Recent Bomb Attack Could Have Destroyed Much of the Presidential Palace

Last Sunday, during the president’s weekly television program, Aló Presidente, Chavez said that the bomb that was thrown last Friday at the military barracks near the Presidential Palace Miraflores was an attack by someone who knew the compound very well because it was aimed at a gasoline depot.

The bomb had missed the depot quite closely, exploding “within 50 meters” of it. If it had hit, the president explained, it could have set off a chain reaction and also blown up a munitions storage facility nearby, leading to an even larger explosion that would have destroyed much of the surrounding area, including parts of the presidential palace.

Last Friday, a strong explosion took place in the parking lot of the Regiment of the Honor Guard, located in front of the Presidential Palace of Miraflores, downtown Caracas.

The effect of the explosive left numerous broken windows in the so called White Palace where the Honor Guard is located, and in adjacent buildings. There no reports of wounded.

Interior Minister Lucas Rincon, tdescribed the event as a “terrorist act”.