Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said foreign backers financed the failed attempt on his life last summer to the tune of $20 million, which he says was distributed to opposition members in neighboring Colombia.

“The plan to kill me that was executed in August cost several million, there is talk of 20 million dollars,” President Maduro told the Bolivarian Army Academy on Tuesday at an event televised on state media.

The president thanked the military and intelligence services for warding off the attack and commended them for bravery, adding they “saved the peace of the republic.”

The plan required foreign funding – in dollars – he said, and singled out Julio Borges, a well-known figure among the opposition, as the principal author of the plot.

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Earlier this year, President Maduro suggested in an interview with Russian outlet RIA Novosti that US President Donald Trump personally gave the order to have him killed, but provided no evidence to support the claim.

Two explosive-laden drones detonated over a crowd in Caracas on August 4, 2018 as President Maduro addressed the Bolivarian National Guard. The incident was deemed an assassination attempt and a number of opposition figures were arrested in response.

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