Hands Off Venezuela

Venezuelan People's Civil-Military Union Repulses Mercenary Incursions

Information released by Vice President of Communication, Culture and Tourism, Jorge Rodríguez, May 5, 2020, stated that Guaidó hired mercenaries for terrorist raid into Venezuela to attack the lives of President Maduro and other executive cabinet members.

On Sunday, May 3, in the early morning hours, the first of two attempted maritime incursions against Venezuela by a mercenary operation known as "Operation Gideon" was intercepted at the coastal city of Macuto in La Guaira state where a number of its participants were killed and others arrested by Venezuelan police and military forces. The boats that attempted to land at Macuto under the cover of darkness set sail from La Guajira, in the north of Colombia headed for La Guaira  on Venezuela's northern coast under the command of Robert Colina, alias "Panther," a former Captain who deserted from the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB). Colina, who had recorded a video that went out on Twitter the same morning calling for "liberating" Venezuela, was among the six who were killed. An accomplice arrested in the vicinity as he awaited their arrival confessed to being a drug trafficker and an agent of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The aim of the failed raids as confirmed by several of those involved was to insert a force of over 50 paramilitaries into the country who would be provided with vehicles and weapons to make their way to Caracas allegedly to kidnap President Nicolas Maduro and other top members of the Bolivarian government and force them onto a waiting plane at an airport they would "secure" for their removal to the U.S.

On Monday, May 4, another boat was detected and its eight occupants also captured and held, this time by fishermen and members of the local Bolivarian militia in the coastal fishing village of Chuao in Aragua State, until they could be handed over to members of the regional police and the FANB. Antonio Sequea, a former captain of the Bolivarian National Guard who participated in Juan Guaidó's failed coup attempt of April 30, 2019 and was in command of the second attempted landing, and two U.S. mercenaries, were among those apprehended.

In its reporting on the two failed raids, Misión Verdad emphasizes that "the crucial element has been the organization of the people and their own intelligence networks," saying that the emblematic photo of a villager and a militiaman in Chuao stopping the boat occupied by eight paramilitaries it says were sent by the governments of the United States and Colombia "has been incorporated into the deeds of the Chavista era as a concrete example of civil-military union." It explains, "When [Hugo Chavez] became president of Venezuela in 1999, in addition to calling for a consultative process for a National Constituent Assembly, he implemented a social care plan called Bolívar 2000 that included state institutions and the then Armed Forces, which sought to shape an army that was not separated from society.... [I]n 2002, the combined mobilization of civilian and military sectors defeated the coup d'état against Chávez financed by the Bush administration and the national business community."

Villager and a militiaman in Chuao stop boat occupied by paramilitaries.

During the May 3 operation Venezuelan police seized 10 rifles, a Glock 9mm pistol, two AFAG machine guns that were part of the Federal Legislative building's arsenal stolen during the failed April 30, 2019 coup attempt, six pickup trucks outfitted with machine gun mounts, two notebooks with details of the planned operation, satellite phones, identification, uniforms (including a helmet with the United States flag) among other things.

The first disembarkation attempt at Macuto came one day after the Associated Press reported that former U.S. Special Forces soldier Jordan Goudreau, said to be Canadian-born, and owner of a private security company based in Florida known as Silvercorp, was in charge of training a contingent of 300 Venezuelan army deserters planning to enter Venezuela in a heavily armed caravan and seize Caracas within 96 hours.

In a video he released on social media, Goudreau confirmed that the amphibious landing attempt had been launched from Colombia and that "other units" were active in the "south, west, and east of Venezuela." By Sunday night Goudreau was on television, being interviewed by the Miami-based Venezuelan opposition propagandist Patricia Poleo, whom he had provided with a copy of a contract bearing the signatures of Juan Guaidó and two of his associates, to retain the services of Silvercorp for a fee of $212 million. He also provided her with a secretly made recording of a conversation he allegedly had with the U.S.-appointed "president" of Venezuela as he was about to sign the contract. Goudreau claimed he had been stiffed by Guaidó and his people who never came up with the money they agreed to pay for his services. The contract was later obtained by the Washington Post as well which posted it in full, showing that it called for "an operation to capture/detain/remove Nicolás Maduro, remove the current Regime and install the recognized Venezuelan President, Juan Guaidó."

Misión Verdad reports that after leaving Colombia the boats made a stop in Aruba before running aground on the Venezuelan coast. It notes that Aruba, along with Bonaire and Curaçao, are part of the Dutch crown colonies in the West Indies and that just last year, to appease the U.S., the Netherlands recognized the imposter Juan Guaidó as Venezuela's president. Misión Verdad further points out that Aruba and Curaçao house two U.S. bases, Reina Beatriz and Hato Rey, from which the Southern Command coordinates a Forward Operating Location, spearheading its alleged anti-drug operations in the region. It also recalls that on March 30 the cruise ship Resolute rammed a Venezuelan Coast Guard vessel near Venezuela's La Tortuga Island, without having requested permission to be in Venezuelan waters. The Resolute then took off for Curaçao. The head of the FANB's Strategic Operational Command, Admiral in Chief Remigio Ceballos, stated in mid-April that the Resolute was in the region to "plant mercenaries" in Venezuela.

At a press conference on May 3, Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace, Nestor Reverol and Minister of Defence, Vladimir Padrino López said that the Bolivarian forces' defensive operation was ongoing and that further arrests of those involved could be expected -- which has in fact been taking place. Padrino also announced that a new set of "Bolivarian Shield" military exercises would begin immediately.

Since the arrests were made videos released by the Venezuelan government have been widely circulated showing the two detained U.S. mercenaries, both former green berets, answering questions about what they were hired to do, who they worked for, and more. Both said they were employed under a contract signed between Silvercorp and Juan Guaidó and implicated the U.S. government in the plot.

President Maduro speaks to accredited diplomatic corps and international media, May 6, 2020.

In a statement made before the accredited diplomatic corps and international media in Venezuela on May 6, President Nicolás Maduro said the U.S. mercenaries had confessed their guilt and would be tried, with full rights, for violating Venezuelan and international law. While denying the U.S. had any "direct" involvement in the botched "Operation Gideon" Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said his government would use all the tools at its disposal to bring the two back to the U.S. Regarding the owner of Silvercorp, Jordan Goudreau, who publicly took credit for the criminal action, President Maduro said a request would be made for him to be extradited to face justice in Venezuela.

TML Weekly denounces in the strongest of terms this latest episode in the dirty war the U.S. has been waging against the sovereign government and people of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The crimes against humanity of the U.S. imperialists are all the more reprehensible and deserving of universal condemnation because they are aimed at taking advantage of the fact that the Bolivarian government is fully engaged in battling the COVID-19 pandemic -- which it is doing with exemplary responsibility and resourcefulness, achieving better results than any country in Latin America in containing the virus, and doing so in spite of the stepped-up coercive economic measures the U.S. is bringing to bear against it with the vain hope of finally achieving its criminal aim of regime change.

While all this is taking place in front of everyone's eyes, not a peep has been heard from the government of Canada which has all along done yeoman's service for the U.S. -- setting up and leading its illegitimate Lima Group, voicing support for activation of the Cold War relic known as the Rio Treaty against Venezuela[1]and promoting the U.S. puppet Juan Guaidó as the "legitimate" president of Venezuela despite his lack of support inside Venezuela, and being exposed more every day for the theft, corruption and violence he stands for. Meanwhile, Guaidó's fake "ambassador" to Canada has taken to spewing out ugly rants against Cuba over Twitter in the style of the anti-Cuba mafia in Southern Florida and its echo in the Trump administration. It is to its eternal shame that in its efforts to appease the U.S. imperialists, the Trudeau government cannot bring itself to speak against such infamy in a way that reflects the Canadian people's revulsion for the criminal U.S.-led and incited assault against Venezuela and the role being played by the violent coup forces it has helped to prop up and pass off as defenders of human rights and democracy.

TML Weekly calls on the people of Canada and Quebec to denounce the criminal machinations of the increasingly desperate regime change forces and to show full support for the fight of the Venezuelan people and their government led by President Nicolás Maduro, as they give expression to the civil-military union that is a legacy of Commander Hugo Chávez and hallmark of the Boliviarian revolution to safeguard their sovereignty and independence.

Note

1. "No to Imperialist Gangsterism! End the Brutal Siege of Venezuela!", Renewal Update, October 2, 2019 

This article was published in

Volume 50 Number 16 - May 9, 2020

Article Link:
Hands Off Venezuela: Venezuelan People's Civil-Military Union Repulses Mercenary Incursions

    

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