CARACAS/BOGOTA - Venezuela has detained three Americans and two others for alleged terrorist activities, Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello said on Thursday, marking an increase in the count of foreign prisoners in the South American country.

       The government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has regularly accused members of the opposition and foreign detainees of conspiring with U.S. entities such as the Central Intelligence Agency to plan terrorist attacks.

       Venezuela released dozens of prisoners, including 10 Americans, in December 2023 following months of negotiations between Caracas and Washington. In exchange, the United States released Alex Saab, a Colombian businessman and close ally of Maduro.

       The new list of detainees, which also included one Bolivian and one Peruvian, brings the number of foreign detainees in Venezuela to at least 12.

       "The detained foreigners speak Spanish perfectly, a necessary requirement for them to involve themselves in communities," Cabello said on state television.

       Last month, authorities said they had arrested four other Americans, two Spaniards and a Czech citizen, and the U.S. State Department said "a U.S. military member" was among those detained.

       Cabello did not say when the five new detainees were arrested, but said one of the Americans, Jonathan Pagan Gonzalez, had been captured in the border state of Zulia.

       "The safety and security of American citizens anywhere around the world is our first priority, and we're going to gather more information about this in the hours ahead," State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told reporters at a regular news briefing.

       Cabello named the two other Americans as David Guttenberg Guillaume and Gregory David Werber, and he also showed their photos.

       Cabello provided no other information about the detainees or what led to their arrest.

       A man named Gregory David Werber was convicted three years ago on U.S. federal money-laundering charges, after laundering hundreds of thousands of dollars in drug proceeds for a Mexican drug cartel using bitcoin, according to a 2021 press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington.

       It was not immediately clear whether it was the same man detained in Venezuela, but a search on the Bureau of Prisons website showed the convicted Werber was released from prison in November 2022. REUTERS