Three Americans are among the six foreign nationals that Venezuelan officials arrested on Saturday, charging them with creating a plot to assassinate Nicolas Maduro, the president of the country.
The Associated Press reports that the country’s interior minister, Diosdado Cabello, said on state TV channels that foreigners from Czech Republic, Span and the U.S. were part of a plot set up by the Central Intelligence Agency to kill multiple high-ranking government officials in Venezuela so the government could be overthrown.
During the announcement he made on TV, Cabello showed photos of rifles they confiscated that he claimed the suspects had intended to use as part of the coup.
One of the American citizens who was allegedly part of the effort, according to the AP, was identified by Cabello as Wilbert Joseph Castaneda Gomez. He’s a former Navy SEAL who served in Colombia, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Later on Saturday, the U. S. Department of State confirmed that a U.S. military member was detained in Venezuela, also acknowledging “unconfirmed reports of two additional U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela.”
These arrests come not long after the U.S. Treasury’s Office on Foreign Assets Control levied new sanctions against 16 of Maduro’s allies who have been accused of obstructing the country’s presidential election in July, as well as abusing human rights.
In the wake of the elections over the summer, there was much unrest in Venezuela. Hundreds of activists who supported the opposition were arrested as part of protests that broke out throughout the country. Tensions between Venezuela and the U.S. have also increased since then.
Yet, the State Department outright denied that the U.S. was trying to overthrow the government of the South American country. As the department said in a statement:
“Any claims of U.S. involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false. The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela.”
The country’s supreme court confirmed the election victory for Maduro one month after the elections took place, even though there was much condemnation throughout the globe over the lack of transparency that took place during it, the AP reported.
Many allies of the president urged him to suspend diplomatic and commercial relations with Spain, not long after the country last Friday decided to recognize Edmundo Gonzalez, the opposition candidate, as the winner of the July election.
The AP reported that the attorney general in Venezuela filed conspiracy charges against Gonzalez, which prompted him to flee the country for Spain.
Maduro and his administration have long been at odds with the U.S. The AP reported recently that the country’s president believes the American government has long been plotting to overthrow him and install their preferred ruler of Venezuela.
In addition, he has used imprisoned U.S. citizens in different negotiations to gain favorable outcomes over the U.S. government.
