Venezuela arrests six foreigners accused of planning an assassination attempt on President Maduro

Three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech national were arrested after Venezuelan officials accused them of coming to the South American country to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro.

The arrests on Saturday were announced on state television by Diosdado Cabello, the country's powerful interior minister. Cabello said the foreign nationals were part of a CIA-led plot to overthrow the Venezuelan government and assassinate several members of its leadership. On the television program, Cabello showed pictures of guns that he said had been confiscated from some of the plotters in the alleged plan.

Among those arrested was a member of the Navy, whom Cabello identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gomez. Cabello said Gomez was a Navy Seal who served in Afghanistan, Iraq and Colombia. The Spanish embassy in Venezuela did not respond to a request for comment on the arrests of its citizens.

The US State Department confirmed the arrest of a US military officer late Saturday and said it was aware of “unconfirmed reports of two other US citizens arrested in Venezuela”.

“All allegations of U.S. involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false. The United States continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela,” the statement said.