Fifteen people were sentenced to 24 years in prison by the Venezuelan justice for having attempted an armed "invasion" of Venezuela by sea intended to "overthrow" Nicolas Maduro last May, the attorney general announced Friday. The court recognized the defendants, including the “leader” of the operation, Captain Antonio Sequea, guilty of “terrorism, rebellion and conspiracy,” Tarek William Saab said in a press statement.
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All the defendants "admitted their responsibility" in this failed attempt to "invade" Venezuela in early May, he said. Last week, two former American soldiers, Luke Alexander Denman and Airan Berry, were sentenced for the same facts to twenty years in prison. The affair had once again strained the already very tense relations between Washington and the government of Socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Nicolas Maduro had accused his American counterpart Donald Trump of having "directly directed" this "armed incursion" which was killed in the bud on May 3. According to the Venezuelan government, that day, the Venezuelan army and police managed to stop the "attempted sea invasion"fomented by “mercenaries from Colombia” on the Macuto shore, less than an hour's drive from Caracas.
According to Caracas, the "terrorists" intended to overthrow Nicolas Maduro to "install" in his place Juan Guaido, the leader of the Venezuelan opposition that nearly sixty countries recognize as interim president. A total of 82 people have been arrested for their alleged involvement in this company, said Tarek William Saab. Washington and Bogota have denied any involvement and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the United States would do anything to repatriate Denman and Berry.
The Trump administration is trying at all costs to oust the "dictator" Nicolas Maduro, to whom it denies any legitimacy. Washington tightens more and more the screw of the sanctions and the American justice indicted the political heir of Hugo Chavez (1999-2013) for "narco-terrorism" in March. Nicolas Maduro, in power since 2013, enjoys the support of Cuba, China and Russia.