Caracas: Venezuelan officials said Wednesday they have foiled a plot to overthrow the government that included assassinating President Nicolas Maduro and his closest political allies.
Maduro spokesman Jorge Rodríguez said on state television that a network of mostly retired police officers and soldiers planned to bomb a key government building, seize a Caracas air base and loot Venezuela's central bank.
He also said the plotters wanted to edge opposition leader Juan Guaido from Venezuela's political landscape. Guaidó, leader of the opposition-dominated National Assembly, is seeking to oust Maduro from power with backing from more than 50 nations.
Rodríguez said the purported network wanted to steal a helicopter to liberate Raúl Baduel, a former defence minister now in jail and install him as president.
The government has claimed various plots over the years, generally offering little or no evidence to back its charges.
The opposition contends Maduro uses such claims to justify his crackdown on dissent.
Guaidó, who claimed members of his own political team drew unwanted attention from Maduro's security forces early Wednesday, dismissed the latest claim as yet another attempt by the government to distract from Venezuela's real problems.
Maduro came under attack last August by two drones loaded with explosives, which detonated near the president while he spoke at an outdoor military celebration. He was not harmed in the attack, which officials called an assassination attempt.
