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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro delivers a speech during a rally to celebrate the results of last month's presidential election, in Caracas, Venezuela August 28, 2024.
Venezuela arrests six in coup plot claim
Six foreign nationals, including three American, two Spanish, and one Czech citizen, were arrested in Venezuela on Saturday,accused of plotting to assassinate strongman President Nicolás Maduro. Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello announced the arrests on state television, claiming the suspects were part of a CIA-led plan to overthrow the government. One of the Americans is a US Navy SEAL identified as Wilbert Joseph Castañeda Gomez.
In response,the US State Department denied any involvement, called the claims “categorically false,” and reaffirmed support for a peaceful resolution to the crisis stemming from Venezuela’s recent elections. The Spanish Foreign Ministry said that the two Spanish citizens detained “do not form part of the Centre for National Intelligence or any state organization” and called for a “democratic and peaceful solution to the situation in Venezuela.”
The arrests cometwo days after the US Treasury imposed sanctions on 16 Maduro allies, and a week after Venezuelan opposition leader Edmundo Gonzales, who was facing arrest, fled to Spain. Washington refuses to recognize the results of Venezuela's July 28 election, in which Maduro claimed victory despite evidence that Gonzales was the real winner. Caracas called the US sanctions a “crime of aggression” that seeks to “overthrow, without success, the Bolivarian democracy.”FILE PHOTO: Karan Brar, Kamalpreet Singh and Karanpreet Singh, the three individuals charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder in relation to the murder in Canada of Sikh separatist leader Hardeep Singh Nijjar in 2023, are seen in a combination of undated photographs released by the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT).
Canada arrests Nijjar murder suspects
Canada's arrest on Friday of three Indian nationals linked to the assassination of Sikh-Canadian activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar has escalated diplomatic tensions between Ottawa and New Delhi. On Friday, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police charged the trio with first-degree murder and conspiracy, adding that they were investigating whether the suspects had links to the Indian government.
India has called the allegations of government involvement in the Nijjar murder “absurd” and a “political compulsion in Canada to blame India,” in the words of Indian External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar. The arrests fall in the middle of the Indian general election in which President Narendra Modiis expected to win a third term.
News of the arrests came the same day that the Canadian government receiveda report on foreign interference in its 2019 and 2021 federal elections, includingIndia's alleged interference in Sikh diaspora affairs. The government has announced legislation to combat such intrusions, including the creation of a foreign agents registry, a measure already in place in Britain and Australia. We’re watching whether this will go ahead in time for Canada’s elections expected next year, and how the ongoing tension between Ottawa and New Delhi plays in Washington, which is doing its best to buddy up to India.