Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello at the press conference with weapons seized
By Global News Service
In a press conference given on September 14, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced that authorities had dismantled an operation reportedly backed by the Central Intelligence Agency of the United States and the National Intelligence Center of Spain. The effort sought to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, Cabello, and other government officials.
The minister announced that Venezuelan authorities had seized a total of 400 weapons sourced from the U.S. and arrested 14 mercenaries involved in the plot. Among the arrested is Wilbert Joseph Castañeda, an active U.S. military officer and Navy Seal. Two Spanish citizens were reportedly also arrested, José María Basua and Andrés Badasbe.
In the press conference, the Interior Minister reported that Venezuelan authorities had seized a document from one of the detainees, which outlined the plot and included attacking the Miraflores Palace and other public institutions. The would-be perpetrators also sought to carry out sabotage actions against various public services to generate chaos.
Cabello cited government reports stating that those arrested possessed between 10 to 12 weapons in their homes that were set to be used in the destabilization plan. Cabello noted that many of those arrested also have links to Venezuela’s far-right opposition network.
He added that the weapons seized by authorities were brought to the country covertly and received by groups linked to the extreme right.
One of the leaders of the illegal arms trafficking network in the country, Cabello claimed, is a man who is already a fugitive from Venezuelan justice, Iván Simonovis.
from the Peoples Dispatch / Globetrotter News Service
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