{"id":57214,"date":"2020-05-04T11:35:44","date_gmt":"2020-05-04T11:35:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/05\/04\/ex-green-beret-claims-he-led-foiled-raid-into-venezuela\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T10:48:46","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T10:48:46","slug":"ex-green-beret-claims-he-led-foiled-raid-into-venezuela","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/airforcetimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/05\/04\/ex-green-beret-claims-he-led-foiled-raid-into-venezuela\/","title":{"rendered":"Venezuela: 2 Americans among those nabbed after beach raid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CARACAS, Venezuela \u2014 Venezuelan security forces arrested eight people, including two alleged U.S. citizens, following a beach invasion aimed at capturing socialist President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, according to information released Monday by authorities, as more than 25,000 troops mobilized to hunt for other rebels operating in the country. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Powerful socialist party leader Diosdado Cabello posted on his Twitter account a video of a Venezuelan identified as Josnars Adolfo Baduel, who was also detained, saying two U.S. citizens were among those nabbed. Baduel is shown responding to a security official who asks him about the Americans captured. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Venezuelan state television broadcast the video but didn\u2019t identify the Americans. But Florida-based <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/05\/01\/ex-green-beret-led-failed-attempt-to-oust-venezuelas-maduro\/\" target=_blank>ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau<\/a> said he was working with the two men in a mission launched early Sunday to \u201cliberate\u201d Venezuela. Goudreau has claimed responsibility for Sunday\u2019s operation, which Venezuelan authorities say they foiled and left eight people dead at a beach near the port city of La Guaira. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He identified two former U.S. veterans taken into Venezuelan custody as Luke Denman and Aaron Berry. The two served in Iraq and Afghanistan with him in the U.S. military, Goudreau said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Associated Press could not independently verify that the Americans had been captured. <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2020\/05\/02\/ex-green-beret-led-failed-attempt-to-oust-venezuelas-maduro\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20114597880905.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Ex-Green Beret led failed attempt to oust Venezuela\u2019s Maduro<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The plan was simple, but perilous.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goudreau said the men were part of an alleged mission called \u201cOperation Gideon\u201d launched before dawn on Sunday that entailed landing boats on the beach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Venezuela has been in a deepening political and economic crisis under Maduro\u2019s rule. Crumbling public services such as running water, electricity and medical care have driven nearly 5 million to migrate. But Maduro still controls all levers of power despite a U.S.-led campaign to oust him. It recently indicted Maduro as a drug trafficker and offered a $15 million reward for his arrest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Venezuela and the United States broke diplomatic ties last year amid heightened tensions, so there is no U.S. embassy in Caracas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI\u2019ve tried to engage everybody I know at every level,\u201d Goudreau said of the attempt to help his detained colleagues. \u201cNobody\u2019s returning my calls, It\u2019s a nightmare.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Kay Denman, the mother of one of the Americans, said the last time she heard from her son was a few weeks when he texted her from an undisclosed location to ask how she was coping with the coronavirus pandemic. She said she never heard her son discuss Venezuela and only learned of his possible capture there after his friends called when they saw the reports on social media. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe first time I heard Jordan Goudreau\u2019s name was today,\u201d she said when reached at her home in Austin, Texas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"2500\" height=\"1666\" src=\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20125618548760.jpg.jpg\" alt=\"Venezuela's Attorney General Tarek William Saab\" class=\"wp-image-95848\" srcset=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20125618548760.jpg.jpg 2500w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20125618548760.jpg.jpg?resize=300,200 300w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20125618548760.jpg.jpg?resize=768,512 768w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20125618548760.jpg.jpg?resize=1024,682 1024w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20125618548760.jpg.jpg?resize=1536,1024 1536w, https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/AP20125618548760.jpg.jpg?resize=2048,1365 2048w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2500px) 100vw, 2500px\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Venezuela&#8217;s Attorney General Tarek William Saab holds up Twitter posts during a press conference regarding what the government calls a failed attack over the weekend aimed at overthrowing President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro in Caracas, Venezuela, Monday, May 4, 2020. The Twitter posts are between two members of the opposition, Humberto Calderon and Yon Goicoechea. (Matias Delacroix\/AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goudreau has said he signed a contract with the U.S.-backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaid\u00f3 to overthrow Maduro, which Guaid\u00f3 has denied. The opposition leader said he had nothing to do with Sunday\u2019s raid. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goudreau says Guaid\u00f3 never fulfilled the contract, but the former Green Beret pushed ahead with an underfunded operation with just 60 fighters, including the two U.S. veterans. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He said he last communicated with Denman and Berry when they were adrift in a boat \u201chugging\u201d the Caribbean coast of Venezuela. They were still in their boat following an initial confrontation with the Venezuelan Navy early Sunday, he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThey were running dangerously low on fuel,\u201d Goudreau said. \u201cIf they had gone onto landfall, they would have gone to a safe house.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goudreau said the two were waiting for a boat on the Caribbean island of Aruba with emergency fuel to help extract them. <\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2020\/04\/20\/naval-buildup-in-caribbean-not-aimed-at-ousting-maduro-says-head-of-us-southern-command\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"240\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/6136988.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Naval buildup in Caribbean not aimed at ousting Maduro, says head of US Southern Command<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">The top U.S. military commander for Latin America said Friday that the Trump administration isn\u2019t looking to use military force to remove Nicolas Maduro even as it expands counternarcotics operations in the Caribbean.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Venezuelan authorities said Monday they arrested another eight accused \u201cmercenaries\u201d in a coastal town and showed images on state TV of several unidentified men handcuffed and lying prone in a street. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Among them was a National Guardsman Capt. Antonio Sequea, who participated in a barracks revolt against Maduro a year ago. Goudreau said Sequea was a commander working with him in recent days on the ground in Venezuela. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Venezuelan state TV showed showed authorities handling a shirtless Sequia in handcuffs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Maduro ally and Attorney General Tarek William Saab said that in total they\u2019ve arrested 114 people suspected in the attempted attack and they are on the hunt of 92 others. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Officials in Venezuela\u2019s government accuse Colombia and the United States of organizing and carrying out the attack aiming to overthrow Maduro. Both U.S. and Colombian officials have denied the Venezuelan allegations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goudreau, a three-time Bronze Star U.S. combat veteran, claims to have helped organize the deadly seaborne raid from Colombia early Sunday. Goudreau said the operation had received no aid from Guaid\u00f3 or the U.S. or Colombian governments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goudreau said by telephone earlier Monday that 52 other fighters had infiltrated Venezuelan territory and were in the first stage of a mission to recruit members of the security forces to join their cause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Opposition politicians and U.S. authorities issued statements suggesting Maduro\u2019s allies had fabricated the assault. Officials have not released the full identities of those they say were killed or detained, though they identified one of the fallen as a man involved with Goudreau\u2019s training camp in Colombia. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An AP investigation published Friday found that Goudreau had been working with a retired Venezuelan army general \u2014 who now faces <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/04\/30\/air-national-guard-unit-actived-in-counter-drug-fight-after-trump-executive-order\/\" target=_blank>U.S. narcotics charges<\/a> \u2014 to train dozens of deserters from Venezuela\u2019s security forces at secret camps inside neighboring Colombia. The goal was to mount a cross-border raid that would end in Maduro\u2019s arrest. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The government, meanwhile, said it has mobilized more than 25,000 troops to hunt for other rebel cells. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>Investigative researcher Randy Herschaft in New York contributed to this report.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Venezuelan security forces arrested eight people, including two alleged U.S. citizens, following a beach invasion aimed at capturing socialist President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, according to information released Monday by authorities, as more than 25,000 troops mobilized to hunt for other rebels operating in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":62040,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":13,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,13,16,26],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3182,3041],"class_list":["post-57214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-news","category-newsletters"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"534JSBEJRNEADNLT4IYIF2OIKA","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2020\/05\/04\/ex-green-beret-claims-he-led-foiled-raid-into-venezuela\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Venezuela: 2 Americans among those nabbed after beach raid - Air Force TImes<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Venezuelan security forces arrested eight people, including two alleged U.S. citizens, following a beach invasion aimed at capturing socialist President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, according to information released Monday by authorities, as more than 25,000 troops mobilized to hunt for other rebels operating in the country.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/militarytimes\/news\/your-military\/2020\/05\/04\/ex-green-beret-claims-he-led-foiled-raid-into-venezuela\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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Joshua Goodman, The Associated Press\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scott Smith, The Associated Press, Joshua Goodman, The Associated Press\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/airforcetimes\\\/flashpoints\\\/2020\\\/05\\\/04\\\/ex-green-beret-claims-he-led-foiled-raid-into-venezuela\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": 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