Operation Gideon (2020)

For the 1948 operation, see Operation Gideon.

For the 2018 operation, see El Junquito raid.

This article uses Spanish naming customs: the paternal surname is first, and the maternal surname is second.

Operation Gideon
Part of the crisis in Venezuela and the Venezuelan presidential crisis
Top to bottom, left to right: Venezuelan authorities intercepting a boat; Nicolás Maduro holding the US passports of captured former Green Berets; SEBIN agents displaying captured raid participants
Date 3–4 May 2020 Location Venezuela Macuto, Vargas Chuao, Aragua Result Plot infiltrated and foiled by Maduro government Government begins Bolivarian Shield military response 99 arrest warrants issued by the Maduro administration, including for Jordan Goudreau, J. J. Rendón and Sergio Vergara, on 8 May Jordan Goudreau investigated by US federal authorities
Belligerents
Venezuela National Bolivarian Armed Forces of Venezuela Bolivarian Intelligence Service Support: Russia (denied by Russia)	Venezuelan dissidents Silvercorp USA Support: Juan Guaidó (allegedly until November 2019) Hernán Alemán (until March 2020) J. J. Rendón (allegedly until November 2019)
Commanders and leaders
Nicolás Maduro Diosdado Cabello Vladimir Padrino López Néstor Reverol	Jordan Goudreau Clíver Alcalá Cordones Javier Nieto Quintero Robert Colina † Antonio Sequea Torres (POW)
Strength
Unknown	300–800 (planned) ≈60 (actual)
Casualties and losses
None	6 killed 17 captured (including 2 American mercenaries)

Operation Gideon (Spanish: Operación Gedeón) was an unsuccessful attempt by Venezuelan dissidents and a private military company, Jordan Goudreau's Silvercorp USA, to infiltrate Venezuela by sea and remove Nicolás Maduro from office. The plan was to enter the country from Colombia by boat into Macuto port from 3 to 4 May 2020, take control of an airfield, capture Maduro and other high-level figures in his government, and expel them from the country.

The operation occurred in the broader context of an ongoing international dispute beginning in January 2019 over the identity of the legitimate president of Venezuela; Nicolás Maduro or Juan Guaidó. Throughout 2019, Maduro had maintained control of Venezuela's military agencies and key governmental institutions. It has been reported that intelligence agencies, including individuals belonging to Colombia's National Intelligence Directorate and the United States' Central Intelligence Agency, knew Goudreau was plotting to overthrow Maduro while Venezuelan counterparts and the Associated Press (AP) had prior knowledge of the operational plans for the May 2020

Commentators and observers, including Guaidó officials who initially contacted Silvercorp, described the operation as amateurish, underfunded, poorly-planned, having little or no chance of success, and a suicide mission; the first boat was intercepted before it reached land. The attack went forward despite its impracticality, with two fiberglass motorboats owned by Silvercorp being launched from eastern Colombia toward the Caribbean coast of Venezuela north of Caracas. The boats were carrying approximately 60 Venezuelan dissidents and two American former Green Berets employed as mercenaries by Silvercorp. Eight Venezuelan dissidents were killed and seventeen invaders were captured, including the two Americans, whose interrogations were broadcast on state television in the hours following the event.

After the incident, a formal document was released to the public showing Guaidó's Strategy Committee contracted Silvercorp to organize an operation to remove Maduro from office and establish Guaidó as his replacement in exchange for a share of future oil sale profits. Committee members said that they had withdrawn from the agreement and cut off ties with Silvercorp and Goudreau in November 2019, while Goudreau said that he went through with the plot since Guaidó never ordered him to cease his operations. Juan Guaidó, his Strategy Committee, and officials of the Colombian and United States governments denied any role in the actual attack that occurred on 3 May 2020.

Background

Main article: Venezuelan presidential crisis

A power struggle for the presidency of Venezuela began in January 2019 following the 2018 presidential election; according to The Washington Post, incumbent Nicolás Maduro was "accused of stealing the 2018 elections" and leading a repressive administration. Juan Guaidó, president of the opposition-majority National Assembly (the "nation's last democratic institution" according to The Washington Post) was recognized by more than 50 countries, including the United States, as president. Yet throughout 2019, Maduro maintained control of Venezuela's military agencies and key governmental institutions.

Journalist and author William Neuman – in his 2022 book, Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela – cites Armando Briquet, a political consultant, as saying that Guaidó held three key strategies to remove Maduro from office: a coup, popular uprising or foreign intervention. Following the failed 2019 Venezuelan uprising attempt led by Guaidó against Maduro on 30 April, Guaidó's movement lost momentum; according to Neuman, with waning support and other options not materializing, Guaidó and Leopoldo López sought "another way out of Venezuela's impasse".

Seeking to profit from contracts they expected to become available as Guaidó's government replaced Maduro's, businesses began to approach Guaidó. After the unsuccessful April 2019 uprising, some defectors who sided with Guaidó took refuge in Colombia; these former police and military considered their aim was to "liberate their homeland from the socialist government of [an] autocratic" president, according to The Washington Post. Proposals of an armed operation to support Guaidó began to be discussed.

Planning

Operation Gideon was primarily planned by Clíver Alcalá Cordones and Jordan Goudreau.

Alcalá was a Major General in the Venezuelan Army until he defected in 2013 and began gathering other defectors in Colombia, stationing them in the La Guajira Peninsula.

Goudreau served in the Canadian Armed Forces and later moved to Washington, D.C. and enlisted in the United States Army, eventually reaching the rank of Sergeant first class in the 10th Special Forces Group. He became a naturalized US citizen and retired at the age of 40 due to injuries. In 2018, he founded Silvercorp USA, with the initial idea being "to embed counter-terror agents in schools disguised as teachers".

Goudreau is reported to have provided security at a political rally for Donald Trump in Charlotte, North Carolina in October 2018 based on material on the Silvercorp website and Instagram account. In February 2019, Silvercorp provided security services at the Venezuela Aid Live concert in Colombia, and Goudreau turned his attention to Venezuela. According to Goudreau's friend and business partner, Drew White, he saw a business opportunity in the Trump administration's intensified efforts to remove Maduro from power. White distanced himself from Silvercorp and Goudreau when Goudreau began discussing launching a military operation in Venezuela.

Initial promotion

Further information: Venezuelan crisis defection

Through connections within the private security community, Goudreau was acquainted with Keith Schiller, the longtime director of security for Donald Trump. Schiller brought Goudreau to a March 2019 fundraising event focused on security in Venezuela, which took place at the University Club of Washington, DC. Lester Toledo, the director of humanitarian aid for Guaidó's government, also attended.

Weeks later, according to an AP article, Toledo introduced Goudreau to Alcalá at JW Marriott Bogotá during a conference where groups of Venezuelan exiles, some of whom were involved in Guaidó's failed uprising, gathered. The Wall Street Journal reported that Alcalá and Goudreau had been introduced by "associates" of Leopoldo Lopez. During the two-day meeting with Toledo and Goudreau, Alcalá disclosed that he had recruited some 300 men stationed at training camps on the Guajira Peninsula near Riohacha, Colombia, ready to carry out "a 'mad plan' to push across the western border, take the oil center of Maracaibo and force their way to Caracas, the capital". Goudreau indicated that instead of 300 as Alcalá promised, there were only 60 trainees. Goudreau proposed an alternative approach, suggesting that his company, Silvercorp, could train and equip the soldiers for a rapid strike at a cost of US$1.5 million. Goudreau bragged about having contacts with Trump administration officials, though he did not provide support for his statements. Men familiar with the missions said Goudreau "had convinced the men that they were training for a U.S.-backed incursion into Venezuela", according to The Washington Post.

In May 2019, Schiller and Goudreau met with Guaidó administration officials in Miami, Florida, where Goudreau promoted the idea of providing security for Guaidó officials. Schiller disassociated himself from Goudreau following the meeting, believing that Goudreau was incapable of providing the services he was offering.

Goudreau's October 2020 lawsuit stated that a $500-million proposal had been submitted by Blackwater founder Erik Prince that involved 5,000 troops and mercenaries. Guaidó and his representatives, and Prince and his representatives, denied such reports.

Colombia

A Colombian branch of Silvercorp was opened in mid-2019 by Goudreau and Yacsy Alezandra Álvarez Mirabal in mid-2019, who acted as a translator for Alcalá and Goudreau. Álvarez was an assistant of Franklin Durán, a Venezuelan businessman who had business ties with the Venezuelan government for about two decades until his company was expropriated by the government; one of his businesses had a history of importing military equipment. Durán and his brothers were friends with Alcalá prior to the event; the AP described Durán as "close to the government of the late Hugo Chávez".

In June 2019, Alcalá met with the National Intelligence Directorate of Colombia asking for support, saying Goudreau was a former CIA agent. However, the Colombians' CIA contacts in Bogotá reportedly denied that Goudreau had ever been a CIA agent. According to Álvarez, former president of Colombia Álvaro Uribe and then president Iván Duque expressed support for Goudreau's efforts, offering them a training camp, an airstrip and safe passage for individuals in exchange for combatting militants of the National Liberation Army in the area. US officials learned of the militants in Colombia and discussed a plan to reorganize them to assist victims of the Venezuelan refugee crisis, thus diverting them from illegal activities. When reports emerged that they might be used for an armed operation, one anonymous US official described the notion as "completely insane".

By 16 June 2019, Goudreau had compiled a list of required equipment, according to former United States Navy SEAL Ephraim Mattos, who met with Alcalá's troops while working in Colombia. The list included "320 M4 assault rifles, an anti-tank rocket launcher, Zodiac boats, US$1 million in cash and state-of-the-art night vision goggles". According to Mattos, the trainees believed they had the backing of the U.S. government; after reviewing Silvercorp on the internet, he said: "I was like, 'Guys, guys, guys, this guy is not who he says he is.'"

General Services Agreement

Guaidó established a Strategic Committee in August 2019 and named J. J. Rendón, a political advisor described by Neuman as a "master of the political dark arts", to head it. The committee was tasked with exploring possibilities and testing scenarios for the removal of Maduro from office, with methods ranging from increased international condemnation of Maduro to armed action. Shortly after the formation of the committee, Maduro stated there was a "plan ... to get 32 mercenaries into Venezuela to kill me and to kill Venezuelan revolutionary leaders".

Rendón stated that his orders were to explore everything; in his words, "all options were on the table, and under the table" according to Guaidó. Among the scenarios considered was the removal of Maduro by capturing him and his high-ranking officials and sending them to another country for prosecution. The committee studied the "universal enemy" doctrine and analyzed the unsuccessful 1961Bay of Pigs Invasion of Cuba. The group adopted the position that the Venezuelan Constitution, the United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and other treaties constituted legal justification for taking action to remove Maduro.

Sources told the Wall Street Journal that Lopez and others had "considered at least six proposals from private security contractors to carry out military incursions to spur a rebellion in Venezuela's armed forces and topple the authoritarian president". Rendón told The Washington Post that the committee had contacted numerous groups about ousting Maduro who demanded prices from US$500 million to US$1.5 billion. Contact between Rendón and Goudreau could have happened shortly after the committee was created in August, though by 7 September 2019, Goudreau made a sales pitch at Rendón’s penthouse apartment in Miami, proposing the capture of Maduro and his officials and their extraction from Venezuela. Goudreau offered a self-financed plan at a lower cost of $212.9 million, backed by future oil sales. On 10 October 2019, Goudreau text messaged Rendón saying, "Washington is fully aware of your direct participation in the project and I don't want them to lose faith." Further text messages displayed Maduro's inner circle warehouses supposedly filled with US dollars; Goudreau was offered 14% of funds recovered during the operation. Rendón said that he initially had faith in Goudreau, as he "looked clean" after a background check.

The General Services Agreement Attachments signed between Guaidó government officials and Silvercorp USA in October 2019. Vergara and Rendón, who have since resigned their positions on the Strategy Committee, acknowledge they signed the agreement and the attachments, but say it was quickly cancelled.

A General Services agreement was signed in Washington, D.C., on 16 October 2019, by Goudreau on behalf of Silvercorp and Rendón and Sergio Vergara, on behalf of the Guaidó administration, with the contract – "contingent on funding and other conditions" according to The Washington Post – discussing what Neuman described as an invasion of Venezuela. Rendón described the agreement as a "trial balloon" and a test that never had approval for implementation. "Operation Resolution" stated the objective was to "capture/detain/remove Nicolás Maduro" and "install the recognized Venezuelan President Juan Guaidó". The agreement and attachments established a chain of command: Juan Guaidó as commander-in-chief, Vergara as overall project supervisor, and Rendón as chief strategy officer and was witnessed by Manuel J. Retureta, a Cuban-born attorney based in Washington, D.C. Neuman wrote that Guaidó had "hired a foreigner to 'install' him in the presidential palace". Within a week of signing the agreement, Goudreau reported that he had secured funding for the operation, but reportedly provided no proof.

The agreement's rules of engagement (ROE) included protecting Venezuela's cultural sites (unless used for illicit activity) and infrastructure and economic objects. They designated numerous enemies – Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, their supporters, colectivos, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the National Liberation Army (ELN), and Hezbollah – who could be "neutralized" if necessary. Silvercorp personnel were to serve as advisors not combatants; they were not contracted to act unless with "authorized Venezuelan teams" and were not to engage in unilateral actions. The ROE included riot control guidelines, permitting the use of non-lethal weapons such as rubber bullets, tear gas, shields and batons against any person who became "unruly" and attacked operatives. Non-Venezuelans were to appear as Venezuelans in an effort "to protect the face of the project as Venezuelan only". The contract permitted Silvercorp to detain civilians on reasonable suspicion.

Rendón told reporters that shortly after signing the agreement, Goudreau began acting suspicious, failing to provide evidence of financial backing, the promised 800 men, and demanded immediate payment of the $1.5 million retainer that was due within a five-day period according to the agreement. Rendón transferred Goudreau $50,000 from his personal account for "expenses" (confirmed publicly by Goudreau) to buy more time, but the relationship between the two quickly deteriorated. Speaking after the attack, Goudreau stated the operation was forced to rely on "donations from Venezuelan migrants driving for car share service Uber in Colombia" because he was not paid by Guaidó's team. In a message to Goudreau, Rendón reportedly wrote "As I told you before .. not willing to enter into any type of argument , specifics or talks over text , That implied meeting and talking IN PERSON" while Goudreau then said he would go "the legal way" to obtain the $1.5 million. On 8 November 2019, Goudreau met Rendón at the latter's penthouse, where a heated argument took place. According to Rendón, he and other opposition officials "considered the operation dead" after this encounter in early November. Rendón attempted to provide a letter canceling the agreement, though Gourdeau refused. According to Rendón, the agreement was an "exploratory contract, with clauses and stipulations that needed to be met in order for the whole coup to be backed, rather than a guaranteed and greenlit deal"; to that extent, he was unconcerned about a lawsuit later filed by Goudreau to enforce the contract. He stated that Guaidó knew only the rough outlines of an "exploratory plan" but grew suspicious of Goudreau based on committee feedback. Rendón said that "We were all having red flags, and the president was not comfortable with this."

Guaidó's signature dispute

The General Services Agreement document that was allegedly signed by Guaidó. Guaidó has denied he signed the agreement and accused the Maduro government of forgery.

It was reported that Juan Guaidó himself signed the contract. Guaidó and his allies denied that he signed the contract directly, though he was listed as the main party twice and had his representatives sign off. Goudreau provided a copy of a General Services Agreement purporting to bear Guaidó's signature and after the May events, Goudreau disclosed what purported to be a copy of a preliminary contract containing Guaidó's signature, whose first and last page were missing. He provided a covert recording of "what appears to be", according to The Miami Herald, a video call with Guaidó on 16 October 2019 in which Guaidó purportedly says, "We are doing the right thing for our country" and "I'm about to sign".

When first asked about his contacts with Silvercorp by the AP, Rendón said that this information was confidential and that he could not confirm or deny signing a contract, even if it existed. Subsequently, Rendón stated that Guaidó had signed a "preliminary" agreement with Silvercorp. Rendón later insisted that the document Goudreau produced was never signed by Guaidó and provided previous and subsequent agreements to The Washington Post that did not bear Guaidó's signature.

Guaidó and his allies have denied that Guaidó signed the document, insisting that Rendón and Vergara signed on Guaidó's behalf; Rendón said that Guaidó "grew suspicious" of the "exploratory plan" having seen only an outline They also said that Guaidó did not sign any contract with Silvercorp and never spoke with Jordan Goudreau directly or in a video or telephone call. In a statement on EVTV following the incident, Guaidó stated "That is not my signature. The dictatorship goes to great lengths to plant evidence." Guaidó's National Assembly described the document supposedly bearing Guaidó's signature as a "false document as justification to try and kidnap and illegally detain the interim president Juan Guaidó".

The Associated Press and Vice magazine stated that although an agreement had been previously signed, the opposition attempted to distance themselves from their past interactions with Goudreau. The AP wrote that Goudreau said that he advanced the operation "without Guaidó's support". The Washington Post wrote: "Goudreau counters that the agreement ... bound the opposition to his services and initial fee. A seven-page document provided by Goudreau carries Guaidó's signature" with Rendón's and Vergara's.

Alcalá and Goudreau resume preparations

External videos
Troops practicing clearing drills with model firearms on YouTube from Vice magazine
Another clearing drill on YouTube from Vice magazine

Goudreau and Alcalá reportedly distanced themselves from the Venezuelan opposition due to their perception that the opposition was insincere and hypocritical because of alleged secret negotiations with the Maduro government. Though they no longer had the support of the opposition government, they resumed their preparations. Without aid from the US government or the Guaidó administration, Goudreau and Alcalá did not have the means required for a successful operation.

By December 2019, Silvercorp had purchased a 41-foot (12 m) fiberglass boat in Florida that was equipped with navigational equipment two months later. Silvercorp received funding from an anonymous source on 13 January 2020, according to lien records. Later in January, two other former Green Beret operators, Airan Berry and Luke Denman, arrived in Colombia; Denman texted his brother that the plot was backed by the United States government and to monitor the news in early May. With Goudreau and translator Álvarez, they traveled to Colombia on a 16 January private flight from Opa-Locka, Florida to Barranquilla, Colombia provided by Durán.

In March 2020, Goudreau traveled to Jamaica in the Silvercorp-owned fiberglass boat named Silverpoint where he met with former special forces friends and discussed Operation Gideon. According to Jack Murphy, self-identified as a former US Ranger, the CIA learned about the plan and warned Silvercorp not to go through with it on numerous occasions. Goudreau then contacted Guaidó's officials one last time asking for funding. The Wall Street Journal reported that the planned operation was "widely known to former Venezuelan soldiers who considered participating, Venezuelan opposition figures, senior Colombian intelligence officials and even the CIA, which monitored their activities in La Guajira". On 28 March, the boat was damaged, triggering an emergency position-indicating radio beacon that alerted authorities in Curaçao, who rescued Goudreau. They returned him to Florida and COVID travel restrictions prevented him from rejoining his men.

Hernán Alemán, an opposition politician who initially supported the plan while describing Goudreau as a friend, indicated in an interview following the event that he did not know any details surrounding the contract or discussions that took place in the United States. He stated that Rendón never financed the operation and that he and Alcalá undertook the operation with Goudreau without his party's knowledge, deciding to finance the operation themelves. Alemán said that at its peak, the group consisted of four camps occupied by 150 militants. He added that the operation was compromised and had been infiltrated, saying that after Alcalá's arrest, the operation's control was transferred to other people, there was no contact with the new leaders, and other insurgents said Captain Antonio Sequea was a mole – an allegation repeated by others and denied by Jorge Arreaza, Maduro's foreign minister.

The Venezuelan government later published an audio recording of Alemán (now deceased) by Venezuelan intelligence, in which he reportedly tells a listener that he had met a CIA officer at the U.S. ambassador's house; Vice magazine printed a portion of Alemán's alleged conversation (noting the recording "could very well have been tampered with by a security service loyal to Maduro") which has Alemán saying, "Here in a meeting with all the bigwigs in the house of the [U.S. ambassador] ... I was even speaking with the guy from the CIA. They put me there so that the CIA guy would talk to me". Alemán later acknowledged in an interview with Infobae that the voice on the recording was his, at a social gathering celebrating the 4th and 5th of July, saying that the distortion to make it appear they had conspired with the US was untrue. He stated that, "If there was one thing we were always very clear about, it was that the United States was not going to get involved in an action like the one [we] planned."

Extradition of Alcalá to the United States

Clíver Alcalá Cordones

A shipment of weapons and tactical gear was confiscated on 23 March 2020 by Colombian authorities tipped off by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), with former DEA officials initially believing that the equipment was being sent to leftist guerrillas or criminal gangs. The impounded truck was headed for Venezuela carrying 26 semi-automatic rifles, night vision goggles, radios, and 15 combat helmets produced by High-End Defense Solutions, a company owned by Venezuelan Americans.

On 26 March 2020, the United States accused Maduro of narcoterrorism and through its Narcotics Rewards Program, offered a US$15 million reward for information leading to his arrest, plus an additional US$10 million each for information leading to the arrest of four close Maduro allies: Diosdado Cabello, Maikel Moreno, Tareck El Aissami, Vladimir Padrino López and Cilver Alcalá, one of the alleged leaders of the operation. The same day, Alcalá placed a video on Twitter where he assumed responsibility for "a military operation against the Maduro dictatorship" that included the shipment of weapons captured in Colombia, stating that the United States, Colombia, and Guaidó officials had signed an agreement to overthrow Maduro. After Alcalá assumed responsibility for the weapons shipment, the Colombian attorney general announced on 28 March that an investigation into Alcalá's role in the shipment had been opened.

Guaidó denied knowledge of the event while United States Special Representative to Venezuela Elliott Abrams described Alcalá's statement as "despicable and quite dangerous". Abrams later said that Alcalá "was put up to making those terrible charges by the [Maduro] regime". Alcalá was extradited to the United States on drug trafficking charges after voluntarily surrendering on about 27 March.

The Venezuelan government said that Alcalá was a US agent and that, after the operation failed, the United States government used narcoterrorism charges as a way to transport him to the United States to prevent him from revealing more secrets. In the context of reacting to the intercepted shipment on 26 March, Maduro stated that Alcalá was hired by the DEA to assassinate him, "but he failed because we made him fail".

According to Alemán, who admits to participating in the planning of the operation up until the point Alcalá was extradited to the United States, Sequea took control of the operation and replaced militants. Alemán remarked that Goudreau was unable to exercise command because he was in the United States. Alemán, saying he was basing his statements on others, accused Sequea of being a mole and of selling the militants out.

In November 2021, Alcalá's lawyers lodged a motion to have the US charges dismissed along with a statement that US officials at the highest levels of the CIA, Treasury, Justice, the National Security Council and the DEA were aware of his efforts to overthrow Maduro. The statement also said Rendón and two Guaidó allies were aware of Alcalá's coup plan. In June 2023, Alcalá pled guilty in the U.S. to "two counts of providing material support to a terrorist group and illicit transfer of firearms", with the narcotics charges dropped.

Prior knowledge of Maduro government

According to the AP, the operation "was infiltrated by Maduro’s vast, Cuban-trained intelligence network" early on. The Venezuelan government knew the location of the camps on Guajira Peninsula by September 2019, with Vice President of Venezuela Delcy Rodríguez announcing the coordinates of the militants while speaking at the general debate of the seventy-fourth session of the United Nations General Assembly, stating "The United States and its regional satellites are preparing an aggression against Venezuela from Colombia that risks the security and stability of this continent." The Washington Post wrote that Maduro "was well-informed of the effort virtually from its start".

Two days after the confiscation of weapons and munitions in Colombia, on 25 March, the Venezuelan Minister of Communication and Information, Jorge Rodríguez, gave a televised press conference in which he published details related to the training camps. Rodríguez named Robert Colina Ybarra, whom he identified as a murderer, as the leader of one of the training sites with the support of Colombian President Iván Duque. Rodríguez mentioned that there were three American instructors at the training camps. "We know their cover names: agent Jordan, agent Luke, and agent Aaron," he announced.

On 28 March, Diosdado Cabello identified Goudreau as an adviser for Alcalá during episode 294 of the television show Con El Mazo Dando. Cabello also identified by first name the two Americans; he referred to Denman and Berry only as "Luke" and "Aaron" [phonetic spelling]. Cabello also exhibited photographs purportedly showing Goudreau, Silvercorp and content from their social media profiles, and photographs from Instagram depicting Goudreau providing security services during the Venezuela Aid Live concert in Cúcuta and at a Trump rally in Charlotte. The purpose of broadcasting the images was to show that the United States was allegedly behind the international effort to remove Maduro from power and was conspiring with narcotics traffickers, referring to Alcalá. The program also exhibited excerpts from various media organizations discussing the alleged contract between Guaidó and Silvercorp.

After news of the event broke, Maduro was explicit about the level of insider knowledge his government had, saying in his first public appearance: "We knew everything: what they were talking about, what they ate, what they drank, what they didn't drink, who financed them."

Final preparations, Associated Press article

In the final days of April 2020, Rendón was contacted by Silvercorp's legal advisors demanding a payment of US$1.45 million; The Washington Post wrote that Guaidó's officials reacted to the demands in fear, believing they were being blackmailed with the threat of the canceled plans being revealed to the public.

The Associated Press published a 1 May 2020 article written by Joshua Goodman about Goudreau, the plan and its history, and the training camps, writing that the plans to attack Venezuela were "far-fetched" and that people who knew him believed he was "in way over his head". The article suggested that the Maduro government may have known of the plan since late-March 2020, but certainly knew by 1 May. Maduro confirmed that he knew of the plan by the evening of 1 May, and said that it had been initially planned for 10 March, but postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

By the time of the attack, many of the dissidents had abandoned their camps following the arrest of Alcalá, investigations by Colombian authorities, and the growing pandemic; and because Goudreau's promises failed to materialize and due to rumors that Maduro had infiltrated the operation. The Guardian suggested that Goudreau went ahead with the attack despite its poor planning because he was seeking the US$15 million reward that the US government placed on Maduro.

Objectives included attacking the General Directorate of Military Counterintelligence headquarters, neutralizing the Presidential Honor Guard at Miraflores Palace and securing an airfield, where they would extract President Maduro, who was code named "Jackpot". Silvercorp would then stay to maintain humanitarian aid distribution while Goudreau would arrive in Caracas following the operation's success. When asked why his troops would land at one of Venezuela's most fortified coastlines, twenty miles from Caracas and next to the country's biggest airport, he cited as inspiration the Battle of Gaugamela, won by Alexander the Great, who had "struck deep into the heart of the enemy". During the event, Goudreau gave an interview by telephone from Florida to an AP reporter. Goudreau said that his intention in launching the raid was to "introduce a catalyst", acknowledging that it is impractical to believe "60 guys can come in and topple a regime". Despite the long odds, he expressed his belief that "60 guys can go in and inspire the military and police to flip and join in the liberation of their country".

Attack

Venezuelan authorities monitoring the Caribbean coast during the Bolivarian Shield exercises

On 3 May, Diosdado Cabello, president of the National Constituent Assembly and vice-president of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), released a statement indicating that the government had "received information that there was going to be an attack on Venezuela by sea; some people in boats attempted it, an action which was repelled by our security agencies on the beaches of Macuto, with an unfortunate tally of eight deceased, two detained people who were there; a lot of significant weapons, in addition to vehicles that they had ready to carry out actions directly on institutions and authorities."

Silvercorp's boats launched from Colombia at 17:00 the day before in two waves. The naval attack force was composed of about 60 soldiers, including two former United States Army Special Forces members employed as private military contractors for Silvercorp. The force traveled about 400 miles (640 km) through the ocean, passing Aruba and Curaçao, planning to meet with other insurgents stationed inland that possessed weapons caches and fighting vehicles.

An initial fight in the early morning of 3 May involved the first boat and the Venezuelan Navy. Videos of the firefight, including gunshots, were shared on social media; the Venezuelan government first acknowledged the attack at 07:30, in an announcement from Interior Minister Néstor Reverol. Witnesses recording the incident said that the attacking force fired at a helicopter used by Venezuelan forces. Venezuelan Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino López later said that the landing boat had been sunk by the navy, and the country's military sent ships to look for survivors.

Reports vary on what occurred with the insurgents of the first craft; the Venezuelan government reported that eight individuals were killed and two were captured while other reports said that all ten were killed. One of the men killed was former Venezuelan army captain Robert "Pantera" Colina Ybarra, alleged to have directed one of the training camps in Riohacha. The Venezuelan opposition later presented forensic reports that those killed were executed and had close-range gunshot wounds consistent with executions.

Goudreau said that the second boat, with 51 Venezuelans and 2 Americans aboard, had yet to arrive at Venezuela and was running low on fuel, though refueling boats had been sent from Aruba. Goudreau said that he had safe houses along the coast for his men. This group was destined for Caracas and was to establish a camp, under the oversight of Berry and Denman, hoping disaffected Venezuelan troops would join their cause.

Goudreau later acknowledged misleading the media with false information about the attack to allow time for the men to escape.

An individual on the second boat later reported that the craft had experienced engine problems and had difficulty navigating due to excessive weight, with the boat's canopy, the uniforms of soldiers and even other gear being thrown overboard in an attempt to make it to shore. One of those present said that Berry and Denman discussed taking the boat to international waters upon learning that the first boat was intercepted, attempting to turn the craft around in retreat. With many of the soldiers already experiencing motion sickness and vomiting at this point, about 45 soldiers abandoned ship, swimming to the nearby mountains to flee any pursuing authorities. The poorly-fueled boat drifted into Chuao in Aragua state on 4 May, with those remaining on the craft being arrested by local police. According to a policewoman who responded to the incident, they had been waiting for the boat to arrive and directed the occupants to land their craft on shore, where they were later tied up by the police and local fisherman. Two suspects were detained in Puerto La Cruz later that day. The Venezuelan military reported that the "mercenaries" had "war materials" on their boats.

Goudreau and former Venezuelan National Guard officer Javier Nieto Quintero released a video in the afternoon taking responsibility, calling the attack Operation Gideon and explaining that they intended to launch an army into Venezuela to overthrow Maduro and his allies. Goudreau posted updates to Twitter shortly before and during the operation, saying that in addition to the naval attack, his forces had entered Venezuela by land and were still operating. Goudreau and Nieto posted their videos from Florida. Speaking on national television that day, Reverol said that the Venezuelan military's defensive operation was ongoing, and would be for several days.

Aftermath

Equipment and identity documents allegedly brought into Venezuela during the attack

Quintero, one of the organizers of the operation, said on 7 May that the events were only an "advanced tactical reconnaissance" and that the CARIVE (Coalición Activa de la Reserva Internacional Venezolana) coalition of former Venezuelan military had 3,000 troops. The Venezuelan Operational Zone of Integral Defense (Zodi) of La Guaira announced that Russian Special Operations Forces were assisting Venezuelan soldiers with surveillance from unmanned aerial vehicles, saying that they carried a joint inspection of the facilities of Maiquetia Airport where they made a technical evaluation that showed it was not possible to operate the equipment from here because there were obstacles. However, the announcement was deleted afterwards.

Maduro's Attorney General Tarek William Saab later announced that 25,000 national troops were mobilized in a Venezuelan military mission named "Bolivarian Shield" (Spanish: Escudo Bolivariano) to protect the country from similar attempts.

Saab requested that the Supreme Tribunal of Justice declare Guaidó's political party, Popular Will, a terrorist group due to the attempted sea incursion. Guaidó responded to the charges, stating that Maduro defended "irregular groups" like the National Liberation Army and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia."

Seized items included weapons and uniforms embroidered with an American flag. Among the seized equipment, there was an airsoft gun and seven condoms.

Indictments and arrests

Detainees in prone position in custody of Venezuelan authorities

As of 21 May 2020 66 arrests took place and 99 arrests warrants had been issued, 63 of which remained outstanding.

Following 4 May, more individuals were arrested further inland with caches of weapons, ammunition, communication devices and technical pickup trucks with mounted machine guns. On 4 May, Maduro said Venezuelan forces had detained 13 "mercenaries", including two Americans working with Goudreau: Berry and Denman. Goudreau said that eight of his soldiers had been captured on 4 May, the two Americans and six Venezuelans, and that an unknown number had been captured on 3 May.

Maduro stated that "dozens" of "mercenaries" had been captured on 5 May. Another three individuuals were arrested on 6 May. Adolfo Baduel, son of former Chávez Defense Minister, Raúl Baduel, was among the detainees and said that the two arrested Americans were linked to the Trump administration. By 6 May, the Defense Minister announced an additional three arrests via his Twitter account, publishing a photo of the purported detainees with pixelated faces on their knees with their wrists zip-tied together without disclosing the names or any other additional details regarding the accused.

Durán, his brother and seven other individuals were arrested in Venezuela on 24 May 2020. Durán faced charges of arms trafficking, foreign conspiracy, rebellion, terrorism and treason.

The Colombian government informed that on 2 September it had arrested four Venezuelans related to Operation Gedeon. Óscar Pérez had denounced in 2017 that both Rayder Alexander Russo (alias "Pico") and Osman Alejandro Tabosky, both arrested by Colombian officials and the latter also accused as intellectual author of the 2018 Caracas drone attack, were "infiltrated agents" in the resistance movement against Maduro.

United States federal authorities opened an investigation on Goudreau for arms trafficking.

Luke Denman

Denman was a former Army Special Forces communications sergeant who left the Army in December 2011. During his five years in the Army, Denman was trained in field medicine and deployed to Iraq at least once. He had worked jobs as a security guard, and then as an offshore welder out of Louisiana before moving to Oregon in the fall of 2019.

On 6 May, Nicolás Maduro held a virtual press conference broadcast on state television in which he presented portions of Denman's interrogation, described by Neuman as a "propoganda-style interrogation". In the video, Denman states that his instructions were to seize Simón Bolívar International Airport in Maiquetía and fly Maduro to the United States, which Maduro cited as proof that the orders came directly from United States President Donald Trump. The video shows Denman answering questions that were asked in English, also indicating that he was hired through Goudreau and that they trained 50 combatants in Colombia in January 2020. Neumann wrote that, when asked "Who commands [Goudreau]?", Denman rolled his eyes when answering – a gesture that "seemed intended to contradict his words" when he replied it was Trump. Mattos, the Navy SEAL who had visited the rebel training camps in Colombia but was not involved in the operation, made the same observation, noting that it may have been a covert signal, and that "special operation soldiers are trained to find creative ways to discredit any propaganda videos they are forced to make if captured by the enemy" and that the odd eye movement was "a clear sign from Luke that he is being forced".

An additional interrogation video depicting Denman in an orange jumpsuit was aired on state television on 18 May 2020. In the video, Denman indicates that his objective in embarking on the operation, as relayed by Goudreau, was to arrive in Colombia to train Venezuelans, accompany them to Venezuela for the landing, and once the Venezuelan dissidents' objectives had been achieved, "put Maduro on a plane", and provide support at the airport in order that humanitarian aid could arrive.

Denman reportedly believed the United States government backed the naval attack; a childhood friend told The Wall Street Journal that Denman believed the operation had personal approval from President Trump. A lifelong friend of Denman also reported that Denman indicated in October 2019 that one of his friends from the military was in the process of obtaining government approval for training operations or operations aimed at paving the way for more substantial engagement by the United States government. Denman reportedly told his father "that he had a job offer in Florida that he couldn't talk about". Though he did not disclose it had anything to do with Venezuela, he said that "it was the most meaningful thing he's ever done". Denman's mother told reporters that she "had no idea" of his intention to participate in a military operation in Colombia. Similarly, Luke's girlfriend told the Military Times she was unaware of the planned operation. She reported that she "didn't know very much, other than Luke trusted [Goudreau] and that he had a job opportunity with him".

In the weeks following the attack, Denman's brother, an attorney, took on the task of advocating for the release of both Luke Denman and Airan Berry.

Airan Berry

Airan Berry was a special forces engineer sergeant in the Army from 1996 to 2013. Berry deployed to Iraq in 2003, from 2004 to 2005, and in 2007. During his career, he obtained a multitude of decorations and designations, including the Ranger tab, the Parachutist Badge, and the Special Operations Diver and Diving Supervisor Badges. Berry was also subject to interrogation which was videotaped and presented in parts on state television on 7 May, during a press release presented by the Jorge Rodríguez. Berry had previously made social media posts in support of QAnon, a far-right conspiracy theory centered on a conflict between U.S. President Donald Trump and a "deep state".

Criminal charges, extradition requests and sentences

Saab announced on 8 May that Denman and Berry would face charges for terrorism, conspiracy, "illicit trafficking of weapons of war" and "(criminal) association" – charges which carry a maximum prison sentence of 25 to 30 years. His office requested arrest warrants for Goudreau, Rendón, and Vergara. Speaking on state television, he said that the three persons were involved in the "design, financing and execution of this war action against the territory, the authorities and the people of Venezuela". After Denman and Berry admitted to "conspiracy, association (to commit crimes), illicit trafficking of war weapons and terrorism" a Venezuelan court sentenced both on 6 August 2020 to 20 years in prison.

Saab announced on 15 May 2020 an arrest warrant against Popular Will politician Yon Goicoechea. Goicoechea rejected the accusations of any involvement with Operation Gideon, and accused Maduro's administration of paying and leading the uprising attempt to victimize itself and "persecute political dissent".

On 16 May 2020, according to a press release published by the Supreme Tribunal of Justice of Venezuela, several trial courts dedicated to terrorism-related crimes ordered that some 40 individuals alleged to have participated in the raid be remanded to preventive detention. Antonio Sequea Torres was also in pretrial confinement and charged with commission of aggravated intentional homicide in connection with his alleged attempt to assassinate Maduro. The Supreme Tribunal of Justice also indicated that most of those involved in the operation are alleged to have committed the crimes of treason, rebellion, arms trafficking, criminal conspiracy, and colluding with a foreign government. Venezuelan newspaper El Pitazo reported that the mother of one of the accused had demanded assurance that her son was alive after receiving a phone call from her son requesting his brother's telephone number "so that they would stop torturing him".

According to Berry's videotaped statement, Antonio Sequea Torres and the drug trafficker Elkin Javier López, better known as Doble Rueda [transl. Two-Wheeled], also referred to as la silla [transl. the chair] – met multiple times during the planning period of the operation to coordinate logistics. The estate of López Torres in the Colombian Guajira is alleged to be the point of departure for the two boats involved in the raid. The Valledupar-based López Torres was arrested in December 2019 and his extradition was requested by the United States.

In May 2021, three Venezuelans were sentenced in Colombia to six years in prison for their relation to the operation.

Allegations of extrajudicial killings, betrayal and ambush

A report was submitted to the International Criminal Court in October 2020 which included forensic photographs taken by the Venezuelan Scientific, Penal, and Criminal Investigation Service Corps (CICPC); it alleges that there was not an armed confrontation but that the insurgents had been set up, tortured and extrajudicially executed. National Assembly deputy Wilmer Azuaje – president of the Venezuelan Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights and Guaidó's coordinator for human rights – submitted the report to the Human Rights Commission of the European Parliament as well.

The report identifies the six former military dead as Colina along with César Andrés Perales Sequea, Anderson Smith Araque Portilla, Jean Carlo Castro Gutiérrez, Fabián Rodríguez Salazar, and José Roberto Abreu Facúndez; Azuaje says Attorney General Saab did not provide the names of the dead and was "looking for the decomposition of the bodies", which were buried in common graves. He stated that the original photos from the operation, and information about the bodies, came from anonymous Chavista officials who "wanted the truth to be known". He refers to the killings as the Macuto massacre and compares them to the 2018 El Junquito raid in which Óscar Pérez and his men were killed after offering to surrender.

The 164 images in the report, according to Azuaje, show "abrasions and lacerations [occurred] before death"; all the gunshot wounds on all the bodies were close range; the men were "dragged away while they were alive"; the bodies had "friction burns in their buttocks caused possibly by being dragged naked on the sand"; and evidence of strangulation. He questions how the boat could have 700 bullet holes, yet there is no blood in the boat and no holes in drums of gasoline on the boat, no weapons around any body, and no shots fired from a distance.

Azuaje alleges the deaths were "extrajudicial executions" and "everything was rigged". He says the images are at odds with the government's account that the confrontation began after Colina started shooting.

A November 2020 Miami Herald article stated that a man who ran communications for the operation and used the name Cacique said the Maduro government had offered a reward for Colina, and that five men "sold the exact landing coordinates shortly before departure". Azuaje alleges that Sequea "was the military infiltrator" who provided the information, and the interception of the boat was conducted by FAES special action forces, when it would more appropriately have fallen under the Navy's jurisdiction. Journalist Sebastiana Barráez, who specializes in Venezuelan military reporting, also states that the men were murdered; she wrote that when Sequea took "control of the camps" after Alcalá's arrest, he "led fifty soldiers into an ambush" and that he facilitated identification to FAES by forcing all of the other men to shave their heads except his brother-in-law, the Americans, and "his most trusted men".

According to Rendón, the operation was compromised for months and intelligence gathered by the Maduro government allowed the Venezuelan armed forces to set the militants up for an ambush, to create a "montage" of the events. Colombian President Duque, described by the The Wall Street Journal as an "ardent Maduro foe", mentioned speculation of a false flag, saying the operation was "allegedly promoted and financed by the dictatorial regime of Nicolas Maduro". The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump administration officials had stated that "it could have been a false flag organized by Mr. Maduro’s regime to score propaganda points". Guaidó also labeled it a 'false flag' "infiltrated and financed by the dictatorship". Responding to the claims of a false flag attack, Bloomberg News wrote that "Absent clear answers for central questions surrounding the coup, conspiracy theories have flourished."

Goudreau lawsuit

Goudreau later said that the Trump administration had knowledge of the operation before starting and even that the plotters held meetings in the Trump Doral west of Miami. Goudreau sued Rendón in October 2020 in a $1.4 million breach-of-contract lawsuit. In the lawsuit, he said that he met with a Trump official three times to discuss arms shipments regulations and that he believed he had approval since the United States and Guaidó officials never told him to end his operation.

Reactions

Domestic

Following the failed operation, Guaidó's support in polls fell from 61% in January 2019 to a new low of 25% in a May 2020 poll, compared to Maduro's 13% support in the same poll; the pollster stated that, while Maduro was "reviled", people no longer believed Guaidó.

Maduro government

The Maduro administration accused the United States and Colombian governments of masterminding the attack, which both denied. Goudreau has also denied receiving any help for his operation from US and Colombian authorities. Vice President Delcy Rodríguez called Goudreau "a supremacist fanatic" and warned that "the Venezuelan women are waiting for you, for free, but with deep homeland passion."

Foreign Minister Arreaza criticized foreign governments and international organizations for their "deafening silence in the face of the mercenary aggression against Venezuela" and said that "the same people who always condemn us immediately based on biased or false information, today remain silent in the face of such a serious and full case of evidence." He added that "all those involved in the armed aggression against Venezuela confess that they trained in Colombia, with the knowledge of the Bogotá government and the financing of drug traffickers from that country."

Luis Parra stated "Deputy Juan Guaidó must give an explanation to the parliament and the country, about his alleged participation in Operation Gideon, according to the testimonies of those involved in it and the contract with his alleged signature" and said that his National Assembly would investigate Guaidó regarding the allegations.

Opposition

Guaidó's General Strategist J. J. Rendón, who resigned due to his interactions with Silvercorp

Juan Guaidó accused the Maduro administration of "trying to create a state of apparent confusion, an effort to hide what's happening in Venezuela", citing recent events like the gasoline shortages, the Guanare prison riot, a violent gang battle in Caracas, and the COVID-19 pandemic in Venezuela. Guaidó also demanded that the human rights of the detainees be respected.

Iván Simonovis, security and intelligence commissioner for the Guaidó administration, stated that the events in Macuto would be used by the Maduro government as a pretext to harass opponents and intensify repression, saying that Guaidó's administration would investigate the events and clarify its details.

The opposition political party Justice First demanded that Guaidó immediately dismiss the officials involved with the plot and charged that they "used his government's name for individual purposes". Julio Borges, Guaidó's foreign minister, called for the dismissal of all officials related to the plot, stating "we worry that energies are put into the creation of a bureaucratic caste and not into political change." Rendon and Vergara resigned on 11 May, with Guaidó thanking the two for "dedication and commitment to Venezuela".

NGOs

The human rights NGO PROVEA asked about the well-being of the people arrested in Macuto and in Chuao and indicated that Tarek William Saab, and the Ombudsman appointed by Maduro, Alfredo Ruiz, would be responsible for possible forced disappearances or torture of the detainees, while stressing that it would only support and promote peaceful and constitutional means that lead to the "restoration of democracy in the country". Maduro accused PROVEA of being "financed by the CIA" and giving coverage to "terrorists" as a response, accusations that PROVEA rejected. Human Rights Watch criticized Maduro for alleging that PROVEA had connections to the United States Central Intelligence Agency after the organization called for due process of the captured militants. Human Rights Watch wrote: "An international community that's closely watching what happens in Venezuela needs to send the message loud and clear: subjecting human rights defenders to politically motivated prosecution, detention or other abuses would be crossing a line for which those responsible will have to answer".

The Futuro Presente Foundation was accused by Maduro's administration of financing the operation. Futuro Presente categorically rejected the accusations of the participation of the organization and any of its members, alleged they were being persecuted, asked for it to end, and said that it was based on "completely false and unfounded accusations".

International

• Colombia: The Colombian government rejected the accusations, calling them an attempt by the "dictatorial regime of Nicolás Maduro" to divert attention from problems in the country. President Iván Duque Márquez said that he did not sponsor invasions or tricks in response to the accusations and stated "I do things up front because I am a defender of democracy."
• Russia: The Russian Foreign Ministry said that United States' denial was "unconvincing" and pointed to earlier warnings made by the Trump administration that "all options" are on the table, including the possibility of military action. It also said that the actions of the mercenaries deserve "unequivocal and decisive condemnation".
  • On 20 May 2020, Russia convoked a virtual open debate of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) for the purpose of urging the members of the council to condemn the attack as a threat to peace in Venezuela and to security in the region. The United States doubled down on its previous denials of any involvement in the operation, and accused the Maduro government of using the event as a pretext to persecute political dissidents and distract from other problems in Venezuela. Russia reasserted its assessment that the statements by the United States government that it had no knowledge of the operation were dubious in light of the attackers' plans to fly their captives to the United States. Russia's U.N. ambassador, Dmitry Polyansky, asked how does the attack correlate with the "all options are on the table" messages.
• United States: Various US officials (including President Trump) have denied the accusations made by the Maduro administration.
  • President Donald Trump said that the incident "has nothing to do with our government". Speaking on Fox News, Trump said "If I wanted to go into Venezuela, I wouldn't make a secret about it" and said that the operation would be called an "invasion" if he sends an army into Venezuela.
  • Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that there was no US government direct involvement in this operation and added: "[If] we'd have been involved, it would have gone differently." Regarding the detention of two Americans, Pompeo said that the US will use "every tool" available to secure the return of Americans if they are being held in Venezuela.
  • Secretary of Defense Mark Esper told reporters at the Pentagon that "the United States government had nothing to do with what's happened in Venezuela in the last few days."
  • A State Department spokesperson said that Maduro government has been consistent in its use of misinformation to shift focus from its mismanagement of Venezuela. It also said that there was "little reason to believe anything that comes out of the former regime".

See also

• Colombia–Venezuela relations
• Golpe Azul
• Machurucuto raid
• 2019 Venezuelan uprising attempt

References

Bibliography

• Neuman, William (2022). Things Are Never So Bad That They Can't Get Worse: Inside the Collapse of Venezuela (1st ed.). St. Martin's Press. ISBN 978-1250266163.