VENEZUELA’S MADURO CLAIMS US EMBASSY “FALSE FLAG” PLOT THWARTED AMID MILITARY BUILD-UP

Tue 07 October 2025:

President Nicolas Maduro announced on Monday that Venezuelan security forces thwarted a “false flag operation” aimed at planting explosives at the US Embassy in Caracas.

In a televised interview, Maduro alleged the plot was orchestrated by “extremist sectors of the local Venezuelan right” to escalate tensions with Washington, coinciding with a reported US military build-up off Venezuela’s coast.

He cited information from two credible sources—one domestic and one international—prompting heightened security measures around 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 added.

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 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 attacks on sites in Venezuela.

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Tensions escalate

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 $50m, 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.

In the past, those involved in drug trafficking were considered criminal suspects with due process rights, and the US Coast Guard 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 killing.

Maduro has described Washington’s military operation as a step towards US-backed government change in his country, and he has written to Pope Leo XIV saying he has faith the head of the Catholic Church “will help Venezuela preserve and achieve peace and stability”.

On Friday, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced four people were killed in the latest strike on a small vessel in the Caribbean, which the White House claims is involved in drug trafficking and crewed by “narco-terrorists”.

SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES

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