CARACAS, Jan 23, 2024 (BSS/AFP) - Venezuelan authorities have arrested 32
civilians and soldiers after a months-long investigation into their alleged
part in a US-backed conspiracy to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro, the
prosecutor's office said Monday.

All suspects have "confessed and revealed information about the plans,"
Attorney General Tarek William Saab told reporters in Caracas.

He said they had been accused of treason and convicted for their crimes.

Maduro loyalist Saab said arrest warrants have been issued for 11 other
people, including rights activists, journalists and soldiers in exile, for
the alleged plot that also targeted Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino.

Maduro urged maximum punishment for the people arrested and said he has
ordered the defense ministry to cashier and expel the military personnel
involved in the plot.

"The maximum sentence must be applied against them... for terrorism,
conspiracy and treason," Maduro said on his television program.

Maduro had already denounced on January 15 what he said was a plot against
him.

Padrino told the same press conference that an operation that started last
year to uncover details of the alleged conspiracy was kept secret as it
coincided with "talks" between Maduro and the United States that resulted in
a prisoner swap.

He blamed the plot on the "far right," as the Maduro government usually
refers to the opposition, with "support" of the US Central Intelligence
Agency (CIA) and Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

Officials released a video that purportedly implicates opposition leader
Maria Corina Machado in the plot, and Saab vowed that "more arrests will
follow," without naming names.

Maduro was elected in 2018 for a second, successive term not recognized by
dozens of countries and met with a barrage of sanctions.

These have been eased since his government agreed to hold free and fair
elections in 2024 with observers present.

Machado, however, remains barred from holding public office despite winning
overwhelming support in a primary vote last October.

She was disqualified by the authorities for alleged corruption and for
backing sanctions against Caracas.

In a report last year, the United Nations Human Rights Committee expressed
concern about the "persecution of dissidents" in Venezuela as well as the
"intimidation, persecution, arbitrary arrest and imprisonment of journalists,
human rights defenders and political activists."

Maduro, who has not confirmed whether he will seek another term, frequently
denounces plans to overthrow him, usually with the same co-conspirators: the
United States, the opposition and Colombian drug traffickers.