The leader of the parliamentary bloc, Vice President of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, Diosdado Cabello, accused the US government of carrying out recent attacks on oil refineries inside the country.

“This is part of the US imperialist policy: attacking oil facilities and sending mercenaries here, some of them were detained, and some were convicted of attempting to commit a coup in the state and murder in our country. U.S. government envoys,” Capilio said at a press conference in Caracas.

He pointed out that “the recent sabotage operation on the Petroleos de Venezuela SA (PDVSA) gas pipeline in the state of Monagas in the east of the country shows that the US government is not abandoning its plans to destabilize Venezuela.”

He emphasized that “such events should teach us that imperialism does not calm down. They want to tear us apart, and we ask for mercy. This will not happen, because this people is not used to this, this people does not give up,” and indicated that “the Venezuelan security services will respond to any form of violence in the country.

Last Sunday, Venezuelan Oil Minister Tarek El Aissami said that “there was a new attack on the PDVSA gas pipeline, as a result of which a fire broke out in one of its sections.” Last June, the Venezuelan authorities said that “a sabotage operation took place at the El Palito oil refinery in the state of Carabobo, which could have caused catastrophic damage to these facilities.” And in May last year, a major fire broke out at the Kardon oil refinery in the north of the country.

Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has previously claimed that Colombian leader Ivan Duque was involved in attacks on the country’s oil and electricity facilities.