Venezuela arrests 3 Americans, 2 Spaniards over CIA operation to assassinate Maduro

Three American citizens and two Spaniards have been detained pending court trial in Venezuela on suspicion of plotting to “destabilize” the country through “violent actions.”

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said in a news conference on Saturday that the five were detained on suspicion of planning an attack on President Nicolas Maduro and his government.

Cabello said the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was leading the operation aimed at assassinating Maduro, adding that hundreds of rifles had been found.

The minister told reporters that one of the detained Americans had been identified as US Navy SEAL William Joseph Castaneda Gomez.

Cabello said Gomez was in charge of the outfit for the CIA plot. Cabello also identified the two other detained Americans as David Estrella and Aaron Barrett Logan.

The minister said that in addition to 3 Americans, two Spaniards named Jose Maria Basoa Valdovinos and Andres Martinez Adasme, in addition to one Czech national, Jan Darmovzal, had been arrested over the plot.

He said authorities had seized 400 American-made rifles from the squad.

The US and its present ally and former colonial power Spain, are currently at loggerheads with Venezuela’s government over the re-election of the leftist leader in the July 28 presidential race.

After losing in the presidential race, the opposition candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, fled the country last week.