Three Americans arrested in Venezuela over alleged plot to ‘destabilize’ country

Three Americans were arrested in Venezuela over an alleged plot to "destabilize" the country through "violent actions," according to the Venezuelan government.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello alleged that those arrested, which included three Americans, two Spaniards, and one Czech national, were planning an attack on Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and the Venezuelan government. He also claimed that they seized 400 rifles in connection to the alleged plot. One of the Americans is reportedly a Navy sailor who was detained in the country earlier this month while on personal travel.

Cabello said the Americans and Spaniards arrested were linked to their respective nations' intelligence agencies. He also linked the plot to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado, who supplied evidence that Maduro lost the controversial July 28 presidential election to opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia.

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The arrests come just days after the United States sanctioned 16 Venezuelan election officials who are believed to be Maduro sympathizers and complicit in the country’s election fraud by helping Maduro remain in power even though election results show he lost. The Treasury Department took action against members of Venezuela’s National Electoral Council and Supreme Tribunal of Justice, who are accused of repressing and violating citizens’ rights “through intimidation, indiscriminate detentions, and censorship.”

The State Department also announced visa restrictions on 2,000 people suspected of being “Maduro-aligned officials” as accomplices in Venezuela’s election fraud.