The Nicolás Maduro regime said Sunday Venezuela has captured a group of alleged mercenaries with ties to the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and accused Washington and Trinidad and Tobago of coordinating military exercises intended to provoke an armed confrontation in the Caribbean.
In a statement released by Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, the socialist government said the arrests revealed what it described as a “false-flag operation” planned from waters bordering Trinidad and Tobago, or from Trinidadian or Venezuelan territory, “to generate a full-scale military confrontation” against Venezuela.
The regime’s announcement comes amid the fast-growing buildup of U.S. forces in the Caribbean launched by President Donald Trump to combat drug cartels. The administration has signaled that it might soon authorize ground incursions into Venezuela to target the so-called Cartel de los Soles, a narco-trafficking organization the U.S. claims is led by Maduro himself.
The Venezuelan government did not release any evidence or details about the alleged arrests, such as the number of suspects, their nationalities, or when and where they were detained.
Caracas also linked the alleged plot to military drills it claims are being carried out this week by Trinidad and Tobago “under the coordination, financing, and control” of the U.S. Southern Command, calling them “a hostile provocation and a grave threat to the peace of the Caribbean.”
The statement...
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