Two Americans Held in Venezuela Are Part of Failed Ragtag Coup

(Bloomberg) -- Venezuela has captured two U.S. citizens who took part in a paltry and failed attempt over the weekend to slip into the country by sea and capture President Nicolas Maduro.

In a triumphant speech, Maduro held up the passports of the two, Airan Berry, 41, and Luke Denman, 34, calling them “professional American mercenaries.” They work for a Florida security firm, Silvercorp USA, run by Jordan Goudreau, a former Green Beret who says he was in charge of the operation involving some 60-70 men.

“They were playing Rambo, they were playing the hero,” Maduro mocked, congratulating local fishermen for aiding in their capture. “The people of Chuao came out in perfect union -- the fishermen, the militia and the municipal police -- with knives, guns and stones to find the terrorists.”

He said the Americans, who had come by boat from Colombia, were being detained at a Navy base in La Guaira state, near the capital.

U.S. officials haven’t had contact with the two or know where they’re being held, according to a person familiar.

Maduro accused the U.S. and Colombia of planning and funding the invasion. Both governments say they had nothing to do with it. On Monday, before the detention of the two Americans, Goudreau, the former Green Beret, speaking by phone, laid out the goal of the operation and said about 52 men managed to enter Venezuela to establish insurgent camps against Maduro and planned to attack tactical targets.

Juan Guaido

Goudreau said he had coordinated with opposition leader Juan Guaido, who had promised to pay for the invasion but reneged. Goudreau made public a contract he says was signed by Guaido and a recording of a phone conversation that appears to be with him. Guaido and his aides deny any connection to Goudreau or the weekend’s events.

The first attempt to enter through the northern coast of La Guaira state from Colombia failed on Sunday, leaving a toll of eight dead and five arrested. A second group of six Venezuelans and the two U.S. citizens was detained near the northern coast of Aragua on Monday. Goudreau claimed others had gotten through.

Those detained will be brought to court, according to Gonzalo Himiob, director of the human rights group Penal Forum. The group said several people not involved in the operation were also arrested or are missing.

On Tuesday, President Donald Trump said he was just learning about the two Americans and that they have nothing to do with the U.S. government.

Weapons Seized

Diosdado Cabello, president of the powerful Constituent Assembly that oversees Venezuelan government bodies, said a big cache of weapons had been seized along with vehicles.

This is the latest in a number of failed small-scale attempts at ousting Maduro in the past two years, a result of growing dysfunction and discontent in an oil-rich country where food and medicine are in short supply and the government is viewed with contempt. International observers said Maduro’s 2018 re-election was rigged.

An overthrow would require some participation of Venezuela’s military which so far has remained loyal to Maduro.

“This operation was infiltrated by the regime who were waiting to slaughter them,” said Guaido, who’s seen as the legitimate interim president by nearly 60 countries.

U.S. citizens held by Venezuelan security forces are often detained at the headquarters of the intelligence police. That is where five U.S. oil executives from PDVSA’s U.S. affiliate Citgo are being held after they were removed from house arrest in February.

The police also kept Joshua Holt, a former Mormon missionary, there until his release following negotiations set by U.S. legislators and Maduro’s government in 2018.

©2020 Bloomberg L.P.