{"id":1497277,"date":"2024-10-19T18:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-10-19T22:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1497277"},"modified":"2024-10-19T18:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-10-19T22:00:00","slug":"3-americans-detained-in-venezuela-over-alleged-anti-government-plot","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/3-americans-detained-in-venezuela-over-alleged-anti-government-plot\/1497277\/","title":{"rendered":"3 Americans Detained In Venezuela Over Alleged Anti-Government Plot"},"content":{"rendered":"

3 Americans Detained In Venezuela Over Alleged Anti-Government Plot<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times,<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

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\u2019s interior minister announced on Thursday.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A Peruvian and a Bolivian citizen were also among those taken into custody alongside the three Americans, he said.<\/p>\n

All of the individuals speak \u201cperfect\u201d Spanish and traveled to the South American nation under the pretense of either a holiday or visiting a romantic partner, the interior minister said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe detained foreigners speak Spanish perfectly, a necessary requirement for them to involve themselves in communities,\u201d<\/strong><\/em> Cabello stated.<\/p>\n

Cabello provided no evidence linking the detained individuals to alleged terrorist activities in the country.<\/p>\n

Instead, he repeated previous claims that U.S. entities such as the CIA were behind the alleged terrorist plot <\/strong>– a claim that has been repeatedly refuted by the U.S. State Department.<\/p>\n

Election Results Under Scrutiny<\/h2>\n

The detainments follow a clampdown on what Venezuela\u2019s government has described as \u201canti-government activities\u201d following the highly disputed July presidential election in which President Nicolas Maduro secured a third term in office.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The election results sparked nationwide protests and have been heavily scrutinized by the United States<\/a> and its allies, including Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, and the UK.<\/p>\n

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.<\/strong><\/p>\n

One of those detained was later identified <\/a>as Wilbert Joseph Casta\u00f1eda Gomez, whom Cabello described as a Navy SEAL who had served in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Colombia.<\/p>\n

Also in September<\/a>, a fourth U.S. citizen was arrested for allegedly taking photos of electrical and oil installations and military units.<\/p>\n

Officials accused those individuals of traveling to the country to assassinate Maduro, overthrow the Venezuelan government, and kill several members of its leadership.<\/p>\n

The United States in September imposed sanctions<\/a> on 16 individuals connected to Maduro, whom the Biden administration accused of obstructing voting during the July presidential election and carrying out human rights abuses.<\/p>\n

The Maduro administration has previously used Americans imprisoned in Venezuela to gain concessions from the U.S. government.<\/p>\n

Under a deal with the Biden administration in December last year<\/a>, the Venezuelan government handed over 10 Americans and a fugitive wanted by the U.S. government to secure a presidential pardon for Columbian businessman Alex Saab, a close Maduro ally accused of a $350 million money laundering scheme.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Epoch Times contacted the State Department for comment but didn\u2019t receive a reply by press time.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nSat, 10\/19\/2024 – 14:00<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/3-americans-detained-venezuela-over-alleged-anti-government-plot<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

3 Americans Detained In Venezuela Over Alleged Anti-Government Plot Authored by Katabella Roberts via The Epoch Times, Three U.S. citizens are among five people detained…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1497278,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1497277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1497277"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1497277\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1497278"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1497277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1497277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1497277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}