What is known about Silvercorp, the company that organized an attempt to kidnap Maduro in Venezuela

It was called a “private coup”: a plan to kidnap Nicolás Maduro and hand him over to US officials, who offer a $ 15 million reward for information leading to the arrest of the Venezuelan president.

The plan, led by the US security company Silvercorp, began with months of training for former Venezuelan military personnel in the Colombian desert of La Guajira. They had weapons, vests, and a communication system.

Silvercorp even had contacts with the Venezuelan opposition, open to exploring “all options” to overthrow Maduro.

• What is known about the ‘frustrated invasion’ that ended with the arrest of two Americans in Venezuela
• V, U or W, the 3 possible scenarios for economic recovery after the covid-19 pandemic

And so was born the so-called Operation Gideon, whose leader was Jordan Goudreau, a former US military man who participated in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan as part of the Army’s special forces. Several other former US soldiers accompanied him.

On May 3, fifty men boarded two ships in Colombia with the ambitious goal of occupying the presidential palace in Miraflores, removing Maduro and taking him to the United States.

But even before reaching the landing point, a city on the north coast of Venezuela called Macuto, the group was intercepted by Venezuelan security forces. According to the government, eight people died in the confrontation and two Americans were arrested.

Since then, what started as an operation to overthrow Chavismo has become the target of ridicule and, according to Venezuelan experts, a new argument for Maduro’s rhetoric against imperialism.

Goudreau, now under investigation by the Justice of his country, is the protagonist of a story worthy of a movie, for some, not action, but comedy.

Although the Donald Trump government has denied any ties to Goudreau and the operation, the plan reflects the motto of the Washington government that “all options are on the table” to achieve a change of government in Venezuela.

A Miami company

Canada’s 43-year-old Goudreau’s name gained fame on May 1.

An Associated Press investigation detailed the operation led by the former military man, conceived in 2018 by Colombia, in alliance with members of the opposition and a dissident from Chavismo, former General Clíver Alcalá, who has been in the hands of the US justice for weeks. .

Goudreau, a decorated member of an Army special forces team, also known as “green berets,” not only attended opposition meetings in Bogotá and Miami, but was also part of the security deployment of the Venezuela Aid Live concert, in The Border Organization organized by millionaire Richard Branson in February 2019.

After fighting wars, Goudreau created Silvercorp in Miami in March 2018. His main offering, according to his quirky social media and official website, was to train police and teachers against attacks on schools in the States. United.

Part of his strategy, he says in a video, was “to infiltrate anti-terror agents in schools, disguised as teachers.”

After a “fine-toothed comb” on Goudreau’s social media, criminologist Giancarlo Fiorella showed evidence on the Bellingcat website that the agent had participated in and made sure of Trump’s political protests.

“All this does not mean that Goudreau is part of the secret service. Trump is known to use private security for himself and during his protests, and Silvercorp was probably hired” for these events, explains the expert, who later published another report detailing the theories. . related to Operation Gideon with members of the radical American right.

BBC News Mundo, the BBC’s Spanish-language service, tried to contact Goudreau, but received no response. In an interview with Venezuelan journalist Patricia Poleo, Goudreau said that although his plan was already known and that the opposition “did not pay” for what he promised, he launched the operation because he is a “freedom fighter”.

Based on a controversial contract revealed by the former military man, Goudreau hoped to finance his operation with payments made by the opposition, which obtains its dividend funds from Venezuelan state companies confiscated by the United States.

Whatever the purpose, Goudreau and Silvercorp reflect a long tradition of American private companies providing military services to governments and private entities in Latin America and the world.

“We are not retired military,” Goudreau said in another video on the networks. “We are an active risk mitigation service.”

The business of geopolitics and drug trafficking

“The outsourcing of defense policy in the United States and Colombia has grown a lot in recent decades, especially in the fight against drug trafficking,” Adam Isacson, security expert at the Washington Workshop for Latin American Affairs, told the BBC World ( WOLA). , in English).

“In Latin America, this type of company has been used more to support intelligence, while in places like Iraq or Africa, they carry out military operations more similar to what Goudreau seemed to be trying to do,” he adds.

Regardless of whether the US government USA It has something to do or not with Operation Gideon, the experts and opponents of the USA. USA They have said that situations like this are the result of the government putting Maduro’s head at a critical point.

In March, the US Department of State. USA Announced a $ 15 million reward for Maduro, to whom US Justice. USA Accuses of drug trafficking.

Isacson documented the role dozens of private US companies played in schemes such as Plan Colombia, a bilateral agreement between the United States and Colombia to combat drugs.

Other US security companies provide services to Colombian mining companies. Its presence in the country is ancient and deep-rooted.

Since the end of the Cold War, there has been a boom in security companies in the United States that have worked with the government to intervene in complex but small-scale conflicts, especially in Africa, without the political cost of sacrificing American troops.

According to a 2011 report by the Senate National Security Committee, between 2005 and 2009, the United States federal government spent $ 3.1 billion on private drug policy contracts in Latin America, a 32% increase in four years .

The reward for Maduro comes in the context of the drug war. An argument, according to people like Goudreau, who claim to fight for freedom, to deliver a “private blow”.

Have you seen our new videos on Youtube? Subscribe to our channel!