Top Venezuelan Official Accuses Opposition Leader Machado of 'Terrorist Plot' as U.S. Warships Approach the Country's Coast

The alleged plot denounced by Cabello includes the seizure of what he described as an arsenal intended "to threaten the peace" of the country, which includes 23 sniper rifles of various calibers, two shotguns, an automatic weapon, ammunition, and lead ingots.

Cabello highlighted the seizure of a .50 caliber rifle, calling it "totally deadly and lethal," and questioned whether the intent was to replicate scenarios like the events of April 11, 2002, when then-president Hugo Chávez was ousted in a coup.

He then added that the whole operation "bears the stamp of Iván Simonovis and María Corina Machado" and that "they have lost all sense of shame, seeking to ally themselves with paramilitaries, with narco-terrorists.

Machado, widely recognized as the most prominent face of Venezuela's opposition, was forced into hiding over a year ago since the 2024 presidential elections, which she and many insist opposition candidate Edmundo González won by a landslide. Despite operating from secrecy, Machado has kept international attention on Venezuela's political crisis, describing Maduro's government as a "criminal structure" sustained by repression and terror.

Simonovis was once a top police official who founded Venezuela's first tactical unit before becoming one of the country's most high-profile political prisoners, serving years in harsh conditions after being implicated in the aforementioned 2002 coup. He escaped house arrest in 2019, later joining the U.S.-backed opposition as an intelligence adviser.