Five dead, 233 detained after attempted coup in Venezuela

At least five people were killed and around 233 people arrested after the April 30 coup attempt in Venezuela, Venezuela's prosecutor general Tarek William Saab said Monday.

In an interview with local television, Saab said that the coup was carried out through a call by opposition leaders Leopoldo Lopez and Juan Guaido, backed by renegade soldiers.

Supporters of Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro rally in his support outside Miraflores presidential palace, during an attempted military uprising in Caracas, Venezuela, Tuesday, April 30, 2019. [Photo: AP]

The Public Prosecutor's Office has so far issued 18 arrest warrants and some are against military officials, the prosecutor general said.

"What happened on April 30 was an open call for a coup d'etat, to topple a legitimately established government, to bathe a country in blood, violating human rights," he said.

The prosecutor general said that among the soldiers who participated in the attempted coup was the former head of the detachment of the Bolivarian National Guard in the Federal Legislative Palace, Ilich Sanchez Farias.

Investigating authorities have determined that Sanchez Farias tricked his troops, calling for "a routine operation, and he took them to the Altamira Distribuidor Road in Caracas, where they met with Guaido and Leopoldo Lopez," he added.

Saab considered the reactions of some governments against the attempted military coup to be positive, saying that this "means that peace is winning, we're going to have a dialogue."