Venezuela's govt. says it foiled plot to destabilize polls

Venezuela's govt. says it foiled plot to destabilize polls

PanARMENIAN.Net - Venezuela's government said on Friday, April 12 it foiled a plot to destabilize Sunday's presidential election, the latest in a flurry of claims that the opposition has derided as crude attempts to distract voters from the country's problems, Reuters reported.

Vice President Jorge Arreaza went on national television to announce that security forces had captured two Colombians posing as Venezuelan military officials who were allegedly planning to disrupt this weekend's vote, though he did not say how.

Flanked by the military's top brass, Arreaza held up photos of the Colombian suspects. He also displayed about 50 assault rifle cartridges and explosives that he said were linked to a group of Salvadoran mercenaries previously accused by the Venezuelan government of plotting to kill acting President Nicolas Maduro, who is favored to win on Sunday.

"We've managed to dismantle a plan that would try to influence the election or the post-election period," said Arreaza, a son-in-law of late president Hugo Chavez, whose death from cancer on March 5 triggered this weekend's vote.

"This is wonderful news, because it means that we can all vote on Sunday in peace."

The accusations are the latest twist in an election campaign marked by one dramatic claim after another. In March Maduro said U.S. officials were orchestrating a plot to kill opposition candidate Henrique Capriles as a way of sparking a coup, an accusation that Washington categorically denied.

Then came charges that the Salvadoran mercenaries were out to assassinate Maduro and sabotage the power grid to sow chaos.

The Capriles camp, for its part, warned of a government scheme to plant illegal arms and explosives on senior opposition figures in order to arrest them before the election.

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