Above: Workers of state-run oil company PDVSA take part in a rally against US imperialism. The placard reads: “The Oil is Ours, Yankee Go Home”. Photo by Carlos Garcia Rawlins for Reuters.

Mission Verdad reports that the arrest of Guaido’s ‘chief of staff,’ Roberto Marrero, earlier this week was tied to more widespread terrorist plans. The evidence points to terrorism plots funded by assets seized from Venezuela and channeled into bank accounts through Colombia. The United States, which put in place new sanctions after the arrest of Guaido’s terrorist assistant, is implicated as is the US puppet Juan Guaido.

Reporting on a press conference by Jorge Rodríguez, Minister of Communication and Information, Mission Verdad describes eight to ten teams of assassins, brought from Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador, who were trained in Colombia to carry out terrorist acts in Venezuela. They planned selective assassinations of high-profile figures of the Venezuelan State and attacks on the country’s public services. Half these groups had entered the country, while others were blocked by the shutdown of the borders.

The objectives of the terrorist plot, including the assassination of social and political leaders, were shown in a slide by Jorge Rodríguez. The slide described how Operation Libertad (or Operation Freedom) planned:

Selective killings of government officials

New sabotage to the Caracas Metro, the Cable Car and the electric service

False-positive operations or false flags by people disguised as military deserters

A general strike, an assault on Miraflores and terrorist actions such as the assassination of President Maduro

The teams were going to conduct their terrorist acts disguised as deserters of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces to portray these mercenaries as “military deserters.” They sought to show a false conflict between the Venezuelan military and elected government.

They also report that the among the material seized from Marrero were cell phones that allowed investigators access to conversations, which showed $500,000 and $700,000 being spent per day to pay these mercenaries and to bribe members of the military to desert and join them. The money was deposited by NGOs created in January and February in accounts of Banesco and Bank of America by the government of Iván Duque after Juan Guaidó asked him to do so. The communications indicate the funds came from money seized from Venezuelan companies. The money stolen from Venezuela that would be used to finance this operation is estimated to amount to a total of $1 billion.

The US, which seems to be behind these plans for terrorism in Venezuela, sanctioned the Economic and Social Development Bank of Venezuela when Guaido’s terrorist aid, the so-called, chief-of-staff, was arrested on suspicion of terrorism.

Mission Verdad reports Guaido himself and right-wing leader, Leopoldo Lopez, who is under house arrest for previous violence, were implicated, writing, “On Marrero’s phone, conversations were also found in a group called ‘the General Staff,’ made up of members of the Voluntad Popular party. Among them, Leopoldo López is identified, in charge of his leadership; Freddy Guevara, in charge of advising on the discursive line of Guaidó; Marrero, the deputies Freddy Superlano and Sergio Vergara, and Juan Guaidó himself.”

Guaido called this “Operation Freedom.” Freddy Guevara describes how the operation is moving “from a strategy of siege to one of assault” articulated with selective assassinations and attacks against public services. This is all consistent with Guaido’s comments at a rally on March 22 in El Tigre, Anzoátegui state, where he said: “Venezuelans do not beg for our rights, so soon we are going together to Miraflores to rescue the office of all Venezuelans,” and told his followers “we must organize because the dictator will not go out kindly.”

In a speech at the Mobilization for Peace outside of the Miraflores Palace on Saturday, President Maduro described how the country is facing “the strongest imperialist aggressions that the Republic has ever survived in 200 years.” Maduro said the people continue to be “the greatest guarantee of peace, democracy, and sovereignty of the Fatherland” against the attacks perpetrated by the Venezuelan right-wing and the US. Regarding the plans of the terrorist cell described in the article below, he assured the people: “We are going to capture them and hand them over to Justice.”

Join us on March 30 outside of the White House to protest US involvement in the economic war and regime change campaign agains Venezuel. The protest begins a week of protests against NATO that ends on April 4. KZ