 million and 8.8 m ... read more