USA rejects allegations that the CIA planned an assassination attempt on Nicolás Maduro

The United States has rejected Venezuelan claims that the CIA planned an assassination attempt on President Maduro and other senior politicians.

Three US citizens, two Spaniards and a Czech were arrested on suspicion of conspiring to destabilise the country, the Interior Minister said.

Diosdado Cabello called the prisoners “mercenaries” and claimed that the CIA was “leading the operation” and that hundreds of weapons had been seized.

The United States denied the allegations, which Washington imposed sanctions on 16 senior government officialsas “categorically wrong”.

A US State Department spokesman said a US military personnel was being held and referred to “unconfirmed reports of two other US citizens detained in Venezuela”.

Cabello responded that those arrested had made contact with “French mercenaries” from Eastern Europe and were involved in an “operation aimed at attacking” Venezuela.

He added that “more than 400 rifles were seized” and accused those arrested of planning “terrorist acts”.

The Venezuelan government said the arrested Spaniards had links to the National Intelligence Center (CNI) in Madrid.

Spanish government sources have told local media that the couple are not members of the secret service.

“Spain categorically denies and rejects any allegation that it is involved in an operation to politically destabilise Venezuela,” a source told AFP.

The Czech Republic has not yet responded to the allegations.

In a press conference on Saturday, Cabello said: “The CIA is leading this operation and that does not surprise us, but they, the Spanish National Intelligence Center, have always stayed in the background, even though they knew that the CIA was operating in this area.”

“These two prisoners even tell us about a group of mercenaries who want to take them to Venezuela with the clear aim of assassinating President Nicolás Maduro, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, myself and another group of comrades who lead our party and our revolution.”

The allegations come amid a feud between the Maduro government on the one hand and the US and Spain on the other, which dates back to Maduro's controversial victory in the July election.

Venezuela's National Electoral Council (CNE), which is close to the government, declared Maduro the election winner but did not publish detailed vote counts.

Data released by the opposition suggest that their candidate Edmundo González is the real winner.

On Thursday, Washington announced sanctions against “key officials involved in Maduro's fraudulent and illegitimate claims of victory and his brutal crackdown on free expression after the election.”

Following the arrests, a US State Department official said Washington “continues to support a democratic solution to the political crisis in Venezuela.”

On Friday, Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil summoned the Spanish ambassador in Caracas after Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles described the Venezuelan government as a “dictatorship”.

Gil said the comments were “insolent, intrusive and rude” and indicated a “deterioration in relations between the two countries.”

It came days after González came to Spain to apply for political asylumVenezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado said he took this step “to preserve his freedom, his integrity and his life.”

Spanish authorities have requested further information from Venezuela about the detentions and the Spanish embassy has requested access to the prisoners.

Additional reporting by Ruth Comerford and Christy Cooney.