Thread: Bay of Pigs II. Venezuela

Guaidó advisers quit following bungled Venezuela raid

Associated Press•May 12, 2020

CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó said Monday that two U.S.-based political advisers have resigned in the fallout from a failed incursion into the Caribbean nation led by a former-Green Beret aimed at capturing President Nicolás Maduro.

Guaido said he accepted the resignations of Juan José Rendon and Sergio Vergara, who had signed an agreement for a mission to arrest Maduro with U.S. military veteran Jordan Goudreau. While that deal fell apart, Goudreau has taken responsibility for going ahead with a failed attack launched May 3 on a beach outside the capital, Caracas.

Rendon said he gave Goudreau $50,000 to cover some initial expenses, but both say the contract was never fulfilled and he received no more funds.

The would-be invasion quickly became a publicity coup for Maduro, whose security forces intercepted most of the attackers.

Guaidó's team said in a statement that he “accepted the resignation of the officials and thanked them for their dedication and commitment to Venezuela.”

Maduro says the objective of the raid was to kill him, but instead officials say they killed at least six of the accused “mercenaries” and arrested dozens of others, including two former U.S. soldiers associated with Goudreau's Florida-based firm Silvercorp USA.

Guaidó, who is backed by the Trump administration among nearly 60 other nations as Venezuela's rightful leader, has denied having anything to do with the alleged attack, but has come under pressure from at least one opposition party in Venezuela to explain what happened.

Goudreau has presented what he said is a secret recording of Guaidó himself attended, by speakerphone, the meeting at which the deal was signed. Goudreau said he was never fully paid, but went forward with the mission to help liberate Venezuela from Maduro, working with a former Venezuelan Army Gen., Cliver Alcalá, who was recently extradited from Colombia to the U.S. to face drug charges.

Venezuelan Attorney General Tarek William Saab recently said Venezuela will seek the capture of Goudreau and the two former Guaido advisers. Goudreau said about 60 people were involved in the incursion and Venezuelan officials say they have arrested at least 40, including 14 in the last two days.

https://news.yahoo.com/guaid-adviser...173648096.html

Goudreau is an amateur and a grasser.

Originally Posted by lom

Goudreau is an amateur and a grasser.

Indeed. I read an article a few days ago where he was saying something along the lines of details of all operations remain confidential.

Ex-Green Beret Thought U.S. Supported Failed Venezuela Raid, Family Says
Luke Denman’s loved ones plead for State Department’s help after mission ends in disaster


The Venezuelan government released this photo of what it said are the identification documents of Luke Denman, who was captured along with another American.


WASHINGTON—Luke Denman, a former Green Beret, was searching for meaning after serving in places including Iraq when a former teammate in the U.S. Army Special Forces offered what sounded like a job to help Venezuelans.

The 34-year-old Mr. Denman signed up after nearly a decade away from the front lines. The mission, however, ended in disaster as the small force he was part of sought to slip into Venezuela to overthrow its authoritarian ruler, President Nicolás Maduro, but got no farther than the beach, where he was captured along with another American.

Since then, his family and friends have been seeking to understand what drew him to the task and have been trying to get U.S. government help to extricate him from a Venezuelan prison.

They claim Mr. Denman was misled by the force’s organizers into believing that the mission had the direct backing of President Trump and the U.S. government. Mr. Trump and other U.S. officials have said the U.S. had no direct involvement.

Mr. Denman’s friends and family also expressed frustration that the State Department hasn’t done more to help him after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged to work to bring home the Americans involved in the exercise, once their nationalities are confirmed. The U.S. closed its embassy in Caracas last year and moved the operation to Bogotá, Colombia.

Mr. Denman’s relatives say they have contacted the State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs, which is responsible for the safety of citizens overseas, as well as the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá and the Swiss Embassy in Caracas, but no one has returned their calls.

The State Department said in a statement that it was aware of reports about the matter and is making the safety of Americans abroad a priority. “Our team continues working to get to the bottom of recent events,” a spokeswoman said.

One of Mr. Denman’s former teammates, Jordan Goudreau, has said in interviews he was working with a retired Venezuelan general to raise a force of fighters who would try to slip into the country and lead a rebellion against President Maduro. Despite the improbability of the plot, it seemed like the type of work that Mr. Denman and an associate, Airan Berry, were trained to do in the Special Forces, said those who knew Mr. Denman.

Daniel Dochen, a childhood friend who last spoke to Mr. Denman a week or two before the start of the mission in May, said Mr. Denman said he had been told the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration would send a helicopter to whisk Mr. Maduro away to the U.S. once he was overthrown.

“He messaged at one point or another, they had gotten the green light from Trump,” Mr. Dochen said in an interview.

Mr. Denman was working as an underwater welder and had recently confided to another friend, Braxton Smith, that it didn’t match up to his expectations. Mr. Smith said the former Green Beret was wondering, “‘Am I doing anything useful for the world?’”

They first talked about the Venezuela mission in the fall, after Mr. Denman had finished a welding contract. They met, rode around on motorcycles and caught up on their lives after some time apart. Mr. Smith, an attorney, said Mr. Denman assured him that the mission was fully sanctioned by the U.S. government and that he even had a set of rules of engagement.

“I had asked him one time to shoot me the contract so I could look it over to make sure he wasn’t getting into something crazy,” he said. But the contract never arrived.

Mark Denman, a brother of Mr. Denman, said he was always getting job offers for military-type work and said he warned him to be wary and ensure he had official support.

“I told him, when you’re going somewhere wearing the uniform of a U.S. soldier, there’s a certain amount of responsibility that, in the public light, they have,” Mark Denman said. “When you’re operating under these contracts, God knows.”

He said that his brother may have been persuaded to make an exception and take on the Venezuela job for a person he trusted. The operation failed spectacularly when the ragtag band of fighters were immediately intercepted by Venezuelan forces and irate fishermen. According to the Venezuelan government, eight of them were killed and 13 “terrorists” were captured, including Messrs. Denman and Berry.

The number of detainees has risen to 50 as Mr. Maduro’s forces rounded up other alleged participants. Venezuela’s government released videos of the two captured Americans stating that the plan to arrest Mr. Maduro and fly him to the U.S. had support from the government in Washington.


Luke Denman and his girlfriend, Tatiana Saito. Family and friends are trying to understand what drew him to the Venezuelan mission.

“I thought I was helping the Venezuelans take back control of their country,” Mr. Denman said in the video. He stated that he expected to receive between $50,000 and $100,000 for the job.

Instead, Mr. Denman’s family is now contending with companies claiming to have contacts in the notorious prison where Messrs. Denman and Berry are believed to be detained, or experience in the field of hostage rescue.

Mr. Denman’s mother, Kay Denman, said any acknowledgment would be reassuring.

“They don’t have to [tell us what they’re doing],” she said in an interview, but, “It would be nice to know that things are being moved down the road here.”

Ms. Denman said that seeing photos of her son lying face down, in beach clothes and shorts, didn’t square with the person she knows.

“This is what he’s looking like? This is not Luke. Luke was very safety- minded,” she said, adding that he rode motorcycles in full protective gear. “Luke was always the good one.”

The failed effort has caused a firestorm within the fractious opposition coalition headed by Juan Guaidó, who is recognized by the U.S. and others as Venezuela’s legitimate president.

Mr. Guaidó denies any ties to the thwarted incursion. But two of the young leader’s top aides resigned earlier this week after a contract that they acknowledged signing with Mr. Goudreau’s company, Silvercorp USA, was made public. The agreement had called for the company to train an armed force that would infiltrate Venezuela, overthrow Mr. Maduro and continue as a security adviser to a successor government.

Both aides said the deal was scrapped shortly after it was inked and deny that Mr. Guaidó ever signed it, although a signature appears on the document next to his name. Mr. Guaidó has said he rejected the deal.

The Denman family has been unable to get answers from Mr. Goudreau. Mark Denman, the brother, spoke to Mr. Goudreau twice. On the latter occasion, he said that bringing them home was a priority but refused to give any details, citing security reasons.

Mr. Goudreau, who posted live Twitter messages about the operation, hasn’t responded to requests for comment and has fallen silent on social media.

“I don’t know if he has some grand master plan and betrayed his men in order to execute that plan. I don’t know. Maybe he himself is a pawn in this thing,” Mark Denman said, adding that it looked like his brother had been betrayed and sold out.

“Monday morning I thought my brother was dead, and if he wasn’t dead something horrible would happen shortly thereafter,” Mark Denman said. “It looks like that’s not happening, so I’m extremely thankful for that.”

Ex-Green Beret Thought U.S. Supported Failed Venezuela Raid, Family Says - WSJ

Maduro claims Guaido planned Venezuela 'invasion' while at White House

Caracas (AFP) - Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro alleged Wednesday that opposition leader Juan Guaido met with a former member of the US Army special forces at the White House to plan a failed sea invasion of the Caribbean country.

Maduro claimed the meeting occurred when Guaido, the legislative leader who is supported by the US and around fifty other countries as the interim president of Venezuela, visited the US president in Washington in February.

"It was at the White House on February 4 of this year, 2020, that Juan Guaido met with Jordan Goudreau" the leftist leader said, referring to the former special forces member who Venezuela has alleged organized and trained a mercenary force to carry out the invasion.

The White House did not immediately respond to AFP's request for comment.


Read more: https://sports.yahoo.com/maduro-clai...051631483.html

Interestingly enough, one might be hard pressed to find any news of this related story being promoted within the realms of the establishment corporate sources.
Imagine that.
Nothing changes.

Originally Posted by Neverna

Maduro claims Guaido planned Venezuela 'invasion' while at White House

Quite plausible explanation. They would not come on that idea without him (indirectly)...

Originally Posted by Klondyke

Ex-Green Beret Thought U.S. Supported Failed Venezuela Raid, Family Says
Luke Denman’s loved ones plead for State Department’s help after mission ends in disaster

Fuck him and let him rot in jail

Originally Posted by panama hat

Fuck him and let him rot in jail

Yep.
Add a little torture to the rot.

A nice little recap of the whole, farcical situation:-

The Botched Infiltration of Venezuela Leaves Guaido Tainted Beyond Repair

Originally Posted by panama hat

Fuck him and let him rot in jail

The tool utilised is not the solely responsible entity that needs "jailing".

Luke Denman’s loved ones plead for State Department’s help after mission ends in disaster

How the State Department can help him, when they were not "directly" involved? The whole action was just the sole idea of the boys and financed by their savings...

Originally Posted by OhOh

The tool utilised is not the solely responsible entity that needs "jailing".

what are you suggesting?

Originally Posted by Klondyke

How the State Department can help him, when they were not "directly" involved?

It's still the State Dept's function. That's basic knowledge.

Sure, Venezuela should send back their bodies- after the interrogation process.

^Perhaps they could be placed on the half way into the institution at the corner of the Cuban Island....

They used "to liberate the oppressed"

You have to dare , to win?

Originally Posted by panama hat

It's still the State Dept's function. That's basic knowledge.

If it's anything like the UK, it extends about as far as giving them the contact details of some local lawyers.

Originally Posted by harrybarracuda

If it's anything like the UK, it extends about as far as giving them the contact details of some local lawyers.

They actually do a lot more, but no-one raises those things - what can they do in cases like this

Originally Posted by panama hat

It's still the State Dept's function. That's basic knowledge.

All this has become quite fuzzy and manipulating over a few decades.
Yes....the State Dept might act in the capacity of mother sponsor, but in turn play a de facto underwriter and step-parent of such activities - preventing a trail to trace.

More often than not, distant and unwritten/unauthorized "associations" with NSA, CIA, black companies/covers, private contractors or mercs has been the SOP forever.

Originally Posted by HuangLao

More often than not, distant and unwritten/unauthorized "associations" with NSA, CIA, black companies/covers, private contractors or mercs has been the SOP forever.

You've been reading too many Robert Ludlum books.

Yet, it is the reality.

Nothing to do with a form of borrowed and sensationalized speculative fiction.

Originally Posted by TheRealKW

You've been reading too many Robert Ludlum books.

I think the plots of the books are nothing against the reality...

Originally Posted by Cujo

what are you suggesting?

A tool is utilised to perform a function. He or she whom desires the function to be completed, to their satisfaction. is the culpable entity, not the executioner.

Hence the search for the responsible person.

Originally Posted by OhOh

He or she whom desires the function to be completed, to their satisfaction. is the culpable entity, not the executioner.

Hence the search for the responsible person.

Not necessarily, so - no.