Another failed USA attempt to fuck with Venezuela

One of the more compelling sideshows currently running on our national midway is the failed attempt by a claque of American freebooters to facilitate regime change in Venezuela.

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[E]mbedded in the Post's reporting is this little item.

[...] They compiled a dossier on the failed Bay of Pigs attempt to liberate Cuba from the government of Fidel Castro.

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I can count on the fingers of one hand the number of accounts of the Bay of Pigs operation since 1962 that did not also contain the word, "fiasco." Why someone in 2020 would "compile a dossier" on a disastrous attempt to invade Cuba as part of the preparation for a commando raid into Venezuela is best left to broader thinkers than I am. What is there to study about the Bay of Pigs? What is the ultimate lesson? "Don’t lose"?

  Charles P Pierce

A look at the fiasco from Venezuela:

The United States government has opened a probe into army special forces veteran Jordan Goudreau in connection to a thwarted invasion attempt off the coast of Venezuela, the Associated Press reported.

The head of the Miami-based private security firm Silvercorp claimed a leading role in the paramilitary operation which sought to topple the Maduro government.

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The Venezuelan government has reported that eight combatants were killed and a total of 23 captured after an additional ten alleged militants were taken into custody on Wednesday and Thursday. Two US citizens, former green berets Luke Denman and Airan Berry, were among those detained.

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US President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the failed paramilitary plot “has nothing to do with our government.”

  Venezuelanalysis

That's what they always say.

However, speaking to reporters on Wednesday, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo appeared to backtrack on the president’s remark, clarifying that “there was no US government direct involvement.”

Not willing to lie quite as directly as Trump?

“If we'd have been involved, it would have gone differently,” he said.

Right. But still failed.

Pompeo added that Washington will “use every tool” to secure the return of Denman and Berry. He also confirmed that the administration had knowledge of “who bankrolled [the operation],” which he pledged to “unpack…at an appropriate time.”

After they cook up a story.

Miami-based [Juan] Guaido advisor J.J. Rendon confirmed that the opposition contracted Silvercorp’s services in October 2019 for an agreed US $213 million.

The opposition strategist was tapped by Guaido last August to head a “strategic committee” charged with plotting regime change scenarios, including kidnapping Maduro and other top Venezuelan officials. Rendon said the committee went with Silvercorp in September after meeting with other paramilitary contractors who demanded as much as $500 million.

See what happens when you try to go the cheap route?

Rendon claimed that the opposition later broke contact with Goudreau after he failed to deliver on promises of “800 men” and other sources of funding.

Goudreau supplied a copy of the contract in an interview with hard-right journalist Patricia Poleo.

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While the contract only refers to Silvercorp providing “services” such as “strategic planning,” “equipment procuring” and “project execution advisement,” the attachments explicitly mention that project completion amounts to the “exit/removal of current Venezuelan regime and entrance/installation of recognized Venezuelan government.” It also states that Goudreau’s company would “assist and advise” Venezuelan military exiles in “planning and executing an operation to capture/detain/remove Nicolas Maduro and install [...] Guaido.”

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The company would continue to serve an eventual Guaido government in “counter-terrorism,” “counter-narcotics” and other areas.

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In video-taped interviews conducted by Venezuelan authorities, Denman and Berry shed further light on the objectives of the failed mission. Both men confirmed that the operation had the goal of seizing Maiquetia airport in La Guaira where aircraft would land for transporting Maduro to the US. In addition to taking Miraflores Palace, Berry added that targets included the headquarters of the state’s intelligence and counterintelligence arms, as well as La Carlota Airbase in east Caracas.

To whom were they turning Maduro over in the US? Could it be the US government?

Goudreau, for his part, told the Washington Post that the operation is “ongoing,” accusing the Guaido-led opposition of betraying its commitments. Guaido has denied any relationship to Silvercorp or Goudreau.

As you would.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.