Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said his security forces prevented a “false flag operation” to plant explosives at the United States Embassy in the capital Caracas in order to heighten tensions with Washington amid a US military build-up off the coast of the Latin American country.
In a televised interview late on Monday, Maduro said two reliable sources, one domestic and one international, had informed the government of the possible attack by “extremist sectors of the local Venezuelan right” and security forces were sent to reinforce the embassy.
The sources “agreed on the possibility that a local terrorist group placed an explosive device at the US embassy in Caracas”, Maduro said.
“This was backed by a person who will be known soon and asked for by a person who will be known soon, but this is all ongoing,” he said.
The goal was to lay blame for the attack on Venezuela’s government, which would then “begin an escalation of conflict” with the US, he added.
Following the rupture of diplomatic relations between Caracas and Washington in 2019, the US embassy is currently closed and only maintains staff responsible for security and upkeep of the premises.
News of the alleged plan to attack the embassy comes as US President Donald Trump is reported to have called off efforts to reach a diplomatic agreement with Venezuela, telling his special envoy Richard Grenell – who had been leading negotiations with Maduro’s government – to stop all outreach with Caracas.
An unnamed senior US official told the Reuters news agency on Monday that Trump delivered the message to Grenell during a meeting in the Oval Office on Thursday with senior military leaders.
The official also told Reuters that Trump has not yet determined whether to advance his military campaign from currently attacking so-called drug-carrying Venezuelan ships in the Caribbean Sea to a second phase, which reportedly involves strikes on sites inside Venezuela.
US, Venezuela tensions escalate
During his first term in the White House, Trump broke ties with Caracas and recognised an opposition leader as Venezuela’s leader in a failed attempt to oust the leftist Maduro.
In August, Trump accused Maduro of being one of the world’s major drug traffickers and announced that a reward for his capture would be doubled to $50 million, while US navy ships and a submarine were deployed off the country’s coast. US F-35 fighter jets have also joined the military build-up.
On Friday, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth announced four people were killed in the latest strike on a small vessel in the Caribbean, which the White House claims are involved in drug trafficking and crewed by “narco-terrorists”.
According to a US media network CNN, a secret and expansive list of cartels and suspected drug traffickers has been produced by the US Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel alongside a legal opinion stating that the president is allowed to authorise deadly force against a broad range of suspects due to an imminent threat to US citizens from drug gangs.
The Justice Department opinion is reported to form a key part of the Trump administration’s ramped up campaign against Latin American drug cartels, which also includes expanded authority for the CIA to conduct lethal targeting and covert action in the region.
In the past, those involved in drug trafficking were considered criminal suspects with due process rights and the US coastguard was responsible for interdicting drug-trafficking vessels and arresting smugglers.
Officials in Venezuela have slated the Trump administration’s targeting of shipping saying it amounts to a campaign of extrajudicial killings.
Maduro has described Washington’s military operation as a step towards US-backed regime change in his country and he has written to Pope Leo XIV saying that he has faith the head of the Catholic Church “will help Venezuela preserve and achieve peace and stability.”
