In relation to an alleged plot to destabilize the nation, the Venezuelan government said on Tuesday that it has detained one more American citizen. The arrest comes after six other foreign nationals were detained over the weekend and the contentious July 28 presidential election, which has drawn criticism for being overly clandestine.
The National Assembly was told on Tuesday by Venezuela’s Interior Minister, Diosdado Cabello, about the specifics of what seems to be a plot by Nicolás Maduro’s administration. Earlier on Saturday, Cabello had announced that 14 people—two Spaniards, three Americans, and a citizen of the Czech Republic—had been detained by security services on suspicion of trying to assassinate the president and a number of his Cabinet colleagues.
The minister did not identify the fourth American arrested on Tuesday. He only indicated that after being pursued, he was captured in Caracas, “taking photographs of electricity and oil installations and military units.”
Cabello identified one of the Americans detained on Monday as Joseph Castaneda Gomez, whom he described as a member of the US Navy, and accused him of being linked to a “team of mercenaries.”
According to Venezuelan authorities, they had been tracking clues and telephone communications for months that led to the arrest of the alleged “mercenaries”, as well as to the seizure a few days earlier of 400 rifles and pistols that were to be used to incite violence in Venezuelan territory, he said.
The minister said the plot involved the CIA, Spain’s National Intelligence Center, organized crime groups, Venezuelan opposition members and others. Washington confirmed the arrest of a US soldier and said it was aware of other US citizens being detained. It also said the allegations are “completely false.”
The new conspiracy plot joins dozens of other alleged schemes that the Maduro government says it has dismantled since last January. During his weekly radio and television program on Monday, Maduro claimed that the two detained Spaniards were undercover agents of the Spanish National Intelligence Center, but offered no evidence.
On Sunday, Spain’s foreign minister denied that his country was participating in a “political destabilization campaign” in Venezuela and also denied that the detainees had any links to the CNI or any other Spanish state organization.
Relations between Spain and Maduro’s government have recently become strained after the European nation granted political asylum to former opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez after Venezuelan authorities launched an arrest warrant and criminal investigation against him following the July 28 elections.
Maduro was declared the winner of a third term in disputed elections that were criticised for a lack of transparency and independent verification of the results. Several governments in the region and Europe, including Spain, do not recognise the president’s victory and have demanded that Venezuelan authorities publish the vote tally.