[ad_1]
Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro says an “attempted invasion by sea” was being prepared and that a “coup d’etat” should then follow, led by political opponent Juan Guaidó.
Maduro even accused the opposition leader of having prepared his murder with the participants in the attempted maritime invasion on Sunday.
“He is a thief, a drug dealer, able to sign a contract to kill his political opponent. He is a criminal and he did it. He prepared for my murder. He is a failure and someone will have to admit that,” the president said Thursday. just for the Venezuelan state press.
Also extending the accusations to the United States, the Venezuelan head of state said that “at this time there is no political dialogue between Venezuela and the United States” and that after recent events, Washington has interrupted communication channels with Caracas.
“After May 3, relations were cut off, but there were always channels of information. They applied ‘silence’, total silence and did not respond to our messages,” he added.
But the President of the United States also denies his participation in the operation and guarantees that “if he wants to go to Venezuela” he will not “make it secret.”
The plan was known to topple Nicolás Maduro and take him to Florida to answer the drug trafficking charges.
Jordan Goudreau, a former soldier in the “green beret” (a special force in the United States Army), meanwhile, assumed to be at the forefront of this failed foray into Venezuela. But the former US special operations soldier. USA He says he organized a small group of people for this invasion, by order of Juan Guaidó.
US officials say Goudreau, the owner of a security company in Florida, did not act at the request of the Trump Administration, adding that this former soldier is being investigated for arms trafficking, at an early stage in the legal process.
Why did the invasion plan fail?
The Venezuelan government announced on Sunday that eight people died and two were arrested in a first attempt at a maritime attack that took place in the La Guaira district, neighboring Caracas. The following day, two Americans and 11 people were arrested on a second boat that was approaching a coastal area in the central district of Aragua.
The flaws in the plan were revealed by two US special forces soldiers who were arrested. Airan Berry and Luke Denman were captured at sea even before they set foot on Venezuelan soil.
One of the detained Americans, Luke Denman, a former member of the forces specializing in tactical operations, said in an interrogation that he intended to take control of the Maiquetía airport and bring the Venezuelan president to the United States.
“There were three small groups. Altogether there were between 60 or 70 men, 20 people per group,” Denman said.
“It should guarantee control of the airport so that we can make a safe transfer from Maduro to the plane,” he adds.
An Associated Press investigation detailed how Goudreau, through his private Florida security company, partnered with a retired Venezuelan military officer to train in secret camps in Colombia, dozens of deserters from the Venezuelan security forces for a mission. addressed to Maduro. According to the same investigation, the United States offered a reward of $ 15 million for the capture of Maduro.
The truth is that Trump denies any involvement, and Goudreau guarantees that he never managed to convince the Trump Administration to support his bold plan for a coup in Venezuela.
According to The Guardian, some representatives of Juan Guaidó signed a great contract with Goudreau to overthrow Maduro. But in an interview with the British newspaper, a leading opposition figure said they began to doubt Goudreau, ending up aborting the mission and ending the deal months before this weekend’s invasion.
Although Goudreau carried out the plan and tried, without glory, to invade Venezuela on Sunday, the plan was already doomed to failure.
Two days earlier, the Associated Press had already published a lengthy investigation describing the plan. The Venezuelan government was probably aware and prepared in time for the attack.
