CaliToday (08/10/2025): A top Venezuelan official issued an extraordinary warning on Sunday, alleging that the government had uncovered a plot by "far-right extremist groups" to plant explosives at the United States Embassy in Caracas in what was designed to be a "false flag" operation.
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| A man walks next to a U.S. flag at the U.S. Embassy in Caracas, Venezuela January 24, 2019. Picture taken January 24, 2019. REUTERS/Carlos Garcia Rawlins |
Jorge Rodriguez, the influential President of Venezuela's National Assembly, made the high-stakes allegation public via his Telegram account. He stated that Washington had been formally alerted to the potential threat through "three different channels."
The alleged plot was described as a "false flag" operation, a term for a hostile act committed in such a way as to deceive others into believing a different party is responsible. The clear implication is that the attack would have been designed to be blamed on the Venezuelan government of President Nicolás Maduro, potentially to provoke an international incident.
"We have warned the government of the United States about a false flag operation, schemed by Venezuelan far-right extremist groups, that intended to place explosives at their embassy in Caracas," Rodriguez wrote in his message.
The White House and the U.S. State Department have not yet issued an official response to the claims.
The warning is made particularly unusual by the current diplomatic reality between the two nations. The U.S. Embassy in Caracas has been vacant since 2019, the year Venezuela severed all diplomatic relations with Washington. The move came after the United States and dozens of other countries recognized opposition leader Juan Guaidó as the nation's legitimate interim president. All American diplomatic personnel were withdrawn at that time, leaving the embassy compound shuttered.
An attack on the empty facility would therefore be a largely symbolic act, rather than one aimed at harming U.S. personnel.
Rodriguez added that a European embassy was also notified of the alleged plot, though he did not specify which one. The public nature of the announcement suggests a multi-pronged strategy by the Maduro government: to portray itself as a responsible actor foiling a terrorist plot while simultaneously implicating its political opposition in violent extremism. The lack of specifics and the charged political environment in Venezuela leave the claims open to interpretation, adding another layer of intrigue to the deeply fraught relationship between Caracas and Washington.