Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro on Wednesday dismissed US officials’ statements that a group of high-ranked Venezuelan officials had committed to back his overthrow, and he said these statements were lies, RIA Novosti reported.

“They say that a group of high-ranked Venezuelan officials was engaged in talks with the US government to allow for the coup [in Venezuela]; they claim that,” Maduro said. “[But] they refer to a group of honest and loyal Venezuelan officials. The organizers of the [Venezuelan] government overthrow lie not only to themselves, but to the US imperialism, too, and make it believe that I sought to leave the country.”