Two Spanish nationals arrested in Venezuela not linked to any plot, says Madrid

MADRID (Reuters) -Two Spanish nationals arrested in Venezuela had no links to the Spanish secret service and Spain was not involved in any plan to politically destabilize the South American country, a Spanish foreign ministry source said on Sunday.

Two Spaniards, three U.S. citizens and a Czech citizen were arrested in Venezuela on suspicion of links to an alleged plot to undermine President Nicolas Maduro’s government, Venezuela’s interior minister said on Saturday.

“Spain denies and absolutely rejects any insinuation of being implicated in an operation of political destabilization in Venezuela,” the Spanish foreign ministry source said.

“The government has confirmed that the (two Spanish citizens) detained do not form part of the Centre for National Intelligence or any state organisation. Spain defends a democratic and peaceful solution to the situation in Venezuela.”

The arrests are likely to deepen Venezuela’s already tense relations with Spain and the United States after a disputed presidential election in July.

Venezuelan Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello told a pressconference on Saturday that two Spaniards were allegedly linked to Spain’s secret service and were planning the assassination of a mayor.

He named the Spaniards as José María Basoa and Andrés Martínez Adasne. Photographs of the men were shown on state television.

The father of Adasne, Andrés Martínez, told El Mundo newspaper on Sunday his son did not work for the Spanish secret service.

“My son does not work for the CNI, of course not. We are waiting for information from the consulate and embassy. We still do not know what they are accused of or the reason for their arrest,” he said.

Cabello also accused three U.S. citizens and a Czech ofinvolvement in terrorist acts, including alleged plans to assassinate Maduro and other officials.

The U.S. State Department said on Saturday that “any claims of U.S. involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false”.

The State Department spokesperson also confirmed that a “member of the U.S. military” was being held and noted “unconfirmed reports of two additional U.S. citizens detained in Venezuela”.

The European Union’s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, called Maduro’s government “dictatorial” during an interview with Spanish television channel Telecinco on Sunday.

On Saturday, a Spanish foreign ministry source told Reuters it was asking Venezuela for more information.

“The Spanish embassy has sent a verbal note to theVenezuelan government asking for access to the detained citizensin order to verify their identities and their nationality and inorder to know what they are accused of exactly,” the sourcesaid, speaking on condition of anonymity.

The Spanish nationals were detained while taking photographsin the town of Puerto Ayacucho, Cabello said.

Venezuela recalled its ambassador to Spain last week forconsultations and summoned the Spanish ambassador to appear atthe foreign ministry after a Spanish minister accused Maduro ofrunning a “dictatorship”.

Caracas was also angered by Spanish PrimeMinister Pedro Sanchez’ decision to meet Venezuelan opposition candidate Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, who went into exile in Spain last week after being threatened with arrest.

Tensions between Venezuela and the United States have also intensified after Washington recognised Gonzalez Urrutia as thewinner of the July 28 election.

(Reporting by Graham Keeley in Madrid, Deisy Buitrago in Caracas; Editing by Susan Fenton and Alex Richardson)