- Click to share on Facebook (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on Twitter (Opens in a new window)
- Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in a new window)
- Click to email a friend (Opens in a new window)
Venezuela denounces attempted invasion 3:17
(CNN Spanish) - The government of the questioned President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro denounced this Monday to the international community an alleged “mercenary and terrorist” aggression, organized from Colombia and planned by agents of the United States.
On Sunday, the Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Néstor Reverol, reported that "a group of terrorist mercenaries from Colombia tried to carry out an invasion by sea."
According to Reverol, the group tried to enter speedboats along the coast of La Guaira, in order to carry out "a new attempt at a coup d'état".
Attorney General Tarek William Saab posted on his Twitter account some photos of documents and weapons allegedly occupied and announced the start of an investigation.
The president of the contested National Constituent Assembly Diosdado Cabello reported that 8 people died and 2 were arrested as a result of the joint police and military action.
In the statement on Monday, the Venezuelan Foreign Ministry indicates that one of the captured confessed to being "a veteran agent of the United States Anti-Drug Agency (DEA)." CNN has not been able to verify this claim.
Consulted by CNN, a spokesman for the US State Department said they have "little reason to believe anything" that the Venezuelan government denounces. "The Maduro regime has been consistent in its use of disinformation to distract attention from Venezuela's mismanagement."
He stated that the policy of the United States is to support the South American country for the "return to democracy."
The Colombian Foreign Ministry rejected the accusations through a statement: "The claims made by the dictatorial regime of Nicolás Maduro have been made trying to blame our country for alleged destabilization events." And he added that what was said by the questioned Maduro government "constitute attempts to divert attention from the real problems that the people of Venezuela are experiencing."
"This is an unfounded accusation, which attempts to commit the Government of Colombia in a speculative plot," says the statement.