Venezuelan strongman Nicolas Maduro claimed Wednesday that two senior US officials were among seven foreign “mercenaries” arrested days before his swearing-in for a third term widely viewed as illegitimate.
The two Americans in the group arrested Tuesday and accused of plotting unspecified “terrorist” acts were a “senior FBI official” and a “senior military official,” Maduro said at an event broadcast on state TV.
The arrests added to another 125 foreigners from 25 nationalities Maduro said were being held over “a foreign mercenary aggression financed by the outgoing US government.”
The president did not reveal any more about the identities of the Americans he said had been arrested alongside two Colombian “hitmen” and three Ukrainians.
Tuesday’s announcement of the arrests came hours after President Joe Biden hosted exiled Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia in Washington.
During the meeting, Biden backed a “peaceful transfer back to democratic rule” in Venezuela and warned against further repression inside the country.
The United States and several of Venezuela’s democratic neighbors believe Gonzalez Urrutia won the July presidential election and that official results were falsified.
Maduro, who first came to power in 2013 after the death of his socialist mentor Hugo Chavez, is due to be sworn in on Friday for a third six-year term.
He has over the years made frequent wild claims of US-led plots to depose him.
On Monday, the government in Caracas announced that another 125 foreigners were being held for anti-government actions.