Skip to content
June 25, 2022
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond

Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond

From Venezuela and made by Venezuelan Chavistas

Primary Menu
  • News
  • Opinion
  • About us
    • About us
    • Who we are – Becoming a Volunteer
    • Editorial guidelines for contributors
    • Our Sources
      • Venezuelan Sources
      • International Sources
    • Contact us
  • Categories
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Security and Defense
    • International
      • Africa
      • Asia
      • Europe
      • Oceania
      • US/Canada
    • Latin America and ALBA-TCP
      • South America
      • Central America and the Caribbean (+Mexico)
    • Ideology-Commune-Labor
    • Health-Education-Sport-Culture-Technology
    • Solidarity and Social Movements
    • OT Originals
  • Support Us
    • Tax Deductible Donations: AfGJ Fiscal Sponsorship Program
    • Patreon (recurrent donations)
    • PayPal and Credit Cards
Light/Dark Button
YouTube Channel
  • Home
  • Opinion
  • Mastermind of Botched Venezuela Raid Praises Assange, Snowden, Says FBI Tried to Kill Him
  • International
  • Opinion
  • US/Canada

Mastermind of Botched Venezuela Raid Praises Assange, Snowden, Says FBI Tried to Kill Him

December 9, 2020

By Ilya Tsukanov – Dec 08, 2020

In May 2020, a group of mercenaries attempted to land in Venezuela by sea, kidnap the country’s president, and take him to the US to face prosecution on trumped-up drug charges. The brazen scheme collapsed, eight mercenaries were killed, and seven dozen more, including two US nationals, were captured and sentenced to decades of jail time.

Jordan Goudreau, the mastermind behind the failed 3-4 May plot to kidnap Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, has accused the US government of trying to kill him, and compared himself with WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange and former NSA contractor-turned-whistleblower Edward Snowden.

Speaking to Rolling Stone in an extensive interview published on Sunday, Goudreau, chief executive of the Florida-based private security firm Silvercorp, revealed that the FBI carried out a raid on his Florida home on 21 May, and claimed that the Feds planned to kill him.

“I took my shirt off. And they had no reason to death-by-cop me. But they knew my background. They knew I had a gun,” he said.

RELATED CONTENT: US Mercenaries Going “Go Fund Me”: Jordan Goudreau Told Them US Government Supported the Operation

Goudreau says he remains under investigation by the Justice Department, although no indictments have been filed, and fears that they could easily put him away for a long time, just as they’ve tried to do with Assange and Snowden.

“If the DoJ wants to go after me, they can indict me because I jaywalked and then put me in prison for 20 f***ing years. It’s rare in this world to have guys like Julian Assange, and it’s rare to have guys like Edward Snowden actually see something that’s f***ed up, say, ‘You know what, that’s f***ed up, I’m going to try to fix it.’ You know why it’s rare? It’s because these governments come together and they just destroy them,” the former special forces soldier-turned-mercenary said.

Goudreau also dismissed claims by the Venezuelan opposition leaders and the Trump administration that they had nothing to do with the botched May raid known as Operation Gideon, suggesting that they would take credit instantly if everything had gone as planned.

“Had we succeeded, you really think that the [Juan] Guaido administration would have said, ‘That’s not us, we want nothing to do with this’? Do you think that Donald Trump would have said, ‘That wasn’t us’? Every motherf***er that I talked to would have said, ‘That was us! USA, baby!’ They would have taken credit for all of it. And if you say it’s not true, you’re pretty naïve,” Goudreau insisted.

RELATED CONTENT: Leopoldo López was Liaison Between Clíver Alcalá and Jordan Goudreau

Goudreau is said to have given the Rolling Stone interview after spending six months off the grid. Last month, he filed a $1.4 million breach-of-contract lawsuit in a Miami court against the Venezuelan opposition adviser and financier Juan Jose Rendon. Rendon claimed in May that the Venezuelan opposition cut ties with Goudreau after he allegedly failed to deliver on his promise of finance and personnel to the operation. Goudreau has accused the opposition of scrimping on a $213 million ‘general services’ contract with Silvercorp, which he says forced the would-be mercenaries under his leadership to collect donations from Venezuelan migrants living in Colombia to finance their plot.

In his lawsuit, Goudreau also revealed that Erik Prince, founder of the Blackwater private military firm, offered a competing bid to overthrow Venezuela’s elected government. A lawyer for Prince said this claim was untrue. Goudreau has also alleged that he made direct contact with the Trump administration by meeting with Drew Horn, an assistant to Vice-President Mike Pence. A spokesman for Pence later dismissed the latter claims, saying Pence had no prior knowledge of the raid and did not know Horn.

Goudreau took responsibility for the botched Venezuela raid in a video address in its immediate aftermath.

In August, a Venezuelan court handed down 20 year prison sentences to Luke Denman and Airan Berry, the pair of US mercenaries involved in the May raid, for the crimes of conspiracy, association, illicit trafficking of weapons of war and terrorism.

Eight mercenaries were killed in the raid and 17 Venezuelan nationals were convicted of involvement in the plot.

 

 

Featured image: © Photo : YouTube / NoticieroDigitalcom

Ilya Tsukanov is a Moscow-based correspondent specializing in Eastern European, US and Middle Eastern politics, Cold War history, energy security and military affairs. Member of the Sputnik team since the site’s inception in 2014. Master’s degree from Queen’s University in Kingston, Canada. – “Source” –

(Information Clearing House)

Want More?

Don't want to be a victim of the Algorithm?

SIGN UP TO RECEIVE OUR WEEKLY NEWSLETTER WITH ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT VENEZUELA

We don’t spam! Read our privacy policy for more info.

Editor2
+ posts
  • Editor2
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/yullma/
    Japan urged to scrap law forcing transgender people to be sterilised before they can transition
  • Editor2
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/yullma/
    South Africa: Parliament Votes in Favor of Land Expropriation Without Compensation
  • Editor2
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/yullma/
    Haiti suspends fuel price hike after deadly protests
  • Editor2
    https://orinocotribune.com/author/yullma/
    US only country in the world to vote against work of UN refugee agency
Tags: FBI Jordan Goudreau mercenaries President Maduro Snowden Trump administration Venezuela

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on WhatsApp (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Reddit (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Telegram (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)

Continue Reading

Previous Previous post:

“It Reveals Your Lack of Morals”: President Maduro’s Reaction to Duque’s Order to Close Colombian Airspace (International Observers Stranded)

International Observers stranded in Venezuela due to Colombia's Ivan Duque attacks on Venezuela
Next Next post:

Russia, China Will Not Succumb to US-Led World Order: Lavrov

Tax deductible donations

One time donations

Recurrent donations

Calendar

June 2022
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
27282930  
« May    

NEWS: Most Viewed 72 Hours

Categories

Subscribe to Our Weekly Newsletter

We keep your data private and share your data only with third parties that make this service possible. Read our Privacy Policy.

Check your inbox or spam folder to confirm your subscription.

OPINION: Most Viewed 72 hours

We are on Telegram


Receive our news directly in your cellphone or PC, join us on our TELEGRAM channel: https://t.me/OrinocoTribune1

Download TELEGRAM, click the link above and then press the JOIN button.

We are Copyleft not Copyright


Creative Commons License
All Orinoco Tribune's work is free to use and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

We are on Reddit


If you are more into REDDIT, join our Orinoco Tribune Community.
Just click below and then click JOIN
https://www.reddit.com/r/OrinocoTribune/

 

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • Instagram
  • Reddit
  • Telegram
  • TikTok
  • LinkedIn
Copyleft, No rights reserved.