“It is the government of the United States that is behind the plans of destabilization and coups against Venezuela. I have come here to denounce it. … We have dismantled a coup attempt against democracy, against the stability of our homeland,” Maduro said in a televised address Thursday. “It was an attempt to use a group of officials from the air force to provoke a violent act, an attack.”
He didn’t name which members of the military were allegedly involved, but claimed that the U.S. government and right-wing opposition groups in Venezuela were behind the plan.
A State Department spokeswoman declined to comment Thursday night on the Venezuelan President’s accusations.
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The accusations come as opposition protesters mark the one-year anniversary of a wave of anti-government demonstrations that rocked Venezuela last year and led to the arrest of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez.
CNN’s Michael Roa and Diane Ruggiero contributed to this report.
