Nicolas Maduro, dictator of Venezuela, is threatening to haul the U.S. in front of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague to answer charges of involvement in an aborted invasion of the struggling, impoverished country.
Maduro claims the governments of Colombia, and the U.S. conspired with a Florida security firm, Silvercorp, to invade Venezuela, Breitbart News reports.
Maduro, waving what he said was a contract for the invasion, said, "President Donald Trump is the direct boss of this incursion, of this corporation [Silvercorp] and of them."
He claims members of Venezuela's opposition offered $213 million to Silvercorp to overthrow Maduro.
He said Trump had "privatized" the invasion, so "if it goes badly, like it did, they can wash their hands like [Pontius] Pilate and leave this in the hands of nobody and be able to lie," Breitbart News reported.
Venezuela has said they foiled the attack on Sunday, killing eight and arresting two more – the Americans Airan Berry and Luke Denman, Reuters reported.
The two men told Venezuelan television the plan involved capturing the Caracas airport and Maduro, and flying him out of the country. Once that was done, Juan Guaido would be installed as president, the "contract" states.
"The contract for the invasion of Venezuela, a grave crime in any nation," Maduro said. "I await action on behalf of the power that guarantees justice in Venezuela."
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo strongly denied U.S. involvement and said, "There was no U.S. government direct involvement in this operation. If we had been involved, it would have gone differently."
He said the State Department was trying to confirm if Berry and Denman were Americans and if so, "We want to get every American back. If the Maduro regime decides to hold them, we'll use every tool that we have available to try to get them back," Breitbart News reported.
Some 60 nations back Guaido as Venezuela's legitimate president, and the U.S. has tried to remove Maduro, indicting him as a drug trafficker and offering a $15 million reward for his arrest, along with imposing sanctions, Breitbart News reported.
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