The detainees were identified as Joel Luis Rodríguez Ramos, Jesús Antonio Quilarte Carreño, Jhonny José Salazar Gutiérrez, Carlos Alberto Bravo Lemus, and Levi Enrique López, who Cabello alleged is linked to the DEA.
According to Cabello, the detainees confessed the shipment was part of a "false flag operation" designed to incriminate Venezuela in international drug trafficking and justify external aggression.
"The four detainees are saying they work for the DEA," Cabello told state television, calling the alleged plan a "maneuver for destabilization.".
#Video | En rueda de prensa, el ministro de Relaciones Interiores, Justicia y Paz, Diosdado Cabello Rondón, informó sobre un nuevo falso positivo de la DEA contra Venezuela.
"We don't apply the death penalty," he said, drawing a contrast with U.S. military strikes on alleged drug vessels in the Caribbean.
She cited United Nations data showing that most cocaine exits Colombia through the Pacific, not Venezuela.
In contrast, DEA Administrator Terry Cole said last month that Venezuela has become a "narco-terrorist state" collaborating with Colombian guerrilla groups and Mexican cartels. »