In a video published on social media, the ACSN said it had been asked “to damage the electricity infrastructure, act against the presidential candidate Nicolas Maduro, (and) take action if he is re-elected by infiltrating protests and creating chaos in the streets”.

In response, Attorney General Tarek William Saab said on the social media platform X that he had ordered a probe “to investigate and punish (those responsible for) the new threats of magnicide against the head of state”.

Minutes before the announcement, Maduro had called publicly for an investigation.

“They were contacted by members of the Venezuelan extreme-right to bring in a thousand men in order to generate violence in the border states,” Maduro said on his radio programme.

The purported plot follows other allegations made by the government against the opposition, which stands accused of conspiratorial plans related to the presidential vote.

Maduro two weeks ago accused his main rival, Edmundo Gonzalez Urrutia, of inciting a coup after the opposition candidate refused to sign an agreement to respect the results of the vote.

Gonzalez was declared the candidate of the opposition coalition after leader Maria Corina Machado was declared ineligible.

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