Latin America

Venezuela’s President Maduro cancels UN trip over threats

Venezuela’s President Maduro cancels UN trip over threats

Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro has abandoned his plan to participate in the United Nations General Assembly in New York due to threats to his life.

Maduro, who had just returned from a visit to China, said on Wednesday that on a layover in the Canadian city of Vancouver he obtained intelligence on what he described as “two highly serious provocations.” The data impelled him to scrap his UN trip.

“When I got into Vancouver I evaluated the intelligence which we received from several sources. I decided then and there to continue back to Caracas and drop the New York trip to protect a key goal: safeguarding my physical integrity, protecting my life,” the Venezuelan president told local media.

Maduro further said one of the alleged provocations had been planned against his “physical integrity,” adding that the other one could have involved violence in New York.

Earlier this month, Maduro said Washington is plotting to bring about the “collapse” of his country in October by targeting food, electricity and fuel supplies.

“I have data about a meeting at the White House, the full names of those who attended. I know what plans they made for the total collapse” of the country, Maduro said on September 7 during a ceremony in northern Aragua state.

In August, Venezuelan Interior Minister Miguel Rodriguez said his country had foiled an alleged plot to assassinate Maduro, and detained two hitmen who intended to carry out the killing on orders from a Colombian ex-president.

Rodriguez said on August 26 that the two, Victor Johan Guache Mosquera and Erick Leonardo Huertas Rios, were part of “a group of 10 men who were coming to carry out the murder of the president,” working with former Colombian President Alvaro Uribe.

In March, Maduro accused Uribe of hatching a plan to send a paramilitary force into Venezuela to kill him.

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