VENEZUELA has shed further light on a foiled “terrorist attack” on Monday, the second in two days, when eight armed men were arrested as they attempted to enter the country in a “naval incursion” from neighbouring Colombia.

Authorities were tipped off by local fishermen from the left-wing Casa del Pescador Socialista as the boat attempted to enter Venezuelan territory.

Local intelligence units detained the “terrorists” in the town of Chuao in Aragua state on Monday.

President of the constituent assembly Diosdado Cabello said: “We continue in popular victory, how great we are! Operation Bolivarian Fury is proving its efficiency.

“Mercenaries who step on our homeland’s soil will be exposed to the people’s dignity.”

Among those arrested in the operation was Antonio Jose Sequea, who was photographed alongside Leopoldo Lopez during a failed coup attempt launched by former president of the national assembly Juan Guiado in the capital Caracas in April last year.

Mr Lopez is lauded by rights groups including, the pro-imperialist Amnesty International, which considers him a “prisoner of conscience.” 

In reality, the right-wing opposition politician has organised attempts at armed insurrection. He was sentenced to 14 years in prison for inciting violence in the 2014 riots that left 43 people dead.

Also detained was Adolfo Baduel, the son of retired former defence minister Raul Baduel, and two US citizens, Airan Berry and Luke Denman, who claimed to be working for US President Donald Trump.

It was the latest attempted attack on Venezuela under Operation Gideon, a plot orchestrated by former US special forces operative Jordan Goudreau. 

He is understood to have armed and trained Venezuelan dissident forces in Colombia to launch a coup against the democratically elected Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Both Mr Guiado and the US have sought to distance themselves from the attempted coup, as is standard practice after the perpetrators have been caught and the mission failed.

But Mr Maduro insisted that the US was fully behind the plans, adding that Foreign Minister Jorge Arreas had raised the issue with United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres.

“We were able to uncover this terrorist incursion, knowing that the United States government delegated the [Drug Enforcement Agency] for the preparation of this action and involved the SilverCorp private company all its operational planning,” he explained.

He indicted Ivan Duque, highlighting the Colombian president’s recent visit to Washington, where, Mr Maduro said, Mr Duque had been told to “set Venezuela on fire.”