Venezuela’s Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami said on 11 December that authorities had disrupted a plan to attack Venezuela’s 146,000-B/D El Palito refinery and had arrested two suspects in the plot.
El Aissami alleged, without providing evidence, that the planned attack had the support of the Colombian and US governments. Bogota, Washington, and dozens of other countries do not recognize Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro as the country’s rightful leader, arguing he rigged his 2018 re-election.
“This terrorist plan was prepared in Colombia,” El Aissami said. “It is also important to denounce that the US Central Intelligence Agency and National Security Agency had knowledge of the plan and advised the terrorists involved.”
El Aissami said the alleged attackers also planned to blow up a pipeline supplying gasoline from the refinery to the Yagua fuel sorting station. El Palito halted gasoline output earlier this month.