Socialist dictator of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro announced on Thursday that Venezuelan security officials detained over 50 “mercenaries” who allegedly entered the country to plot against his regime ahead of Sunday’s sham regional elections.
According to Maduro, who did not present evidence to substantiate his accusations, the detained individuals were recruited by “the extreme right” to carry out “bombing and violent attacks in the country.”
The Maduro regime will hold a sham election on Sunday to elect new governors for Venezuela’s 23 states and their respective local legislatures. Additionally, a similarly fraudulent election will be held to choose the governor of “Guayana Esequiba,” a purported 24th state that the Maduro regime plans to carve out of two-thirds of neighboring Guyana. The two countries have contested the region for over 120 years. The Venezuelan socialists will carry out the election despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) calling for Venezuela to abstain from conducting elections involving the contested territory.
Throughout the week, the Maduro regime has claimed that “terrorist attacks” are being allegedly plotted against his regime to prevent the holding of the “elections.” On Monday, Interior Minister and wanted drug lord Diosdado Cabello announced the suspension of all commercial flights between Venezuela and Colombia on the grounds that the dubious terrorist plots allegedly originated in Colombian territory. Cabello announced that, at the time, 17 foreign nationals had been arrested for their involvement in the alleged plan. Days later, on Wednesday, Cabello announced the arrest of Spanish, Argentine, and Bulgarian nationals who allegedly “conspired” against the election.
Nicolás Maduro, at a campaign closing event in Caracas on Thursday ahead of the upcoming sham elections, announced that over 50 “mercenaries” have now been arrested. Maduro, without providing any evidence, claimed that Colombia’s former Presidents Álvaro Uribe Vélez and Iván Duque are allegedly behind the plots, which come “from Miami.”
“They [the “extreme right”] have tried to bring in mercenaries. Already today we have captured more than 50 mercenaries who entered the country to plant bombs and carry out violent attacks,” Maduro said.
“They come with the complicity of Uribe and Duque from Colombia, they come from Miami, and the good thing is that the method of intelligence, patrolling and immediate reaction is working, and the popular-military-police fusion is working,” he continued.
The socialist dictator further claimed that the arrested “mercenaries” were captured through Operation Tun Tun (“Knock Knock”), a brutal dissident crackdown campaign first launched in 2017 and re-launched in 2024 to persecute Venezuelans who peacefully protested against that year’s fraudulent presidential election.
Over the past year, the Maduro regime has detained dozens of foreign nationals from about 25 countries over dubious, unproven accusations that the men sought to assassinate Maduro, plot against other members of his regime, and attack Venezuelan state infrastructure. The Maduro regime claims that the CIA and Spain’s National Intelligence Centre (CNI) were both behind the purported plots.
In January, President Donald Trump’s Envoy for Special Missions Richard Grenell travelled to Caracas and successfully negotiated the release of six American men that were unjustly detained for their purported participation in the dubious plots. U.S. Air Force veteran Joe St. Clair was also released by the Maduro regime this week. Grenell told Newsmax shortly after returning to the United States with St. Clair that there are still about six Americans unjustly detained by the Maduro regime.
A recent report published by the CASLA institute and presented by the Organization of American States (OAS) stressed that Nicolás Maduro uses foreign political prisoners as “bargaining chips” for his economically and socially-ailing regime.
The Argentine national detained this week, later identified as Pablo Gonzalo Carrasco, was released on Thursday. According to the Argentine outlet Infobae, Carrasco entered Venezuela using an Italian passport to participate at a cybersecurity event. Carrasco’s detention prompted the Argentine government to urge its nationals to “stop traveling to that country, because it is a danger. They take them hostage.”
In December, the Maduro regime detained Argentine gendarme Nahuel Gallo after he traveled to Venezuela to meet with his family. Gallo, whose whereabouts remain unknown at press time, was accused of allegedly plotting against the Maduro regime.
Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado called this week for Venezuelans to stay at home and abstain themselves from participating in Sunday’s sham election, stressing that Sunday’s elections are “not free, they are not fair, and they are not legitimate.”
Christian K. Caruzo is a Venezuelan writer and documents life under socialism. You can follow him on Twitter here.
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