Venezuelan authorities have detained three Americans, two Spaniards, and a Czech citizen allegedly attempting to destabilize the South American country by plotting to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro and other senior leaders, the Venezuelan government said on Saturday.
In an announcement of the arrests, Venezuelan interior minister Diosdado Cabello alleged that the six foreigners were part of a CIA-orchestrated plot to attack the country’s leadership. More than 400 rifles linked to the alleged plot were confiscated, Cabello said.
The arrests come amid heightened international tensions over Venezuela’s disputed July 28 presidential election, which the country’s opposition says Maduro stole. The socialist leader is accused of having committed election fraud to defeat Edmundo González, whom the U.S. recognizes as the definitive winner.
By late Saturday, the State Department said Venezuela’s allegations of U.S. involvement in the plot to overthrow Maduro are “categorically false” and maintained that the U.S. “continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela.”
In its statement, the State Department also confirmed the detention in Venezuela of a U.S. military member and said it was aware of “unconfirmed reports of two additional U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela.”
One of the three Americans arrested is a member of the Navy identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gomez, whom U.S. officials say was detained earlier this month while traveling to Venezuela on personal business. Cabello claimed that Gomez was the leader of the operation and named the two other detained Americans as David Estrella and Aaron Barrett Logan.
Following Maduro’s disputed election victory, more than 80 percent of the tally sheets from the nation’s voting machines were published online by Venezuela’s opposition. The sheets seemed to indicate that González had handily beat Maduro with twice as many votes as the incumbent.
Without providing a complete breakdown of the vote’s results, Venezuela’s National Electoral Council said Maduro won the election with just under 52 percent of the total after 97 percent of the votes were tallied in early August. Notably, the council is closely aligned with Maduro.
Maduro has refused to release the tally sheets to prove that he won the election.
The results purportedly in favor of Maduro sparked anger among many Venezuelan citizens, who then participated in protests demanding a fair counting of the votes. Maduro’s government cracked down on the protests by arresting more than 2,400 people, according to the Human Rights Watch. At least 24 deaths were reported to have occurred during the anti-Maduro protests.
On Thursday, the U.S. Treasury Department imposed sanctions on 16 Maduro allies, including leaders of the electoral council and Venezuela’s Supreme Tribunal of Justice, for obstructing voting and committing human-rights abuses. The nation’s supreme court, which has previously backed Maduro, affirmed his victory last month despite widespread condemnation.
Meanwhile, last week, González fled Venezuela after he was threatened with an arrest warrant accusing him of terrorism, conspiracy, and other crimes related to the disputed presidential election. The opposition candidate was granted political asylum in Spain, from where he intends to keep fighting.
The Spanish parliament formally recognized González as the president-elect of Venezuela, just days after he landed in Spain. Left-wing prime minister Pedro Sánchez, however, will not recognize González as the legitimate winner.