Venezuelan police detained a university student outside the U.S. embassy in Caracas on Monday, saying he had planted two pipe bombs nearby. Police closed the street to traffic and detonated the two explosives, which they described as homemade fireworks. Children were evacuated from a neighboring school. Embassy spokesman Brian Penn said a motorcycle taxi driver alerted security guards after the student made a remark to the driver. Local police chief Wilfredo Borraz told reporters that one of the bombs was found outside the school and the other in a planter about 50 meters from the embassy entrance. Both bombs were wrapped in plastic bags and contained “small fliers with publicity alluding to Hezbollah,” Borraz said. “The idea was apparently to create alarm and publicize a message.” Police did not release the name of the student or a motive for the planned attack.
