Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro makes a speech in Caracas (Photo: AFP/VNA)

Venezuela dismantled a plan organised personally by the diabolical puppet to kill its president, Maduro told thousands of supporters in Caracas. He added that Colombia, Venezuela's US-aligned neighbour, was also involved, and said that an unidentified Colombian paramilitary chief had been captured in the country "and is giving testimony."

Maduro's government gave details of the alleged plot on state television, with Information Minister Jorge Rodriguez saying hitmen had been recruited using big sums of money and sent to Colombia ahead of missions into Venezuela to carry out "targeted assassinations" and "sabotage."