PHOTO FROM AFP. WASHINGTON — US National Security Advisor John Bolton said on Sunday that there was no US government involvement in the recent assassination plot against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro.

Bolton told Fox News Sunday that “I can say unequivocally there was no US government involvement in this at all.”

Bolton said he had spoken to the US charge d’affaires in Caracas and was told that “Americans are accounted for.”

Maduro escaped unharmed from an attempted attack of explosive drones on Saturday night during his speech to commemorate the 81st anniversary of the country’s National Guard.

Later, Maduro called the attack as an assassination attempt, and blamed it on the far-right factions in Venezuela, the Colombian government and conspirators in the United States.

Authorities detained six people suspected of using explosives-laden drones in a failed bid to assassinate the Venezuelan leader.

The government alleged that opposition factions conspired with assailants in Miami and Bogota, although they offered no specific evidence. Opposition leaders decried Maduro for broadly singling out his political opponents, and they warned he may use it to further suppress his critics.

The thwarted attack comes as Venezuela is reeling from a worsening economic and humanitarian crisis and Maduro has grown increasingly isolated. Foreign nations, including the United States, are slapping economic sanctions against a growing list of high-ranking officials and decrying his government as an autocratic regime. Xinhua and AP