The Minister of the Interior and Justice of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, announced this Thursday that three more Americans were detained in the country for allegedly being involved in terrorist activities, although he did not specify when.
In mid-September, Cabello himself announced that four US citizens, including active military man Wilber Joseph Castañeda, two Spaniards linked to Spain’s National Intelligence Center, and a Czech, were arrested for allegedly being involved in a plan to destabilize to the government of President Nicolás Maduro.
The minister assured that all the detainees, including the three recent ones, are “well” and that their rights are being guaranteed.
He also revealed the identities of the Americans captured in Venezuela: Gregory David Werber, Aaron Barrett Logan, David Guttenberg Guillaume, Jonathan Pagan González, David Estrella and José Marcelo Vargas.
US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said when asked about the issue: “We have seen the reports, we are monitoring the situation and gathering more information. Obviously, the safety and security of American citizens anywhere in the world is our first priority. And we will gather more information about this in the coming hours.
Cabello has accused the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and the Spanish National Intelligence Center (CNI) of directing operations to overthrow the Maduro government.
He has also said that the criminal organizations the Tren de Aragua and the Tren del Llano are involved in the plan, and have organized the entry of mercenaries into Venezuela.
He also accused Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado and other members of the opposition, as well as former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, of being involved.
The US State Department and the Spanish government have denied the accusations.
“It is logical that they say they have nothing to do with it,” Cabello said at a press conference.
The minister also reported on the seizure of 71 new AK-type war weapons manufactured in the US by the Century Armes company, and accused Iván Simonovis, a commissioner considered a political prisoner during the government of former President Hugo Chávez and former Commissioner of Security and Intelligence of the disappeared interim government, for being behind alleged arms trafficking operations.
“He has become a mercenary for selling weapons, not only for Venezuela, but for other parts of the world (…) he is being protected by the US government, it is logical, he is an agent of theirs,” he said.
Cabello read a communication from Interpol in which they alerted about a shipment, via sea, to Venezuela of weapons acquired illegally in the United States.
The official specified that Venezuelan, Colombian, a Lebanese, and a Peruvian citizens have also been arrested.
After months of negotiations, in December of last year the Venezuelan government exchanged a group of American prisoners for Alex Saab, a close ally of Maduro who was being prosecuted in the United States for money laundering.
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