In this file photo taken on Nov 16, 2023, Venezuela's Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto speaks during a joint press conference with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov (not pictured) in Moscow, Russia. (PHOTO / POOL VIA AP)
CARACAS - The US government shelters "terrorists, who have confessed" to carrying out orders "to harm our people", Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Minister Yvan Gil denounced Tuesday.
In a post on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, Gil said the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the US Drug Enforcement Administration "have been conspiring from Miami and Colombia, along with Venezuelan far-right opponents", to assassinate Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez and Governor of western Tachira state Freddy Bernal, among others.
Yvan Gil said the White House is "complicit with the intellectual and material authors of the acts of terrorism and interventionism in Venezuela"
The plots aim to "destabilize our country, through violence, terrorist attacks against military units and a long list of extremist atrocities", Gil said.
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Gil made the remarks in response to a statement issued a few hours earlier out of Washington, demanding the release of suspects arrested in connection with the alleged assassination plots.
"Today the Government of the United States comes out to protect and defend the terrorists, who have confessed to their crimes and the orders they received to harm our people," he added.
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The White House, he said, is "complicit with the intellectual and material authors of the acts of terrorism and interventionism in Venezuela".