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Eight corpses, a contract and several assault rifles ended up opening space on the regional agenda for an issue that seemed to have a great deal of fiction: the alleged military incursion of a group of mercenaries into Venezuela to take Nicolás Maduro to the United States.
Thursday, President Donald Trump came out to deny any participation in the operation, known as ‘Gideon’, that an ex-marine, veteran of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan “Jordan Goudreau,” he had come out to claim 48 hours earlier.
Nicolás Maduro exhibited the passports of the two Americans captured in the group of mercenaries.
The same was done this Friday by President Iván Duque, who called Maduro a “satrap” after he assured that the operation against him was sponsored by the United States and had been carried out in Colombia.
The best evidence to deny Maduro is that part of the arsenal with which the plan was to be executed was seized on this side of the border.
However, There is increasing evidence that an opposition sector hatched the armed outpost from Colombia and that the Maduro regime sent people to spy on them.
The Maduro regime said that 8 mercenaries were discharged and that there are about 30 captives, including two Americans.
@ErikaOSanoja, via Twitter
Assassination order
EL TIEMPO had access to a document that indicates that Maduro had known for months that the former deputy Hernán Alemán was part of a plan against him. In March he even sent three members of the Special Action Force (Faes) to assassinate him in Tunja.
Meetings are also documented in Bogotá, to fine-tune the ‘Gideon’ strategy, which was attended by Goudreau, who had been in charge of the logistics and security of the Aid Live concert.
There was a complete lack of intelligence and operational readiness, disorganization, and even lack of common sense
It consisted of buying rifles, introducing them to Venezuela and activating armed cells to strike a blow against “the usurper president.”
Only the arsenal seized on March 24 on the coast would be worth 1,000 million pesos, including night vision goggles and communication radios.
Where did the funds come from? Sources in Venezuela told EL TIEMPO that they already know that the weapons moved through Panama and that the serials were erased to prevent their origin from being traced. In addition, that the Venezuelan who was helping to move the rifles, Yasid Álvarez, carries a passport with multiple visas and lives in Barranquilla.
J.J. Rendón assures that Juan Guaidó did not know about the contract he signed with the mercenary.
Guaidó’s role
They also assured that part of the mercenaries heading to Caracas – about 300 – trained in La Guajira and that another arsenal has been buried there, protected by a woman from the region with political power.
But many doubt that an armed raid was actually attempted with an irregular troop of that size.
And for security and intelligence expert Johan Obdola, what is known “evidences a total absence of intelligence and operational preparation, a disorganization and even lack of common sense” of its supposed leaders.
In any case, the plot took greater flight when Venezuela notified that there were already 8 dead and about thirty captured (including two Americans) and when a contract appeared signed by the Silvercopt firm, from Goudreau, and Juan José (J. J.) Rendón.
JJ. Rendón is the same opaque communications strategist, protagonist of other controversial episodes in Latin America, who now holds the position of presidential high commissioner for strategy and crisis management of the interim government of Juan Guaidó.
While Goudreau worked in ‘Gideón’, he worked out with Rendón a $ 250 million strategic security advisory agreement.
8 days ago, EL TIEMPO located Rendón, but refrained from talking about it. However, in the middle of the week, he admitted that he disbursed $ 50,000 in advance, although he said the contract had been stopped weeks later. In addition, Guaidó never signed it, although there is a heading under his name.
The former German MP has also been emphatic that the interim president was unaware of “Gideon.” But there is another key character in this plot that contradicts him: Clíver Alcalá, Venezuelan general (r.).
Minutes after the United States listed him as Maduro’s lieutenant and a member of the Soles cartel, Alcalá delivered a statement to W Radio saying that the seized arsenal was his and that it was part of the plan to enter the country militarily.
And at first he said that Guaidó knew about the operation, as did Colombian authorities.
Rewards and Álex Saab
However, his statements have little credibility because some believe him to be a double agent.
It is not ruled out, even, that he conspired with Goudreau to discredit Guaidó, or that they were moved to enter Venezuela due to the juicy rewards that the Trump government offered for Maduro and 14 tokens, accused of drug trafficking and favoring terrorism, a case that it will keep moving.
A source in the United States told EL TIEMPO that in the coming weeks it will be defined if they also ask for a reward against Álex Saab from Barranquilla, accused of money laundering linked to the regime.
For now, an investigation is proceeding against a Colombian who would have received, through foundations, large sums of money from Saab. It is also being investigated whether false tests to detect covid-19, which Caracas imported from China, came to Colombia through it.
As the process progresses, the expert Obdola says that it is urgent that Guaidó go out to talk about ‘Gideon’ and the contract, and report where J. J. Rendón was going to get the money to pay Goudreau: “Already senators from the United States asking if they have used (or plan to use) resources that have been given to them, to finance this type of operations.”
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
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On twitter: @UinvestigativaET
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