‘Trump ordered mercenary attack on Venezuela’

CARACAS: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro says there is evidence his American counterpart Donald Trump “personally ordered” the recent military raid on the Latin American country, arguing that Washington swiftly cut remaining ties with Caracas thereafter. Maduro made the comments in an interview with a Uruguayan news outlet on Friday evening, saying the evidence would soon reveal the US president himself was behind the “covert operation” last weekend, during which two US security contractors were arrested and eight armed locals killed. Maduro also asserted that the newly-appointed Ambassador James Story — the first formal US envoy to Venezuela in some 10 years — and other senior American officials, including US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, were to blame for the failed mercenary attack.