The Venezuelan authorities announced the arrest of a group of CIA mercenaries in the country

The Venezuelan government announced the detention of a group of CIA mercenaries and warned about the preparation of a false flag provocation in the waters of Trinidad and Tobago, which would be a pretext for an attack on the republic, Executive Vice President Delcy Rodriguez published a communique in her telegram channel.

"Venezuela reports that it has detained a group of mercenaries with direct information from the American intelligence agency CIA, having established that a false flag attack is being prepared from the waters adjacent to Trinidad and Tobago, from the territory of Trinidad or Venezuela, which should provoke a full—scale military clash with our country," the communique says.

The published document notes that the military exercises organized by the Government of Trinidad on October 26-30 are conducted "under the coordination, financing and control of the United States Southern Command," and are regarded by Caracas as a hostile provocation and a serious threat to peace in the Caribbean.

In Caracas, they recalled the historical analogies with the battleship "Maine" and the provocation in The Gulf of Tonkin, which served as a pretext for war with Spain in order to seize Cuba, as well as with Vietnam.

The Bolivarian Government criticized colleagues from Trinidad, under the leadership of Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, who "renounced sovereignty" and "turned their territory into a floating US aircraft carrier platform to spread the war throughout the Caribbean." According to the Venezuelan leadership, this violates the UN Charter, the declaration of the CELAC community on the zone of peace and the principles of the CARICOM regional organization.