Three U.S. citizens are among five people detained by Venezuelan authorities over their alleged connection to a terrorist plot to destabilize the country, Venezuela’s interior minister announced on Thursday.
Appearing on state television, Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello identified the U.S. citizens as David Guttenberg Guillaume, Gregory David Werber, and Jonathan Pagan Gonzalez.
Cabello did not state when the five individuals were detained or what charges they faced but said Gonzalez was captured in the border state of Zulia.
A Peruvian and a Bolivian citizen were also among those taken into custody alongside the three Americans, he said.
All of the individuals speak “perfect” Spanish and traveled to the South American nation under the pretense of either a holiday or visiting a romantic partner, the interior minister said.
“The detained foreigners speak Spanish perfectly, a necessary requirement for them to involve themselves in communities,” Cabello stated.
Cabello provided no evidence linking the detained individuals to alleged terrorist activities in the country.
Election Results Under Scrutiny
The detainments follow a clampdown on what Venezuela’s government has described as “anti-government activities” following the highly disputed July presidential election in which President Nicolas Maduro secured a third term in office.The latest arrests bring the number of foreign detainees in Venezuela to at least 12 after three Americans, two Spaniards, and a Czech citizen were arrested last month.
Officials accused those individuals of traveling to the country to assassinate Maduro, overthrow the Venezuelan government, and kill several members of its leadership.
The Maduro administration has previously used Americans imprisoned in Venezuela to gain concessions from the U.S. government.
The Epoch Times contacted the State Department for comment but didn’t receive a reply by press time.