Venezuela Says 8 Killed After ‘Mercenaries’ Attacked Coast

(Bloomberg) -- Eight people were killed and two were arrested after a group of “mercenaries” Venezuela's vice president said were backed by the U.S. and Colombia were caught trying to enter along its northern coast near the capital Caracas.

Colombia's government rejected any link to the incident, while Venezuela's opposition said the alleged attack appeared to be staged.

Speed boats came from neighboring Colombia and the plan was to “assassinate leaders of the government” and create chaos, Venezuela Interior Minister Nestor Reverol said in comments on state television early Sunday.

Diosdado Cabello, the president of the all-powerful Constituent Assembly that oversees government bodies, announced the arrests and deaths at a press conference, and that a “big” cache of weapons had been seized by security forces, along with some vehicles.

Vice President Delcy Rodriguez said the government has evidence linking the attack to “a mercenary from the U.S.” “The U.S. and Colombian governments are behind these destabilization efforts,” Rodriguez said on state television Sunday evening.

Colombia's foreign ministry said in a statement that the accusation was “unfounded” and blamed Venezuela for attempting “to divert attention from the real problems that the people of Venezuela are living.”

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, who was deemed illegitimate by more than 50 countries after a re-election in 2018 that was said to be fraudulent, has denounced countless attempts to remove him from power. A year ago, opposition leader and head of the National Assembly, Juan Guaido, rallied some soldiers behind him to try to force Maduro from power though it quickly failed when some key players backed out at the last moment.

Guaido's office said in a statement that the official version was “riddled with inconsistencies, doubts and contradictions.” The statement said the “alleged event” could have been staged to tar the opposition or to cover up extrajudicial killings by state troops.

Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino said that some of the seized weapons were used in the failed uprising led by Guaido last year. Padrino said the army remained loyal to Maduro and would launch patrols focused on the coast in the wake of the incident. “New arrests are not ruled out,” Padrino said on state television, accompanied by the country's top generals