CARACAS, (AFP) — Three Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen were detained in Venezuela on suspicion of plotting to destabilize the country, the government said Saturday, as the United States denied Caracas’s allegations it was involved.

The arrests come amid heightened tensions between Venezuela and both the United States and Spain over Venezuela’s disputed 28 July presidential election, which the country’s opposition accuses President Nicolas Maduro of stealing.

Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said the foreign nationals were being held on suspicion of planning an attack on Maduro and his government.

“We know that the United States government has links to this operation,” Cabello asserted.

Cabello said two Spaniards were recently detained in Puerto Ayacucho in the southwest.

He added that three Americans and a Czech national were also arrested and linked the alleged plot to intelligence agencies in the US and Spain as well as to Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

Maduro has in the past heaped blame for the tide of adversity his country faces on the “imperialist” US, which he accuses of conspiring with his Venezuelan opponents to overthrow him.

A State Department spokesperson said Saturday that “any claims of US involvement in a plot to overthrow Maduro are categorically false.”

The State Department spokesperson additionally confirmed that a US military member was being held and noted “unconfirmed reports of two additional US citizens detained in Venezuela.”

Cabello, meanwhile, said that those detained had “contacted French mercenaries, they contacted mercenaries from Eastern Europe and they are in an operation to try to attack our country.”