Diplomatic relations between Venezuela and Spain have deteriorated significantly since Thursday and statements by Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles, who called Venezuela a “dictatorship”.
Venezuelan authorities have arrested three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech, accused of being linked to an alleged plot to “destabilize” the country, the government announced Saturday, also reporting the seizure of some 400 rifles from the United States. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello spoke at a press conference of an alleged plan to “generate violence” and “destabilize” the country.
According to him, President Nicolas Maduro, whose re-election on July 28 is contested by the opposition and part of the international community, was the target of this alleged plan, along with other executive officials. “Two Spanish citizens were recently arrested in Puerto Ayacucho (south),” he said, adding that an “American citizen” was also behind bars. He later reported the arrest of two other Americans, as well as a Czech.
Diosdado Cabello linked the alleged plan to Spanish and U.S. intelligence services, as well as opposition leader Maria Corina Machado. “They contacted French mercenaries, they contacted Eastern European mercenaries and they are carrying out an operation to try to attack our country,” he said, adding that the detainees were confessing.
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The more than 400 rifles seized were intended “for terrorist acts here in Venezuela, terrorism encouraged by political sectors,” he said. “We even know that the U.S. government is linked to this operation.”
“Dictatorship”
The arrests come amid heightened tensions between Venezuela and the United States, as well as Spain, over the disputed election of President Maduro. Diplomatic relations with Spain have deteriorated sharply since Thursday and statements by Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles, who called Venezuela a “dictatorship.”
The remarks coincided with the reception by Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who arrived in Spain on Sunday after fleeing Venezuela, where he was the subject of an arrest warrant. Spain, like all other European Union member states, is demanding the full publication of the minutes issued by polling stations following the presidential election, which the Venezuelan authorities have not done, saying they were the victims of computer hacking.
The National Electoral Council (CNE) declared Nicolas Maduro the winner of the election, with 52% of the vote. But the opposition claims, based on the minutes provided by its scrutineers, that Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia obtained more than 60% of the votes. In the absence of complete results, EU countries have so far refused to recognize a winner.
This is not the case in the United States, which decided to recognize Mr. Gonzalez Urrutia as president and announced sanctions on Thursday against sixteen people close to Nicolas Maduro for “obstructing” the presidential election. Caracas immediately rejected these measures “with the greatest firmness.” On Friday, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino assured that the armed forces – one of the essential cogs of power – were not “corruptible” and would not allow themselves to be “intimidated by the imperial scourge” of the United States.
