Venezuela says it arrested 3 Americans, 3 other foreigners in alleged plot to kill Maduro

BOGOTA, Colombia —  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 Nicolas Maduro.

The arrests were announced on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the nation’s powerful interior minister. Cabello said the foreign citizens were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and kill several members of its leadership. In the TV broadcast, Cabello showed images of rifles that he said were confiscated from some of the plotters of the alleged plan.

The American citizens arrested included a U.S. Navy member, whom Cabello identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gomez. Cabello said that Gomez was a Navy SEAL who had served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia.

Spain’s embassy in Venezuela did not respond to a request for comment on the arrests of its citizens.

The U.S. State Department late Saturday confirmed the detention of an American military member and said it was aware of “unconfirmed reports of two additional U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela.”

“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 statement said.

The announcement of the arrests comes just two days after the U.S. Treasury imposed sanctions on 16 allies of Maduro who were accused by the U.S. government of obstructing voting during the disputed July 28 Venezuelan presidential election and carrying out human rights abuses.

Earlier this week, Spain’s parliament recognized opposition candidate Edmundo González Urrutia as the winner of the election over Maduro, angering Maduro allies, who called on the Venezuelan government to suspend commercial and diplomatic relations with Spain.

Tensions between Caracas and Washington have increased since the election, whose result sparked protests within Venezuela in which hundreds of opposition activists were arrested.

Venezuela’s Electoral Council, which is closely aligned with the Maduro administration, said the incumbent won the election with 52% of the vote but did not provide a detailed breakdown of the results.

Opposition activists collected tally sheets from 80% of the nation’s voting machines, published online, which indicate that González 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 dismissed requests from several countries, including the fellow leftist governments of Colombia and Brazil, to provide tally sheets that prove he won the election.

Maduro, who has been in power since 2013, has long claimed the U.S. is trying to overthrow him through sanctions and covert operations.

His administration has previously used Americans imprisoned in Venezuela to gain concessions from the U.S. government. In a deal conducted last year with the Biden administration, Maduro released 10 Americans and a fugitive wanted by the U.S. to secure a presidential pardon for Alex Saab, a close Maduro ally who was 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 network of shell companies.

Rueda writes for the Associated Press.