Venezuela bans flights from Colombia following arrests in anti-govt plot

Venezuela on Monday banned the arrival of flights from neighbouring Colombia after authorities detained more than 30 people who were allegedly plotting activities to destabilize the country ahead of Sunday's election.

The arrests were announced just as an independent panel of experts backed by the Organization of American States released a report documenting serious human rights abuses in Venezuela as the government tightened its grip on dissent after the July 28 presidential election.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello on state television said the flight ban was immediate and would last beyond Sunday, when voters across the country are expected to elect governors and National Assembly members. But Colombia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a statement said Venezuela's government had notified it that flights would resume the day after the election. 

Cabello said the anti-government plans involved placing explosives at embassies and other facilities in Venezuela. He said authorities had detained 21 Venezuelans and 17 foreigners, some of whom hold Colombian, Mexican and Ukrainian citizenship.

Cabello, without offering any evidence, said the group included experts in explosive devices, human smugglers and mercenaries, and was working with members of Venezuela's political opposition.

The scenario they want to present is that there are no conditions in Venezuela for holding an election, Cabello said, referring to the opposition.

Colombia's Foreign Ministry in a statement said it had not received any information from Venezuela's government regarding the detention of Colombian citizens.

President Gustavo Petro, Colombia's first leftist president, resumed his country's diplomatic relations with Venezuela after taking office in 2022 and becoming an ally of Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro.

Maduro, during a televised meeting with leaders of the military and state security forces, alleged that members of an Albanian crime organisation involved in drug trafficking in Ecuador were also linked to the alleged plot and added that an investigation into the group's plans is ongoing.

The arrests come nearly two weeks after members of the opposition left the country after having lived at a diplomatic compound in Venezuela's capital, Caracas, for more than a year to avoid arrest. U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the faction of the opposition led by Mara Corina Machado described the departure as an international rescue operation, but Cabello said they left Venezuela through a negotiation with Maduro's government.

Machado has called on Venezuelans to boycott the election scheduled for Sunday, almost 10 months since the presidential contest that electoral authorities claimed Maduro won despite credible evidence to the contrary. Several countries do not recognize Maduro's victory and have broken diplomatic relations with his government, disrupting commercial air travel.

Five of the six people who sheltered at the diplomatic compound were part of Machado's staff. Dozens of people affiliated with her movement, including its lawyer, as well as opposition leaders, activists and others detained before and after the presidential election remain behind bars.

The panel of experts backed by the Organization of American States on Monday reported that the post-election period has seen the most severe and sophisticated phase of political repression in Venezuela's modern history. This included the execution of unarmed protesters, enforced disappearances and an increase in arbitrary detentions. The panel also reported that the state expanded its repression targets beyond political opponents and human rights defenders by going after poll workers, election witnesses, relatives of opposition members, minors and others.