authorities foiled an operation by so-called local terrorists involving the planting of explosives at the US embassy in Caracas, President Nicolas Maduro said on Monday.
He described it as an attempt to exacerbate the dispute between the two countries.
A ‘false flag’ plot refers to schemes where the blame of the attack is left on a different party.
What did Maduro say?
The president made these comments during his weekly television program. He said that two sources “agreed on the possibility that a local terrorist group placed an explosive device at the US embassy in Caracas,” without naming them.
Jorge Rodriguez, head of Venezuela’s delegation for dialogue with the US, said Caracas had warned Washington of the “serious threat.”
“We have reinforced security measures at this diplomatic mission,” he said.
Maduro said the embassy was protected “despite all the differenced we have had with the governments of the United States.”
Caracas and Washington severed diplomatic ties in 2019, and the US embassy only supports a few local employees.
Maduro added that the government was looking to capture those involved in the plot and knew who had orchestrated it.
“This was backed by a person who will be known soon and asked for by a person who will be known soon, but this is all ongoing,” Maduro said, adding that the goal of the plot was to blame his government “and begin an escalation of conflict.”
Venezuela-US ties in trouble
Diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington are at an all-time low amid the latter carrying a series of that the were
The US has hit at least four vessels in recent weeks with over 20 killed in the strikes. “We’re stopping drugs at a level nobody’s ever seen,” Trump told an audience of US navy sailors in Virginia on Sunday.
In response to the strikes, Caracas has deployed thousands of troops along the South American country’s land and sea borders.
Trump has told Congress that the US is with drug cartels.
Trump ends all outreach: report
US President Donald Trump has called off efforts to reach a diplomatic agreement with Venezuela and told his special envoy to the nation Richard Grenell to stop all outreach, The New York Times reported.
Although Trump has considered launching strikes on Venezuelan soil, a senior US official told Reuters that he has not yet decided whether to advance to the next phase of his military campaign.
Meanwhile, Maduro said he has asked Pope Leo XIV to help maintain peace in Venezuela, in a letter. “I have great faith that Pope Leo, as I stated in that letter I sent him, will help Venezuela preserve and achieve peave and stability,” he said on the TV show.
Washington has accused Maduro of having links with drug trafficking and and criminal groups. In August, Washington doubled its reward for information leading to the leader’s arrest to $50 million (€43 million).
Maduro denies the allegations and claims that Trump’s actions are intended to remove him from power.
Edited by: Dmytro Hubenko
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