MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Maduro says terrorist plan orchestrated by Machado foiled

It has been an impeccable work of investigation, intelligence, Maduro explained

Venezuelan President Maduro said Monday during his broadcast show “Con Maduro +” that terrorist plans orchestrated by far-right groups against his country had been foiled. He insisted opposition leader María Corina Machado was behind these plots from Colombia with rogue elements linked to former presidents Álvaro Uribe and Iván Duque and that also the mafia leader in the Venezuelan State of Zulia José Enrique Rincón was involved.

“It has been a great blow to a plan where a bloody, brutal conspiracy of the mafia and corrupt powers from Zulia is combined. The conspiracy is made from Colombia with drug trafficking groups and paramilitary groups with the presence of this Mrs. María Corina Machado,” Maduro claimed. He detailed that Machado was in Colombia for several weeks, meeting in several places of that country with paramilitary and drug trafficking personalities connected with Duque and Uribe.

Mr. José Enrique Rincón is the head of one of the surnames of Zulia, of the economic power. What could he say? This gentleman amassed his wealth plugged into the State. He is a beneficiary of credits and benefits given by the State for almost 15 years, and has achieved a sort of monopoly of the economic power of Zulia and other places in the country,“ Maduro highlighted.

Rincón's plans with Machado were to kill, plant bombs, and destroy gas and oil installations. ”They were in a state of delirium full of violence, hatred, revenge,“ Maduro also pointed out. ”It has been an impeccable work of investigation, intelligence, with national investigation in full development. We alert the people of Zulia and Falcón, as well as the people of Venezuela because the people are the protagonists of this battle,“ he also underlined.

Justice Minister Diosdado Cabello explained that ”we captured a person in the state of Zulia, and after interrogations, the relations between this detainee and those of the state of Aragua came to light.“

Cabello also mentioned that the ”conspiracy and corruption scheme“ was detected after ”the investigation began in the Mayor's Office of Maracaibo,“ leading ”to names such as Luis José Enrique Rincón and his relationship with judges, prosecutors, businessmen, retired and active military.“

Maduro also said Monday that his country was ready to defeat the US-House drafted ”Bolivar bill,“ which he dubbed a ”legal text of war“.

”It is a law of war against all of Venezuela, an infamous law, I have called it the garbage law, we are prepared to face that law, counter it, and defeat it in all its aspects,“ Maduro also said during his show. He also denounced that ”extreme right-wing“ leaders of his country were behind it and found it ”an infamy“ that the bill was named after Venezuelan national hero Simón Bolívar.

Meanwhile, opposition leader María Corina Machado said this weekend that the case opened against her by the Public Prosecutor's Office for supporting the Bolívan Bill was a sign of ”weakness” by the Nicolás Maduro regime. The initiative submitted by Congresspeople Mike Waltz (Republican) and Debbie Wasserman Schultz (Democrat) seeks to prohibit contracts with companies linked to Maduro's government and to reinforce sanctions against the regime. “The United States should maintain existing sanctions against the regime and seek to expand them to minimize Maduro's resources to abuse the freedoms and prosperity of the Venezuelan people,” Waltz said. The measure would ultimately ban US Government institutions from hiring individuals or companies with commercial ties to Caracas' administration.

See also: Venezuelan opposition leader Machado under criminal investigation

“They know that their time is up,” Machado insisted. ”They know that there is no turning back (...) Venezuela has already decided; Edmundo González is the elected president and must take office,” she went on.

Maduro plans to be sworn in for another 6-year term on Jan. 10. However, Edmundo González Urrutia, currently under asylum in Spain, said he intends to be in Caracas for his inauguration but refused to give any further details out of security concerns.