This is the alleged plot to assassinate Maduro denounced by Venezuela (which involves the Spanish secret services).

Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela’s Interior Minister, appeared on Venezuelan television screens to announce that had arrested six people, all foreigners, who were preparing a plot to assassinate him. Nicolas Maduro .

According to Cabello, it is three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech who were part of a group of 14 people who planned the execution of the president and other senior officials with weapons illegally entered the country.

However, as contextualized BBC World , The arrest comes after the United States decided to sanction 16 Venezuelan officials, after the result delivered by the National Electoral Council (CNE) on the July 28 elections, which continue to be questioned by various world leaders.

There is also the precedent that Edmundo González Urrutia, the opposition candidate, requested asylum from the Spanish government a week ago.

These 16 people would have been “implicated in Maduro’s fraudulent and illegitimate declarations of victory and his brutal repression of freedom of expression.”

And the next step of the Venezuelan government would have been to accuse the United States and Spain of terrorist conspiracy for the death of the Venezuelan leader. However, both countries have categorically denied their involvement in the matter.

From BBC World they assured that “It has become customary for Venezuelan authorities to point the finger at US security agencies, including the United States Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) …as responsible for acting against them.

Even when Hugo Chavez was still in power, these types of complaints were quite common.

The difference with this last accusation, presented by Diosdado Cabello, is that for the first time, they included Spanish National Intelligence Center (CNI) .

The minister said that He was not “surprised” that the CIA was involved in the assassination plot. However, he said that “the Spanish National Intelligence Center has always kept a low profile, knowing that the CIA operates in this area.”

But, How was the alleged plot conceived?

Cabello reported that Near the airport of Puerto Ayacucho, 710 kilometers from Caracas, they found two Spaniards “in an irregular situation, taking photos” Once arrested by the authorities, they were reportedly identified as José María Basoa Valdovinos and Andrés Martínez Adasme.

When their cell phones were checked, Cabello said: They reportedly found contacts of several members of the Vente Venezuela party, led by opposition leader María Corina Machado.

Immediately afterwards, the minister assured that with the confiscation of the devices, they had been able to determine that The two Spaniards “have contacted French mercenaries and mercenaries from Eastern Europe and are participating in an operation aimed at trying to attack our country.”

He also stated thatThe two Spaniards had “confessed” that they actually intended to bring a group of mercenaries “with very clear objectives: to assassinate President Nicolás Maduro, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, myself and another group of companions.” who lead our party and our revolution.

The Interior Minister stressed that from now on the government will be “extremely rigid and severe in defending the security and peace of Venezuela.”

However, in the same transmission, He provided no concrete evidence that his story was true.

The names of the Spaniards arrested in Venezuela are real. However, Their families, concerned about their situation, assured that they had no links with the CNI.

For example, Andrés Martínez Adasme’s father told the newspaper: The world that “My son doesn’t work at the CNI, of course not.”

Instead, Martínez Adasme and Basoa Valdovinos were both reportedly on vacation and traveling through South America. However, on September 2, they could no longer be located and now the only thing their relatives know is that they are imprisoned in Caracas.

Some sources from the Spanish government assured the newspaper The country that in fact, Neither of the two Spaniards comes from the intelligence services.

As for the three Americans also arrested by the Venezuelan government, Cabello provided virtually no information.

One of them is said to be a member of the US Navy, Wilbert Joseph Castañeda, an explosives expert. and with the experience of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the Interior Minister said.

The other two are said to be Estrella David and Aaron Darren Logandes However, Cabello “admitted” that they don’t know exactly who they are or what their situation is.

In view of this, the United States has strongly stressed that No CIA agents involved in the alleged plot : “Any claim that the United States is involved in a plot to overthrow Maduro This is categorically false.” they said from the State Department.

Spain, for its part, rejected “any suggestion of involvement in a political operation in Venezuela. The government has verified that the detainees are not part of the CNI or any other state organization.

Instead, “Spain defends a democratic and peaceful solution to the situation in Venezuela,” the government said in a recent statement.

This adds even more tension to Spain’s already complicated relationship with Venezuela: The Spanish Congress has decided to recognize Edmundo González as president-elect and Spanish Defense Minister Margarita Robles has called the Maduro government a “dictatorship.”

At the same time, the United States has described the recent elections that saw Maduro win as “fraudulent.”