Venezuela arrests US, EU citizens over alleged plot to kill Maduro

Venezuela on Saturday arrested three United States citizens, two Spaniards and a Czech national over their alleged participation in a U.S.-sponsored plot to kill President Nicolás Maduro and several members of his government. 

The arrests of the six foreigners, which Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced on state TV on Saturday, occurred as the South American country, which descended into political chaos amid a contested election in late July, has seen its relations with Washington, Madrid and other Western democracies souring.

“These groups seek to seize the country’s wealth, and we as a government will respond firmly to any destabilization attempt,” Cabello said, according to a Reuters report. He added that about 400 rifles originating in the United States had been seized, it said.

The U.S. State Department confirmed that three American citizens, including one Navy service member, are being held in Venezuela, but it rejected any links to an assassination attempt. 

“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,” a State Department spokesperson said, according to several media reports. 

Maduro, a socialist leader who has been in office since 2013, was presented as the winner of the July 28 Venezuelan presidential ballot. But the government has since failed to provide convincing evidence to mute accusations that the leadership contest was plagued by fraud. 

The controversial ballot results triggered giant protests from the opposition, sparking an unusually violent repression from the government that left more than two dozen people dead and nearly 200 injured.

The arrests came on the heels of the U.S. Treasury’s decision to levy sanctions on several allies of Maduro for having made voting difficult on election day and for human rights violations.

Relations between Caracas and Madrid were further strained after the Spanish parliament recognized Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo González as the legitimate winner of the July vote. González, who last week went into exile in Spain to escape an arrest warrant, was also received by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez in a diplomatic gesture that further angered Maduro.

Venezuela recalled its ambassador to Spain on Friday and summoned the Spanish ambassador to complain about a Spanish minister accusing Maduro’s government of being a “dictatorship.”

During his press conference on Saturday, Cabello argued that the arrested Spanish nationals had links to Spain’s secret service and were planning the killing of a mayor — a claim that was promptly denied by the Spanish government, according to local media.