Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro accuses US of financing mercenary ‘plot’ to assassinate him
- Maduro tells his supporters that opposition leader Juan Guaido, recognised as interim president by more than 50 countries, was organising plan
President Nicolas Maduro on Saturday accused the United States of using frozen Venezuelan funds to bankroll mercenaries to assassinate him in a “plot” he said was directed by opposition leader Juan Guaido.
“We have dismantled a plan organised personally by the diabolical puppet to kill me,” Maduro told thousands of supporters in Caracas, referring to Guaido, who is recognised as interim president by more than 50 countries.
He alleged that Colombia, Venezuela’s US-aligned neighbour, was also involved, and said that an unidentified Colombian paramilitary chief had been captured in the country “and is giving testimony.”
Maduro’s government gave details of the alleged plot on state television, with Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez saying “hitmen” from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras had been recruited “using big sums of money” and sent to Colombia ahead of missions into Venezuela to carry out “targeted assassinations” and “sabotage”.
Rodriguez accused Guaido’s chief of staff, Roberto Marrero, of receiving money from the United States and being a key organiser of the alleged operation.