The former spy chief to embattled Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro has revealed new details of the plot to oust him including code names, secret meetings and a back channel to the Americans.

Gen. Manuel Ricardo Cristopher Figuera, who fled the country after the plot collapsed in May, laid bare the full scale of the plan during an interview with The Washington Post.

Mr Figuera was head of the Venezuelan intelligence police force SEBIN but became disillusioned with Mr Maduro’s leadership as the country spiraled into economic and political chaos this year.

The decision by Juan Guaido, an opposition politician and leader of the National Assembly, to declare himself interim president in January triggered months of turmoil, splitting the international community.

Mr Figuera said that while in post he was taken aback by Mr Maduro’s apparent reliance on Raul Castro, the former brother of Fidel Castro who until last year was the Cuban president.