In Venezuela, three Americans, two Spaniards, and one Czech citizen were arrested for allegedly participating in a US-organized plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro and several members of the government. Politico writes.
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced the arrests on state television. Venezuela's relations with the United States, Spain and other Western democracies have also been strained after the July elections.
“These groups are seeking to seize the country's wealth and we, the government, will respond firmly to any attempt to destabilize it,” Cabello said, according to a Reuters report, adding that about 400 weapons from the United States had also been seized.
The US State Department confirmed the arrest of the Americans, one of whom is a Navy SEAL. The State Department denied the assassination attempt.
“Any allegation that the United States is involved in a plot to overthrow Maduro is categorically false,” he added. “The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela,” a State Department spokesperson said.
Venezuela has been in political crisis since authorities declared President Maduro the winner of elections held on July 28. The Venezuelan electoral commission named Nicolas Maduro, who has ruled the country with an iron fist since 2013, as the winner, but neither the opposition nor most neighboring countries accept that.
According to the first party, their center-right candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won a clear victory and Maduro rigged the election. Foreign countries are demanding transparency and the release of detailed election results. US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he had “compelling evidence” that opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez won in Venezuela.
The Spanish parliament declared the opposition leader the legitimate winner of the July election, and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez welcomed Gonzalez, who fled to Spain last week to escape an arrest warrant, in a diplomatic gesture that angered Maduro.
In a news conference on Saturday, Cabello said the arrested Spanish nationals had ties to Spanish intelligence and planned to assassinate a mayor, a claim the Spanish government immediately denied, according to local media.
