Two former U.S. Green Berets were sentenced Friday by a Venezuelan court to 20 years in prison for their role in a botched attack in May, targeting cover President Nicolás Maduro.
Maduro’s chief lawyer announced the surprise decision late Friday night.
“THEY DESCRIBED YOUR RESPONSIBILITY OF THE FACTS,” Tarek William Saab announced on Twitter, adding that proceedings will continue against dozens of other suspects accused of assisting in the May 3 robbery.
Advocates for the former Green Berets, Luke Denman and Airan Berry, said they were excluded Friday from the secret process of imprisonment in a violation of their constitutional rights to a defense.
“Operation Gideon” was launched in early May from test camps in neighboring Colombia, killing at least eight rebel soldiers, while more than 60 more were taken prisoner.
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Ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, who runs a Florida-based security company called Silvercorp USA, took responsibility for the failed attack and had hired his two former allies to create a small cadre of desert Venezuelan soldiers who lived there. in the test camps.
Denman and Berry, both decorated former U.S. counterparts, were found guilty of conspiracy, trafficking in illegal weapons and terrorism. But lawyers for the men said the hearing was ruined by irregularities.
Alonso Medina Roa said he was hired a month ago by the families of the two Americans, but so far it has not been a hindrance to meeting or chatting with his clients.
This photo released by Venezuelan President Miraflores President shows what Venezuelan authorities identify as the ID cards of former U.S. Special Forces Citizens Airan Berry, right, and Luke Denman, left, in Caracas, Venezuela.
(Presidential Press Office Miraflores Palace via AP)
He added that Judge Máximo Marquez never informed him about the proceedings of Friday night at the SEBIN police headquarters, where the men are being held. They were instead represented by a public defender.
The incident claimed that US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaidó had authorized Goudreau through a signed agreement to carry out the attack, carried out by two of Guaidó’s former US political advisers.
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The U.S. denied any involvement in the attack, but Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington would use all possible means to win the freedom of men.
The case is set amid hostilities between Washington and Caracas. The Trump administration last year threw its support behind opposition leader Guaidó, who is recognized as the legitimate president of Venezuela by 60 peoples who promise to overthrow Maduro.
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Guaidó accuses Maduro of the economic and social collapse of a once prosperous nation, while the socialist leader, who wants to narcotize terrorism in the US, says that Washington is using Guaidó to steal the nation’s immense oil wealth.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
