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(CNN Spanish) - Venezuela's attorney general, Tarek William Saab, announced that the detainees this week in an alleged maritime raid, including two Americans, will be presented in court this Friday to be charged.
Saab reported in a televised statement to journalists that Venezuelan citizens will face charges of "conspiracy with a foreign government, terrorism, treason, rebellion, illicit trafficking in weapons of war, financing of terrorism and association."
Detained foreigners will be charged with "terrorism, conspiracy, illicit trafficking in weapons of war and association". These are crimes that include up to 30 years in prison, the maximum penalty in the Venezuelan Penal Code.
- US citizen detained in Venezuela speaks on state television
CNN is trying to determine if the accused have had access to their possible defenders, since the authorities have not indicated whether the detainees have legal representation. Saab stated that human rights will be respected at the hearing.
The attorney general added that there are already 31 people in custody, suspected of having participated in an operation of which, according to him, the government had long been aware of and that had the objective of overthrowing the questioned President Nicolás Maduro. He also announced that they will request 22 new arrest warrants for these events and that raids have already been carried out
in five states of the country.
- Venezuelan authorities present video of second American detained
On the other hand, Saab announced that they will request arrest warrants and that they will request, through Interpol, the extradition of the strategist Juan José Rendón, as well as Jordan Goudreau, executive director of the US security firm Silvercorp, in charge of the failed operation.
In an interview with CNN, Rendón, who is an adviser to the president of the National Assembly of Venezuela, Juan Guaidó, said that he signed a preliminary agreement that was not effective, with the idea of exploring whether it could be captured and brought to justice to several members of the Maduro government who are on trial or who have arrest warrants. Goudreau said in an interview with The Washington Post that the two retired US military who were captured in Venezuela were part of Operation Gideon, a mission his company organized to infiltrate the country and overthrow President Nicolás Maduro.
Silvercorp has not responded to CNN's requests for comment.
- American brother detained in Venezuela: "I'm glad they didn't beat him up"
Guaidó, recognized as interim president of Venezuela by more than 50 countries, denied that he had been involved in this operation, as the Maduro government claims. Venezuelan authorities also pointed out to the United States and Colombia that they were behind this alleged plot, an accusation that both countries denied.
They arrest two more people
Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino reported this Friday the capture of two more people, who join the 23 who had reported the previous day as part of the operations for an alleged failed coup attempt against the government of the questioned president. Nicolás Maduro. The new arrests were carried out, according to Padrino, in a mountainous sector south of Puerto Cruz, a coastal city in La Guaira state. "And we're going for more," he wrote in a tweet.
- The testimony of the mother of one of the American veterans detained in Venezuela
JJ RendónOperación Gideón
