Venezuelan authorities have arrested seven foreigners, including two Americans, who President Nicolas Maduro has accused of being “mercenaries”.
The arrests were announced late Tuesday ahead of Maduro’s swearing-in ceremony on Friday for a third term in office after last year’s election, which the opposition says he won by a landslide.
Maduro said the detained US citizens were of “very high status”, but did not provide further details about the arrests.
“Today alone we have captured seven foreign mercenaries, including two key mercenaries from the United States,” he said.
Maduro accused the Americans, two Colombian “hitmen” and three “mercenaries” from Ukraine of plotting unspecified “terrorist acts” ahead of his planned inauguration.
“I’m sure that in the next few hours they will confess,” Maduro said in a state television broadcast before announcing the massive deployment of police and military personnel across the country.
There was no immediate comment from the U.S. State Department or Colombia’s foreign ministry.
Opposition calls for protest
The announcement of the detention of foreign nationals comes just hours after US President Joe Biden welcomed exiled Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia to the United States.
Biden expressed his support for a “peaceful return to democratic rule” in Venezuela and cautioned against further repression.
The United States and other neighboring countries believe that Gonzalez Urrutia won the July presidential election by a landslide and that the official results were rigged.
The opposition has called for protests and urged “millions” of Venezuelans to join them to prevent Maduro from returning to power.
Amid a new challenge posed by the opposition, Maduro has begun repressing dissent and criticism.
mfi/zc (AFP, Reuters)
