CARACAS, (Reuters) – Venezuela on Saturday accused a Salvadorean arrested while trying to enter the country this week of plotting attacks to disrupt legislative elections due to be held on September 26.
Venezuelan authorities said Francisco Chavez Abarca was detained on Thursday at Caracas’s international airport. They alleged he belonged to a gang led by accused plane bomber Luis Posada Carriles.
“This terrorist … has shown that his presence was to launch a phase of attacks to provoke violence and destabilization to disrupt the forthcoming elections,” Interior Minister Tareck El Aissami told state television.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez said on Saturday it was clear Abarca had not come to the Latin American country as a tourist: “They are trying to generate new violence in Venezuela,” he said.
