Maduro Says He Will Be 'Ruthless' If Opposition Attempts Coup

(Aljazeera)

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro warned on Wednesday that he would be "ruthless" with the opposition if they attempted a coup d'etat, after his government said it had thwarted a plot to assassinate him.

"We would be ruthless in a revolutionary counteroffensive against a attempted fascist coup - ruthless!" an agitated Maduro said in an address broadcast nationwide on radio and television.

Earlier, Maduro's spokesman Jorge Rodriguez said on state television that a network of mostly retired police officers and soldiers planned to bomb a key government building, seize a Caracas airbase and loot Venezuela's central bank.

He also said the plotters wanted to edge opposition leader Juan Guaido out of Venezuela's political landscape. Read more