A former US special forces soldier has claimed responsibility for a botched attempt by a group of armed men to invade Venezuela by boat which has left eight men dead.
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The country's government said it had killed eight attackers and arrested two others from the attack, with socialist party chief Diosdado Cabello saying on state television that it was carried out by neighbouring Colombia with US backing in a plot to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro.
And former special forces soldier Jordan Goudreu said he directed the operation with the backing of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido.
Goudreau and retired Venezuelan captain Javier Nieto declined to speak to Associated Press on Sunday when contacted after they posted a video from an undisclosed location saying they had launched an anti-Maduro putsch called Operation Gideon. Both men live in Florida.
"A daring amphibious raid was launched from the border of Colombia deep into the heart of Caracas," Mr Goudreau, in a New York Yankees ball cap, said in the video standing next to Nieto who was dressed in armoured vest with a rolled-up Venezuelan flag pinned to his shoulder.
Goudreau said cells of his men were still on the ground and activating inside Venezuela, and said he hoped to join the rebels soon and invited Venezuelans and Maduro's troops to join the would-be insurgency. There was no sign of any fighting in the capital or elsewhere as night fell.
In an interview with Miami-based journalist Patricia Poleo, Goudreau provided a contradictory account of his activities and the support he claimed to have once had - and then lost - from Guaido, recognised as Venezuela's interim president by the US and some 60 countries.
He provided what he said was an eight-page contract signed by Guaido and two political advisers in Miami in October for alleged "general services".
Earlier, interior minister Nestor Reverol described the attackers as "mercenary terrorists" bent on destabilising Venezuela's institutions and creating "chaos".
Officials said the attack took place in La Guaira, about 32km from Caracas and home to the nation's largest airport.
Authorities said the attackers had vehicles and heavy arms waiting for them in the port city.
Australian Associated Press
