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Venezuela announced on Monday that it had uncovered a plot by “extremists” to plant explosives at the United States embassy in Caracas, escalating already fraught relations between the two nations.
Jorge Rodríguez, president of the Venezuelan National Assembly, said authorities had warned Washington of what he called a “false flag operation” allegedly being planned by right-wing extremists.
Although the US embassy in Caracas has been largely abandoned since diplomatic ties were severed in 2019, with only a handful of local staff remaining, Rodríguez said security at the premises had been reinforced as a precaution.
The Venezuelan government frequently accuses opposition figures of conspiring against it, often linking such plots to foreign interference. Relations between Caracas and Washington have deteriorated further in recent years, with the United States positioning Venezuela as a key front in its anti-narcotics campaign.
President Nicolás Maduro, however, insists that Washington’s real intention is to remove him from power.
During Donald Trump’s presidency, the United States deployed warships and aircraft to the Caribbean and carried out airstrikes against small boats off Venezuela’s coast, killing at least 21 people. Washington defended the actions as part of operations to intercept drug shipments bound for the US.
Tensions deepened after the United States refused to recognise Maduro’s 2024 re-election, which Venezuela’s opposition and much of the international community denounced as fraudulent.
