Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro :

The Venezuelan attorney general’s office has brought charges against two U.S. citizens arrested for alleged incursion attempts and plans to capture President Nicolas Maduro, Attorney General Tarek William Saab said on Friday.

The two, who were identified as Luke Denman and Airan Berry, will face charges including terrorism, conspiracy and war weapons trafficking.

Saab said a total of 31 people have been arrested following attempts at incursions off the coast since last weekend.

Eight people were reported to have been killed in fighting between the alleged invaders and security forces.

Venezuelan detainees face charges including terrorism, treason, war weapons trafficking and financing terrorism, Saab said.

Maduro earlier made public a video in which a man identified as Denman confessed to having trained Venezuelans in Colombia, having travelled with Berry towards Venezuela and planning to secure Caracas airport so a plane could be sent to take Maduro to the United States.

He claimed to have acted under orders from U.S. President Donald Trump.

The Washington Post has published a document according to which members of the Venezuelan opposition negotiated a 213-million-dollar deal with the Florida security company Silvercorp USA, headed by military veteran Jordan Goudreau, to invade the country and to overthrow Maduro.

Trump on Friday again denied any involvement, saying: “We have nothing to do with it.

“I wouldn’t send a small little group, it would be called an army.

“This was a rouge group that went in there.” (dpa/NAN)