Venezuela has accused the United States Government of seeking to overthrow Nicolas Maduro’s government after a recent report revealed that Venezuela’s top military officials sought US help to try and remove Nicolas Maduro from office.
The New York Times reported that United States Government Officials had secret meetings with Venezuelan military officers to discuss plans to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro involving three distinct groups from the Venezuelan military.
The Coup plans which had originally been slated for 2017 and later revised to March and May 2018 fell apart after US officials refused to cooperate with the military officers.
Reacting to the report, the Foreign Minister of Venezuela Jorge Arreaza denounced efforts to overthrow the government of the Latin American State in a series of tweets;
“We denounce in front of the international community, the plans for intervention and the support of military plots against Venezuela by the United States government. Even in the US media, blatant evidence has come to light.”
Nicolas Maduro had survived an assassination attempt last month when two explosive filled drones exploded near him as he was delivering a speech during a state event in Caracas, the Venezuelan capital. The incident was captured on live TV.
Nicolas Maduro had blamed the US, Colombia, and his domestic enemies for the attack while the US State Department condemned the attack as political violence without forgetting to denounce alleged arbitrary detentions and forced confessions of suspects by the Venezuelan military.
Reports reveal that the Venezuelan military officials had sought US help to overthrow their leader after US President Donald Trump threatened military intervention against Venezuela in August 2017.
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Trump had said that a military option against Venezuela was on the table and will be used ‘if necessary’ to ameliorate the economic suffering of its people.
One of the Military commanders fingered in the coup plot is currently under sanction by the US government and cannot fly to the US while about 11 former and current US government officials were also involved.
While the White House did not confirm the accusations, US officials say the government supported dialogue with Venezuelans who demonstrated a desire for democracy in the country.