{"id":26356,"date":"2020-05-05T22:01:50","date_gmt":"2020-05-05T22:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/uncategorized\/2020\/05\/05\/us-had-nothing-to-do-with-ex-green-berets-failed-raid-in-venezuela-secdef-says\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T06:24:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T06:24:14","slug":"us-had-nothing-to-do-with-ex-green-berets-failed-raid-in-venezuela-secdef-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/navytimes\/flashpoints\/2020\/05\/05\/us-had-nothing-to-do-with-ex-green-berets-failed-raid-in-venezuela-secdef-says\/","title":{"rendered":"US \u2018had nothing to do\u2019 with ex-Green Beret\u2019s failed raid in Venezuela, says Esper"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/04\/14\/the-militarys-travel-ban-is-getting-an-extension-secdef-confirms\/\" target=\"_blank\">Defense Secretary <\/a>Mark Esper was quick to distance his department and the U.S. government at large from a bizarre attempt at overthrowing Venezuelan President <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/news\/your-military\/2020\/05\/04\/ex-green-beret-claims-he-led-foiled-raid-into-venezuela\/\" target=\"_blank\">Nicol\u00e1s Maduro<\/a> that failed on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The raid resulted in the arrests of two U.S. citizens and roughly a dozen Venezuelans by local authorities. The Americans were later identified as two former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.armytimes.com\/opinion\/commentary\/2020\/05\/04\/the-role-of-special-operations-forces-in-a-great-power-conflict\/\" target=_blank>Army Green Berets<\/a> by a third former Green Beret whose company, Silvercorp USA, was purportedly behind the incursion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe United States government had nothing to do with what\u2019s happened in Venezuela in the last few days,\u201d Esper said during a Pentagon press briefing Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Former Green Beret turned private contractor Jordan Goudreau used his company\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SilvercorpUsa\/status\/1257098586409644032\" target=_blank>Twitter account<\/a> to announce the raid Sunday, tagging President Donald Trump\u2019s own Twitter account in the process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">An Associated Press investigation published Friday reported that Goudreau worked with retired Venezuelan military Maj. Gen. Cliver Alcal\u00e1 \u2014 who separately was indicted by U.S. prosecutors on narcotics charges \u2014 to train Venezuelan defectors at secret camps in Colombia.<\/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\">The two U.S. citizens now in Venezuelan custody were identified as Luke Denman and Aaron Berry. Maduro held up what appeared to be an expired military ID with Denman\u2019s name on it and a Veterans Affairs ID with Berry\u2019s name <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/telesurenglish\/status\/1257491923109109760\" target=_blank>during a televised address<\/a> to Venezuelans on Monday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Trump also denied any connection to the incident and told reporters before departing the White House on Tuesday that he had only just learned of Denman and Berry\u2019s detention by Venezuelan authorities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWhatever it is, we\u2019ll let you know,\u201d Trump said. \u201cBut it has nothing to do with our government.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goudreau, who is based in Florida, has said he\u2019s working to help his detained colleagues. He alleged that he signed a contract with U.S.-backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaid\u00f3 to overthrow Maduro, an agreement Guaid\u00f3 denies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The United States has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.militarytimes.com\/news\/pentagon-congress\/2019\/05\/05\/us-still-pondering-military-options-in-venezuela\/\" target=\"_blank\">at odds with Maduro\u2019s government<\/a>, sanctioning and indicting officials there, as it attempts to pressure the leader to step aside and allow Guaid\u00f3 to take control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cOur view remains that Maduro is a brutal, corrupt leader who has oppressed the people of Venezuela,\u201d Esper said during the briefing. \u201cThey deserve better and we will continue to make the case that he should step aside and allow an elected government to form and take that country in the rightful direction that it should go, a very democratic prosperous path that it was on many years before.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Goudreau provided to Miami-based journalist Patricia Poleo an eight-page \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PattyPoleo\/status\/1257088158807871489\" target=_blank>general services agreement<\/a>\u201d he said Guaid\u00f3 and his advisers signed in October 2019 with Silvercorp USA. Though the contract was for $213 million, Goudreau said Guaid\u00f3 never paid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Due to the diplomatic row between the two countries, there is no U.S. embassy operating in Venezuela\u2019s capital of Caracas that could immediately assist the detained U.S. veterans. All consular services were suspended in March 2019 as crime, civil unrest and the economic outlook of Venezuela declined dramatically, <a href=\"https:\/\/travel.state.gov\/content\/travel\/en\/traveladvisories\/traveladvisories\/venezuela-travel-advisory.html\" target=_blank>according<\/a> to the State Department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><i>The Associated Press contributed to this report. <\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cThe United States government had nothing to do with what\u2019s happened in Venezuela in the last few days,\u201d Esper said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":55023,"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":8,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":[]},"categories":[101,8,23,89,12,26,62],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3357],"class_list":["post-26356","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-daily-news-roundup","category-flashpoints","category-home","category-middle-column","category-news","category-newsletters","category-pentagon-congress"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"USPESDONE5GL5KP75QZ47KJCQM","arc_canonical_url":"\/news\/your-military\/2020\/05\/05\/us-had-nothing-to-do-with-ex-green-berets-failed-raid-in-venezuela-secdef-says\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented 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