MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Venezuelan gov't arrests 32 alleged “traitors to the homeland” who planned to kill Maduro

There will be more arrests, Tarek William Saab warned

Venezuelan authorities have arrested 32 people who were said to be involved in a plot to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro with backing from the United States, it was reported in Caracas. “Treason” charges were filed against the detainees, the Public Prosecutor's Office said.

“All the detainees are convicted, confessed, and have unveiled information about the plans against the majority of the Venezuelan people and the democratic society,” Attorney General Tarek William Saab explained. “There will be no legal or juridical contemplations for any of these subjects,” he added. Saab also explained that the alleged conspiracy plans were unveiled last year and arrest warrants were also issued against 11 other people, including human rights activists, journalists, and military in exile.

Also targeted by the conspirators was Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino López, the prosecutor noted while adding that rebel groups were also planning to launch assaults against military units.

Padrino said the investigations into this had been kept secret because of negotiations with the Joseph Biden administration for the release of detainees in Venezuela in exchange for the easing of sanctions imposed by Washington. The Minister also blamed Venezuela's far right for the plot with “support” from the CIA and the DEA, the US intelligence and anti-drug agencies.

Since January 2013 when he took over from then-ailing President Hugo Chávez Frías, Maduro has repeatedly denounced plots to kill him from Venezuelan opposition groups with support from the United States, Colombia, or some Western European countries.

Saab also released a video linking opposition leader María Corina Machado to these magnicidal plans. Machado intends to run in this year's elections against Maduro. “New arrests will come,” warned Saab, who never mentioned the former congresswoman.

Machado, who is already disenfranchised pending a Supreme Court ruling, dubbed these conspiracy theories as “surreal and delirious plots” while saying Maduro used “rifles and sentences” as a political tool.

“Maduro is a repressive candidate and the country has him portrayed in what he is and that is called pure and hard cowardice because he knows he has no people, so he appeals to rifles and sentences,” Machado stressed on X.

She added that the Venezuelan society “has lost its fear” and demonstrated it with her participation in the opposition primaries of October 22, in which she obtained the victory with 93.13 % of the 2.5 million registered votes.