Venezuela: 9 Military Personnel Jailed over Maduro Plot

Local Editor

Nine members of the Venezuelan armed forces were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for plotting to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro in 2014, the Supreme Court said on Wednesday.

General Oswaldo Hernandez and retired Colonel Jose Delgado were among those sentenced to a minimum of five years, the court said in a statement.

Venezuela's top court rejected a final appeal from the nine defendants who had already seen previous motions dismissed by both a lower court and a court-martial.

They were accused of "preparing in 2014 an insurrectional and destabilizing movement, called operation Jericho, against the government."

All nine defendants were arrested between March and May 2014.

According to local press reports, the plan was for certain military detachments to arrest Maduro and other high-ranking government officials in a bid to spark a citizens' revolt to oust the regime.

Maduro, who frequently denounces plots against him, insisted at the start of December that the United States was planning to overthrow him with the help of Colombia's right-wing government and Brazil's far-right president-elect Jair Bolsonaro.

Source: News Agencies, Edited by website team