Former Green Beret Jordan Goudreau says he has led an armed incursion into Venezuela with former Venezuelan soldiers. His claim has been confirmed by the socialist Venezuelan dictatorship, which says it successfully fought back the attack.
Details are scarce, but Venezuelan exile Germania Rodriguez Poleo has been in front of the story and providing updates on Twitter..
The AP reports via the New York Post:
Ex-Green Beret claims he led foiled raid into Venezuela
A former Green Beret has claimed responsibility for a failed attack Sunday aimed at overthrowing Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro that the socialist government said ended with eight people dead.
Jordan Goudreau’s comments in an interview with an exiled Venezuelan journalist capped a bizarre day that started with reports of a pre-dawn amphibious raid near the South American country’s heavily guarded capital.
An AP investigation published Friday found that Goudreau had been working with a retired army general now facing U.S. narcotics charges to train dozens of deserting Venezuelan soldiers at secret camps inside neighboring Colombia. The goal was to mount a cross border raid that would end in Maduro’s arrest.
But from the outset the ragtag army lacked funding and U.S. government support, all but guaranteeing defeat against Maduro’s well-equipped if demoralized armed forces. It also appears to have been penetrated by Maduro’s extensive Cuban-backed intelligence network.
Both Goudreau and retired Venezuelan Capt. Javier Nieto declined to speak to the AP on Sunday when contacted after posting a video from an undisclosed location saying they had launched an anti-Maduro putsch called “Operation Gideon.” Both men live in Florida.
“A daring amphibious raid was launched from the border of Colombia deep into the heart of Caracas,” Goudreau, in a New York Yankees ball cap, said in the video standing next to Nieto who was dressed in armored vest with a rolled-up Venezuelan flag pinned to his shoulder. “Our units have been activated in the south, west and east of Venezuela.”
Goudreau said 60 men were still on the ground inside Venezuela and fighting under the command of Venezuelan National Guardsman Capt. Antonio Sequea. He said he hoped to join the rebels soon and invited Maduro’s troops to join the would-be insurgency although there was no sign of any unrest in the capital or elsewhere as night fell.
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