Bogota: Three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen were arrested Saturday after Venezuelan officials accused them of coming to the South American country to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro.
The arrests were announced on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the country's powerful interior minister. Cabello said the foreign nationals were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. On the television show, Cabello showed images of rifles he said were confiscated from some of the plotters in the alleged scheme.
Among those detained was a member of the Navy, whom Cabello identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gómez. Cabello said Gómez was a member of the Navy who had served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia. Spain's embassy in Venezuela did not respond to a request for comment on the detentions of its citizens.
The U.S. State Department on Saturday night confirmed the detention of a U.S. military member and said it was aware of “unconfirmed reports of two additional U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela.”
“Any claim that the United States is involved in a plot to overthrow Maduro is categorically false. The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela,” the statement said.
The announcement of the arrests comes just two days after the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on 16 Maduro allies who were accused by the U.S. government of obstructing voting during Venezuela's disputed July 28 presidential election and carrying out human rights abuses.
Earlier this week, Spain's parliament recognised opposition candidate Edmundo González as the winner of the election, angering Maduro's allies who called on the Venezuelan government to suspend trade and diplomatic relations with Spain.
Tensions between the Venezuelan government and the United States also increased following the election, the result of which sparked protests in Venezuela in which hundreds of opposition activists were arrested.
Venezuela's electoral council, closely aligned with the Maduro administration, said Maduro won the election with 52% of the vote, but did not provide a detailed breakdown of the results.
However, opposition activists surprised the government by collecting tally sheets from 80% of the country's voting machines. The tally sheets collected by the opposition were published on the Internet and indicate that Gonzalez won the election with twice as many votes as Maduro.
Despite international condemnation of the election’s lack of transparency, Venezuela’s Supreme Court, which has long backed Maduro, confirmed his victory in August. Venezuela’s attorney general then filed conspiracy charges against Gonzalez, who fled to Spain last week after it became clear he would be arrested.
Maduro has rejected requests from several countries, including the leftist governments of Colombia and Brazil, to provide him with records showing he won the election. Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has long claimed the United States is trying to oust him through sanctions and covert operations.
Maduro’s government has used American citizens imprisoned in Venezuela in the past to extract concessions from the U.S. government. In a deal reached last year with the Biden administration, Maduro released 10 Americans and a fugitive wanted by the U.S. government to secure a presidential pardon for Alex Saab, a close Maduro ally who was being held in Florida on money laundering charges. According to U.S. prosecutors, Saab had also helped Maduro avoid U.S. Treasury sanctions through a complex web of shell companies.