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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's regime defied the US on Thursday to arrest a top aide of opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom Washington recognizes as the crisis-hit country's interim leader.

Interior Minister Nestor Reverol accused the aide, Roberto Marrero, a 49-year-old lawyer who serves as Guaido's chief of staff, of leading a "terrorist cell" bent on attacking the government's leadership with the help of Colombian and Central American mercenaries as well as "acts of sabotage on public services to create chaos."

He said weapons and foreign cash were found in a predawn raid on Marrero's home.



He added that Marrero's 34-year-old bodyguard, Luis Paez, was also arrested and faced the same charges and a search was on for "identified" collaborators.

Later, President Nicolas Maduro said he would "not be afraid to fight terrorist groups to put them in jail."

The development triggered alarm internationally. The United States, the European Union, and a grouping of Latin American nations plus Canada all denounced Marrero's arrest and demanded his immediate release.