LEILA FADEL, HOST:
The Venezuelan government has accused the CIA of being behind an alleged plot to assassinate President Nicolas Maduro.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Venezuela's Interior Ministry says it arrested three American citizens among other foreign nationals, claiming they were mercenaries. The U.S. State Department has dismissed these claims as categorically false. The backdrop to all of this is a disputed presidential election. Nicolas Maduro says he won, while the opposition, the United States, and many others say he lost.
FADEL: Journalist Manuel Rueda joins us from neighboring Colombia. Hi, Manuel.
MANUEL RUEDA: Hi, Leila. Good morning.
FADEL: Good morning. So what more can you tell us about this alleged plot?
RUEDA: So, the Venezuelan government is saying that the person at the center of this plot is a Navy SEAL, who they identified as Wilbert Castaneda. Venezuela's interior minister showed photos on Wilbert Castaneda on TV and said that he was in Venezuela to make contacts with a gang known as Tren de Aragua, who were supposedly going to get guns to attack Maduro and other members of Venezuela's leadership. The State Department vehemently denied these reports, though they did acknowledge that a member of the U.S. military has been detained recently in Venezuela, and the identities of the other two Americans were not revealed.
FADEL: So the State Department is saying it's categorically false. Is there any sign that President Nicolas Maduro's grip on power is waning as a result of his disputed victory?
RUEDA: Well, Maduro has arrested more than 1,600 people who have protested the election result. He's banned the social media platform X, and also increased censorship on the local press. So this suggests that he's tightening his grip on the country and that he has prosecutors, judges, and members of the military who are willing to carry out his orders. But what some analysts say is that Maduro's latest move show that he's somewhat desperate and has lost legitimacy. Basically, he's resorting to violence and repression because no one in Venezuela believes he won the election. We'll have to see how long he can keep the military on his side. For that he needs more money, but that could become scarce if the U.S. ramps up sanctions on Venezuela's oil industry.
FADEL: Now, you have just returned from the Colombia-Venezuela border where you've been talking to Venezuelans leaving the country. What were you hearing from them?
RUEDA: Right. So I was on some shelters along a road that heads from the border into the center of Colombia. And what you usually see in that area are people who are fleeing the economic situation in Venezuela. But now you're also getting people who had a job in Venezuela who were doing OK, but they had to leave suddenly because they were going to get arrested for participating in protests or for being involved in efforts to monitor the vote count on election day.
You know, these are people who say they've been harassed by paramilitary groups tied to the Venezuelan government or even narrowly escaped being taken from their homes by police. I met one guy there who was - who had been there a couple of days. He was waiting for his family. He had arrived in Colombia with nothing, not even a backpack, because he had to leave so suddenly. And he was waiting for his family to join him so they could go to Chile, where they have some relatives. And even that's going to be tough because some countries in South America have placed lots of visa restrictions on Venezuelan because so many millions of Venezuelans have already fled the country.
FADEL: So Venezuelans now fleeing the economic conditions and possible political persecution. That's reporter Manuel Rueda from Bogota, Colombia. Thank you for joining us.
RUEDA: Absolutely. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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