Accuses alleged plot in Venezuela

CARACAS (AP and EFE).— The Venezuelan government yesterday denounced an alleged plan to attack the president Nicolas Maduro and other state officials and assured that he detained 14 people, including six foreigners, who would be related to the alleged plot.

In a press conference, the Minister of Interior Relations, Diosdado Cabello, stated that after intelligence and tracking work they also seized 400 rifles and pistols, weapons that according to the official would be used to cause violent acts in Venezuelan territory.

Cabello said that among those captured are three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech. Among the Americans, he mentioned a man whom he identified as Joseph Castañeda Gómez, who he said is a sailor in the US Navy and whom he accused of belonging to a “team of mercenaries.”

“The United States government is not immune to this operation,” he said, adding that behind it is a “nefarious arms trafficking” character whom he named Iván Simonovis.

The US State Department later confirmed the arrest of Americans accused of terrorism in Venezuela and denied that there was a plot against President Maduro.

“We can confirm the detention of a member of the US Army and we are aware of unconfirmed reports of two other US citizens detained in Venezuela,” a State Department spokesperson told EFE.

The United States also said that any claim of U.S. involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro is “categorically false.”

The Associated Press could not immediately get a reaction from U.S. authorities regarding that complaint. The AP sent an email to the Spanish embassy in Caracas seeking comment but has so far received no response.

The Venezuelan president and his allies have accused the United States on numerous occasions of promoting alleged conspiracies and attacks against the government of the South American country, which the US authorities have rejected. Caracas broke relations with the United States in 2019.

In September 2020, President Maduro announced that he had made the decision to promote a broad security plan with a view to thwarting an alleged destabilizing plot orchestrated by Washington and which, according to the ruler, came to light after the capture of an alleged spy who would be linked to the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

The Maduro government recently raised tensions with Spain, a country that welcomed former presidential candidate Edmundo González after granting political asylum. The opposition maintains that González won decisively in the presidential elections of July 28.

Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yvan Gil warned on Friday that Caracas will not allow “any interventionist action” after Spain’s Defense Minister, Margarita Robles, described the Maduro administration as a “dictatorship.”

After his arrival in Madrid, former presidential candidate González has held meetings with Spanish leaders who have expressed their support for him. The international community has questioned the officially announced results that gave Maduro victory for a third term.

Clarification from a dad

The father of Andrés Martínez Adasmeone of the two Spaniards detained in Venezuela accused of trying to assassinate President Maduro, stated that his son and the other arrested person, both from Bilbao, were on vacation and are not from the Spanish intelligence services (CNI).

In statements published by the Spanish newspaper El Mundo, Martínez Adasme’s father stated that his son and José María Basoa Valdovinos, the other detainee, were on vacation in Venezuela and at the beginning of the month contact with them was lost.

“He was missing on a trip to Venezuela and now he is in Caracas, that’s all I know,” said Martínez Adasme’s father. “I deny that I belong to the CNI.”

According to El Mundo, the family of the two Spaniards had reported their disappearance on social networks.

“We are looking for José María Basoa and Andrés Martínez Adasme, who were last seen in Inírida, Colombia, on Monday the 2nd, heading to Puerto Ayacucho,” the family published.