Six foreign nationals, including three American, two Spanish, and one Czech citizen, were arrested in Venezuela on Saturday,accused of plotting to assassinate strongman President Nicolás Maduro. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced the arrests on state television, claiming the suspects were part of a CIA-led plan to overthrow the government. One of the Americans is a US Navy SEAL identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gomez.
In response,the US State Department denied any involvement, called the claims “categorically false,” and reaffirmed support for a peaceful resolution to the crisis stemming from Venezuela’s recent elections. The Spanish Foreign Ministry said that the two Spanish citizens detained “do not form part of the Centre for National Intelligence or any state organization” and called for a “democratic and peaceful solution to the situation in Venezuela.”
The arrests cometwo days after the US Treasury imposed sanctions on 16 Maduro allies, and a week after Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzales, who was facing arrest, fled to Spain. Washington refuses to recognize the results of Venezuela's July 28 election, in which Maduro claimed victory despite evidence that Gonzales was the real winner. Caracas called the US sanctions a “crime of aggression” that seeks to “overthrow, without success, the Bolivarian democracy.”