– Seven US citizens have been detained for alleged involvement in terrorist plots, including a plan to assassinate President Maduro.
CARACAS, (venezuelanalysis.com) – Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced the arrest of a new group of foreign nationals for alleged involvement in a terrorist plot.
At a press conference on [last] Thursday, Cabello presented photographs of the detainees and explained their roles as “mercenaries” in the plan to destabilize the country and overthrow the government. A total of 19 foreign citizens have been captured since September
US citizens Gregory David Weber and David Gutenberg Guillaume – a paramedic – were allegedly linked to hacking operations and “assisting those injured in terrorist acts”, while fellow US national and Puerto Rican-born Jonathan Pagan González was accused of plotting to assassinate president Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking Venezuelan officials. González was detained in western Zulia state where he reportedly infiltrated religious groups.
A police chief in Zulia has been arrested on charges of accepting a bribe of up to one million US dollars in exchange for not presenting González to judicial authorities. The identity of the person or group behind the bribe remains unknown.
Cabello also identified Jorge Marcelo Vargas, of dual Bolivian-US citizenship, captured while taking photos of the country’s refineries. The Maduro government has repeatedly denounced sabotage against public infrastructure, including oil facilities, water supply, electricity, and transportation.
The other detainees included one Peruvian, one Lebanese and several Colombian nationals. Their involvement in the unveiled scheme and eventual charges are still undetermined. However, Cabello emphasized that all those arrested had ties with criminal groups.
“All these citizens have already been arraigned, complying with the timelines and guarantees established by the law, but we are still carrying out the respective investigations,” said Cabello.
According to the interior minister, 71 weapons were seized, including 33 rifles previously stolen from the Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB), during several operations across the country against criminal gangs connected to the terrorist plans. Security forces have confiscated more than 500 firearms so far.
“The 33 rifles that were recovered were in the hands of a criminal group known as the Jason Comino Gang,” said Cabello, adding that there were further arrests of Venezuelans suspected of ties to the mercenary groups.
One CICPC investigative police officer was fatally shot during a confrontation.
Cabello pointed the finger at Spain’s National Intelligence Center (CNI) and US agencies for recruiting mercenaries and facilitating arms trafficking for criminal gangs in the South American country.
“The CNI introduces mercenaries and weapons into Venezuela, they establish contacts with criminal gangs to attack strategic points of the country, to assassinate leaders of the revolution, to harm our people and ultimately depose the revolutionary government,” stated Cabello during the press conference.
The minister went on to claim that the US government, the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) were behind the terrorist plan to overthrow Maduro.
Cabello accused US agencies of allowing “more than 500 weapons” to leave US territory for Venezuela and added that an individual known as ‘El Deivis’ is in charge of shipping the firearms through a company called Century.
Furthermore, Cabello accused Venezuelan far-right politician María Corina Machado and former Caracas police chief Iván Simonovis of being in charge of the denounced terrorist plans, alongside other opposition figures such as Carlos Vecchio and Julio Borges.
Machado has not been seen in public in over a month and her whereabouts are currently unknown. According to Maduro, the far-right leader had left the country but Machado later claimed she remained in Venezuela.
“Simonovis is the one who brings the weapons and has said that none of these operations are done without María Corina’s approval,” Cabello explained, labeling Simonovis a “mercenary arms dealer” and a “US agent” protected by Washington.
In 2009, Simonovis was convicted to a 30-year prison sentence for his responsibility in the killing of civilians during the 2002 coup which briefly ousted the Hugo Chávez government. He was moved to house arrest in 2014 but fled the country in May 2019. He currently resides in the US and has been recurrently accused of leading regime-change plots. In 2020, the Venezuelan Supreme Court requested Simonovis’ extradition from the US.
Four former police officers allegedly linked to Simonovis were likewise arrested during the recent procedures on charges of involvement in the weapon trafficking operation.
Additionally, Cabello expressed gratitude to the Colombian government and security agencies for “helping to identify logistic operators trying to introduce weapons into Venezuela.”
On Thursday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at a regular news briefing that the Biden administration was “gathering more information” on the arrested US citizens.
“The safety and security of American citizens anywhere around the world is our first priority, and we’re going to gather more information about this in the hours ahead,” Miller told reporters.
On September 14, three other US citizens, alongside two Spanish and one Czech national were captured by Venezuelan authorities and accused of plotting Maduro’s assassination and attacks on the country’s public infrastructure. Among the detainees was active duty US sailor Wilbert Joseph Castañeda. Two days later, a fourth US national, who has not been publicly named, was arrested as well.
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