Venezuelan authorities announce dismantling of a group of foreign “mercenaries”

The Minister of the Interior and Justice of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, said that this Tuesday a “dangerous” group of mercenaries from the United States and Colombia linked to “Venezuelan sectors” was dismantled.

“Very close to the drunks and the drunkards, to the cowards, to those who left,” he said on Tuesday in an event broadcast by the State channel from the state of Portuguesa, where he offered to give details as soon as possible.

This Monday, Cabello said that 125 alleged mercenaries of various nationalities have been arrested for allegedly being involved in terrorist acts.

The announcements occur amid an escalation of tensions and uncertainty just days before the country’s elected president is sworn in.

Both Maduro and the opposition leader, Edmundo González Urrutia, recognized as president-elect by several governments, claim victory in the presidential elections on July 28. Both hope to assume the presidency next Friday.

Despite the insistence of the international community that requested transparent and verifiable results, the electoral body did not disclose disaggregated data, but the opposition published minutes that its table witnesses kept and that would give González Urrutia as the winner.

The election results sparked protests that left 28 dead and more than 2,400 people arrested. International bodies defending human rights denounced an increase in repression in the country.

In January of last year, Venezuelan authorities began to denounce alleged conspiratorial plans against the government, in which they implicated the CIA, intelligence agents of the Colombian army, among other organizations, and began to issue arrest warrants against opposition political leaders. , unions, human rights defenders and journalists, among others.

Late last year, Cabello announced that American and Spanish citizens, among other nationalities, were arrested in Venezuela for allegedly attempting to destabilize the government.

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