The United States has ‘categorically’ denied claims made by Venezuela that the Central Intelligence Agency conspired to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro and other top Venezuelan officials.
The Venezuelan interior minister said three Americans, two Spaniards, and one Czech citizen have been arrested for the alleged plot and 400 American guns have been seized.
Calling the detainees “mercenaries”, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello claimed that the CIA was “leading the operation” and that hundreds of weapons had been seized.
The US rejected the claims, which come after Washington placed 16 senior Venezuelan government officials under sanctions, as “categorically false”.
A spokesperson for the State Department said a US military member was being held and noted “unconfirmed reports of two additional US citizens detained in Venezuela”.
This follows recent reports that a sailor in the US Navy had been detained for entering the country without documents, although it is not clear if a different person was referred to.
The three arrested Americans were identified as Wilbert Josep Castañeda, “active military officer” and “chief” of the operation, Estrella David, and Aaron Barren Logan, who were also captured.
Cabello responded by saying the detainees had contacted “French mercenaries” from Eastern Europe and were involved in “an operation to try to attack” Venezuela.
According to Cabello, all the detainees are confessing.
He added that “more than 400 US rifles were seized” and accused the detainees of plotting “terrorist acts”. There are no pictures of the rifles available. Still, in a television appearance, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the plotters of the alleged plan.
The Venezuelan government said the Spaniards detained were linked to Madrid’s National Intelligence Centre (CNI).
Spanish government sources have told local media the pair do not belong to the intelligence organisation.
“Spain denies and categorically rejects any insinuation that it is involved in a political destabilisation operation in Venezuela,” a source told AFP.
The Czech Republic has yet to react to the claims.
In a news conference on Saturday, Cabello said: “The CIA is leading this operation, and that does not surprise us but they, the National Intelligence Centre of Spain, have always maintained a low profile knowing that the CIA operates in this area.
“These two detainees even tell us about a group of mercenaries they are looking to bring to Venezuela with obvious objectives to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, myself, and another group of comrades who are leading our party and our revolution.”
The allegations come amid a feud between the Maduro government and both the US and Spain stemming from Maduro’s disputed victory in July’s presidential election.
Venezuela’s National Electoral Council (CNE), which is closely aligned with the government, declared Maduro the winner of the vote but has not published detailed voting tallies.
Data published by the opposition suggests its candidate, Edmundo González, was the true winner.
On Thursday, Washington announced sanctions targeting “key officials involved in Maduro’s fraudulent and illegitimate claims of victory and his brutal crackdown on free expression following the election”.
Following the detentions, a State Department official said Washington “continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela”.
On Friday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil summoned the Spanish ambassador in Caracas after Spain’s defense minister, Margarita Robles, described the Venezuelan government as a “dictatorship”.
Gil said the comments were “insolent, meddling and rude” and indicated a “deterioration of relations between the two countries”.
It came days after González arrived in Spain to claim political asylum, a step that the overall leader of Venezuela’s opposition, María Corina Machado, said he had taken “to preserve his freedom, his integrity, and his life”.
Spanish authorities have requested more information about the detentions from Venezuela, and the Spanish embassy has asked for access to the detainees.
Sources: BBC.El Nacional, NPR, CNN.