Venezuelan Authorities Arrest 3 Americans, 2 Others On Suspicion Of Terrorism

Venezuela's government has detained three Americans, one Bolivian and one Peruvian, after accusing them of being involved in terrorist activities.

"The detained foreigners speak Spanish perfectly, a requirement for them to involve themselves in communities," the country's Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said Thursday, Reuters reported.

Cabello did not mention when the five new prisoners were arrested, but said that one of the Americans, identified as Jonathan Pagan Gonzalez, was caught in the border state of Zulia.

The government, led by President Nicolas Maduro, often claimed that opposition members and foreign detainees were working with U.S. organizations like the CIA to plot terrorist attacks.

The five arrests have added to the number of foreign prisoners in the country. The new group of detainees now brings the total number of foreign prisoners in Venezuela to at least 12.

Last year in December, Venezuela freed dozens of prisoners, including 10 Americans, after months of talks between Venezuela and the U.S. In return, the U.S. released a Colombian businessman Alex Saab, who was a close ally of the president.

Last month, authorities said they had arrested four more Americans, two Spaniards, and a Czech citizen. The U.S. State Department confirmed that "a U.S. military member" was among those arrested.

"The safety and security of American citizens anywhere around the world is our first priority, and we're going to gather more information about this in the hours ahead," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

While talking about the recent arrests, Cabello identified the two other Americans as David Guttenberg Guillaume and Gregory David Werber, showing their photos. He didn't give any more details about them or why they were arrested.

A man named Gregory David Werber was convicted in the U.S. three years ago on federal money laundering charges. He was involved in laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug money for a Mexican drug cartel using Bitcoin, according to a 2021 press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington. It was not clear yet if the man detained in Venezuela is the same person.

However, a search on the Bureau of Prisons website showed that the convicted Werber was released from prison in November 2022, Reuters reported.