Venezuela says Cuban exiles in Miami are backing presidential assassination plots

Posted on Wednesday, 07.31.13

Venezuela says Cuban exiles in Miami are backing presidential
assassination plots
BY JIM WYSS
JWYSS@MIAMIHERALD.COM

BOGOTA, Colombia -- In the latest twist on long-running allegations,
Venezuelan officials Wednesday accused members of Miami's Cuban exile
community and former CIA agent Luís Posada Carriles of plotting to
assassinate President Nicolás Maduro, as he struggles to fill the shoes
of late leader Hugo Chávez.

"The plans to physically eliminate Maduro are under way," National
Assembly President Diosdado Cabello told state-run TV. "Where is this
coming from? Miami… from Cubans who went there many years ago — who are
living there — and have contact with Venezuela."

Although he provided few details, Cabello said Posada Carriles is
working with former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe to hatch the plot,
which he claimed had raised $2.5 million and amassed 400 mercenaries. He
said the armed men had entered the country through Zulia state, which
borders Colombia, and that the government foiled an assassination plot
against Maduro that was scheduled for last Saturday.

Cabello said Interior Minister Miguel Rodríguez Torres would provide
additional details Wednesday night.

Assassination allegations aren't new in Venezuela.

At various times since Maduro won April's hotly contested election, the
administration has fingered shadowy El Salvadoran or Colombian
mercenaries as being behind the plot. Uribe and former U.S. diplomats
also have been named. The administration has repeatedly said it would
provide proof of its claims, but little has been forthcoming.

Carriles, a former CIA agent who lives in the United States and has deep
ties to South Florida, is wanted in Venezuela and Cuba for the 1976
bombing of a Cubana de Aviación flight that killed 73 people.

Cabello said he's seen the reports that Carriles, who is in his 80s, is
frail and old. "But Posada Carriles doesn't work alone; he has a large
network around him," he said.

Miranda Gov. Henrique Capriles, who ran against Maduro, took to Twitter
to blast the latest allegations.

"Once again, the corrupt ones are talking about a supposed assassination
attempt to distract our nation from the disaster of this Government,]"
he wrote. "Nobody believes them."

http://www.miamiherald.com/2013/07/31/3534849/venezuela-says-cuban-exiles-in.html