Venezuela denounces meetings between US officials and coup conspirators: NPR

Venezuela angrily responds to a New York Times report detailing alleged secret meetings between officials of the Trump administration and Venezuelan military officers seeking to overthrow the country's authoritarian leader, Nicolas Maduro.

"We denounce before the international community the plans of intervention and the support of the military plots by the United States government," said Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza. in a tweet.

Secret meetings, which NPR has not independently confirmed, have been reported by Time Journalists Ernesto Londoño and Nicholas Casey met on Saturday following talks with 11 former and current US officials and a former Venezuelan military commander.

Addressing Weekend Edition on Sunday, Mr Londoño said the meetings had started after President Trump made a remark last August that he was not ruling out the possibility of a military option. against the Maduro government.

"In Caracas, there were high-ranking soldiers who had discouraged Nicolas Maduro and they woke up on hearing this and wondered if the Trump administration was ready to overthrow their commander-in-chief," said Londoño. . "They go quietly abroad, they go to an American embassy and ask for a meeting."

Here are more from Londoño:

"At the White House, the officials look at the situation and weigh the pros and cons, and finally they decided to hear about these guys, they wanted to meet them.At least three secret meetings occur abroad, a US diplomat has set up a return channel with these dissident officers.

"At one point, Venezuelans ask if the United States would give them encrypted radios, they said they needed the means to communicate more securely, Washington takes that into account and finally decides not too much. In the last few months, there has been a series of plans to detain Nicholas Maduro and oust his government, however, there are leaks and none of these plans succeed and now many of the conspirators are behind the scenes. bars. "

Maduro regularly accuses the US government of plotting against him, which may encourage these statements.

US officials do not confirm or publicly deny Time Account.

"The preference of the American policy for a peaceful and orderly return to democracy in Venezuela remains unchanged," said the spokesman of the National Security Council, Garrett Marquis, in a statement. "A lasting solution to the worsening of the crisis in Venezuela can only occur after the restoration of governance through democratic practices, the rule of law and respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. "

According to Time, one of the Venezuelan officials who took part in the talks is on the US sanctions list.

Washington and other members of the Venezuelan security apparatus have been accused by Washington of a wide range of serious crimes, including torture, hundreds of political prisoners, thousands of civilians, drug traffickers and collaboration with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or the FARC, which is considered a terrorist organization by the United States, "the Time reported.

Last month, Maduro was giving a speech when a drone carrying explosives exploded near the podium. As NPR's Scott Neuman pointed out, he accused opposition politicians of apparently missing the assassination.

The country is sinking deeper into the crisis. Hyperinflation shakes the economy and there is shortage of staples. Tens of thousands of people are fleeing to neighboring countries because of growing desperation.

the Time The story will not be warmly welcomed by other Latin American countries because of the long history of US intervention in the region, reports Philip Reeves, of the NPR: "Most they oppose Maduro, but recoil before any suggestion of a coup d'etat or American military options. "