“Thirteen terrorists were caught. We seized materials they intended to use for their plan. We found drugs, dollars, arms, satellite phones, radio receiving sets, and night vision equipment,” Maduro said during a speech in Caracas broadcast by the national TV, TASS reported.

He added that everyone who had taken part in the operation to capture the criminals would be rewarded and promoted.

On May 3, the Venezuelan authorities announced that they had successfully foiled an attempt to infiltrate the country by a mercenary group traveling from Colombia looking to stage a coup d’etat in Venezuela. According to President of Constitutional Assembly Diosdado Cabello, the mercenaries were trying to break through into the country aboard boats.

Colombia rejected the statement of the Venezuelan side. According to the Colombian authorities, Caracas is putting forward unfounded accusations against Bogota to distract from the country’s domestic issues.

The political crisis in Venezuela exacerbated on January 23, 2019, when Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been canceled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas. Several countries, including the United States, and most of the EU states recognized him.

In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria, and Turkey voiced support for Maduro, who has blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US.

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“We are closely watching the current developments in Venezuela,” Foreign Ministry Spokesman Abbas Mousavi said in a statement on Tuesday, adding that “chaos and anarchy can by no means resolve political differences in the country.”

“The best way (to settle the differences) is to establish dialogue and develop the required mechanisms between all parties in order to have the people’s problems resolved by forces committed to the development and prosperity of the country, under the leadership of the legitimate government of Venezuela,” he added.

Venezuela’s political crisis lurched into a violent new phase on Tuesday as an attempted military uprising erupted at the heart of its capital, Caracas, and opposition leader Juan Guaido urged supporters to take to the streets to force President Nicolas Maduro from power.

Venezuela’s Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez said the government is confronting a small group of “military traitors” who are seeking to promote a coup against Maduro.

Venezuela has been in political turmoil since US-backed opposition figure Guaido declared himself “interim president” late in January.

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