Revealed: Secretive British Unit Planning for “Reconstruction” of Venezuela

Orinoco Tribune – News and opinion pieces about Venezuela and beyond
From Venezuela and made by Venezuelan Chavistas
By John McEvoy – May 13, 2020
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act have exposed a secretive Foreign Office unit aimed at the âreconstructionâ of Venezuela. The files also reveal private discussions between Venezuelan opposition figures and UK officials, detailing proposals for the promotion of British business after a planned coup.
UK support for coup attempt in Venezuela
Over the past 16 months, the UK government has consistently supported Venezuelan opposition figure Juan GuaidĂłâs attempts to topple the elected government of president NicolĂĄs Maduro.
In late January 2019, for example, the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) urged the Bank of England to grant GuaidĂł access to ÂŁ1.2bn of Venezuelan gold reserves.
The Department for International Development (DFID) has also pledged some ÂŁ40m of âhumanitarian assistanceâ to Venezuela, but it has refused to reveal where this assistance is going.
âVenezuela Reconstruction Unitâ
In January 2020, GuaidĂł traveled to London to meet with UK government officials and shore up international support for his flailing efforts to overthrow the Venezuelan government.
Documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act offer details of his visit, and reveal the existence of a specialist unit within the FCO dedicated to the âreconstructionâ of Venezuela.
On his visit, GuaidĂł met with foreign secretary Dominic Raab, minister for the Americas Christopher Pincher, and director for the Americas Hugo Shorter.
Notably, the list also includes âHead [of the] Venezuela Reconstruction Unit, FCOâ, John Saville. The existence of this unit has never been publicly acknowledged by either the FCO or Saville, who was formerly UK ambassador to Venezuela (2014-2017). Savilleâs biography on the UK governmentâs website, for instance, bears no mention of the unit.
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When asked what the purpose of the Venezuela Reconstruction Unit is and why its existence had not been revealed, an FCO spokesperson told The Canary:
The UK is committed to working with international partners to bring an end to the appalling crisis in Venezuela.
The FCOâs Venezuela Reconstruction Unit was set up in Autumn 2019 to coordinate a UK approach to international efforts to respond to the dire economic and humanitarian situation in Venezuela.
This response is virtually indistinguishable from UK government public messaging on Venezuela. Three weeks before GuaidĂłâs arrival, Saville shared an FCO statement declaring:
The United Kingdom underlines its support for interim constitutional President GuaidĂł and his efforts to lead Venezuela towards a peaceful and democratic resolution of the appalling crisis the country is facing [emphasis added].
Saville was a central figure in organising GuaidĂłâs visit and, by January 2020, plans were already underway for a violent incursion into Venezuela by US and Venezuelan mercenaries â a plan which, according to the US mercenary in charge, was signed off by GuaidĂł himself. Indeed, the full contract leaked to the Washington Post names GuaidĂł as âCommander in Chiefâ of the entire operation. GuaidĂł has denied involvement.
This was not the first scandal of its type. In February 2019, GuaidĂł was assisted over the Venezuelan border by a Colombian narco-paramilitary cartel before attending an âaidâ concert organised by Richard Branson. Funds raised by this concert were then reportedly embezzled by the Venezuelan opposition, and food packages were left to rot.
The UK governmentâs commitment to bringing âan end to the appalling crisis in Venezuelaâ through a secretive FCO unit thus seems, to put it lightly, insincere.
The existence of the unit also raises a more fundamental question: What business does the UK government have in the âreconstructionâ of a sovereign nation? The people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, and Syria may have something to say about this.
Private discussions surrounding GuaidĂłâs visit to London also reveal the importance that the FCO and Venezuelan opposition figures placed in sympathetic media attention.
On 17 January, an official notes that an unnamed media company in London âwants [GuaidĂł] to come into the office for a roundtable with their editors and they could do a special feature on the resurrectionâ.
Another unnamed official boasts on 21 January 2020 that: âThis [visit] has gang bustersâ, meaning a massive impact: âNow CNN International wants to be squeezed in between BBC and FT.â
Another Freedom of Information request can reveal private discussions between GuaidĂłâs UK representative, Vanessa Neumann, and UK government officials.
âI would like to request a meeting with Secretary Raab, as soon as feasible,â Neumann wrote to FCO officials in July 2019:
I understand he was the FCOâs legal liaison to the ICC [International Criminal Court] for years, and his family background is almost identical to mine and Madeleine Albrightâs
In July 2019, Neumann also described meeting former US secretary of state Madeleine Albright as âa dream come true for me: meeting my teenage idol⌠Now I hope to glean some of her wisdom to help me fight for Venezuelaâs freedom.â
Journalist Glenn Greenwald has described Neumannâs âteenage idolâ as âone of the most deranged and bloodthirsty warmongers to occupy a high government position in decadesâ. In 1996, for instance, Albright told PBS News that the deaths of âhalf a million [Iraqi] childrenâ resulting from US economic sanctions were âworth itâ.
The parallels with Venezuela are particularly concerning. Neumann consistently encourages âstrong targeted sanctionsâ against Venezuela which, according to the Centre for Economic and Policy Research, âkilled 40,000 people⌠between 2017 and 2018â. More recently, former UN human rights expert Alfred de Zayas estimated that this number likely exceeds 100,000.
In May 2019, Neumann wrote to FCO officials that she had âreached out to Rory Stewart at DFID for a meeting that will⌠sustain British business in Venezuelaâs reconstruction [emphasis added]â. This suggests the very nature of British âreconstructionâ of Venezuela: garnering favourable conditions for British business. And one can only guess at what these âBritish businessâ interests might be within a country that reportedly sits on the worldâs largest proven oil reserves.
Indeed, in September 2019, Neumann was reportedly secretly recorded âsurrendering Venezuelaâs claim to the disputed Essequibo region in exchange for political support from the UK governmentâ.
Also in May 2019, meanwhile, Neumann privately encouraged the FCO to publicly âpronounce itself in support of our democratic forces, your partners⌠before my interview on BBC World Service to discuss the matter in one hourâ.
Later the same day, Neumann was reassured by an FCO official that âthe Foreign Secretary [Jeremy Hunt] has just tweetedâ in support of Edgar Zambrano, who was charged with treason, conspiracy, civil rebellion, usurpation of responsibilities, criminal association, and public instigation to disobey the law after joining an armed coup attempt.
The private discussions between Neumann and FCO officials also entail âVenezuela debt restructuringâ and a ânew Venezuela military attachĂŠâ, though these conversations have been redacted almost entirely.
âWe are consistent in our view that Maduro is illegitimateâ, the FCOâs Latin America department head Nigel Baker assured Neumann in May 2019, âand in our support for Juan Guaidoâ.
âExcellent. Thank you, Nigel,â responded Neumann. âWe appreciate your support, which is critical for us now and in our reconstruction.â Elsewhere, Neumann praises Britainâs âhistoric role in concepts of liberty and justice (I used to teach political philosophy, and particularly loved the British thinkers)â.
Neumann is also the CEO of Asymmetrica Limited, a âstrategic communicationsâ firm whose website dons quotes from Henry Kissinger.
Alongside Neumann, the names Alec Bierbauer and Michael Marks were listed in 2015 as co-directors of Asymmetrica. Both are closely connected to the US military and intelligence services. Bierbauer was a central figure in the development of Washingtonâs drone warfare programme. Marks, meanwhile, âhas worked around the world within the US intelligence and special operations community, a career that stretches from the jungles of Nicaragua to the mountains of Afghanistanâ.
In 2018, Bierbauer and Marks published a book entitled Predator Rising: How a Team of Renegades Broke Rules, Shattered Barriers, and Launched a Drone Warfare Revolution. The book offers âthe inside story of how a CIA agent and an Air Force officer joined forces to develop Americaâs most powerful tool in the War on Terrorâ.
In this light, Asymmetricaâs name appears to be a reference to the Asymmetrical Wafare strategies developed after 11 September 2001, and now being exported to Venezuela.
As GuaidĂłâs UK representative, Neumannâs proximity to people connected to the CIA and US armed forces is likely to raise eyebrows. Indeed, in 2017, Neumann told then-CIA director Mike Pompeo that âregime change [in Venezuela] looks to be â we hope â imminent or spiralling downâ.
Curiously, Asymmetrica recently partnered with a California-based loan firm, offering loans to US-based businesses worth up to $5m. This seems to be quite a departure from typical âambassadorialâ duties, particularly given these loans are offered exclusively to US companies. Neumannâs latest venture also raises questions regarding the collection of funds for the Venezuelan opposition, which has long been an issue clouded by murky waters.
Asymmetrica did not respond to a request for comment. Nor did Neumann.
The existence of a secretive Venezuela Reconstruction Unit within the FCO, combined with the FCOâs private discussions with GuaidĂłâs UK representative, seems to demonstrate the extent to which the UK government is committed to the overthrow of the Venezuelan government.
These documents also suggest that âregime changeâ in Venezuela is following the typical procedure: the countries that contribute most during the destabilisation phase can expect to share the financial spoils in the âreconstructionâ phase.
This episode sits within a long line of UK support for right-wing forces in Latin America.
Featured image: Photo via screengrab/RTUK