Collage showing US mercenary Jordan Goudreau and the weapons seized from the Operation Gideon coup perpetrators in Venezuela in May 2020. Photo: AP.
A US federal judge ordered the release of Jordan Goudreau who had participated in Operation Gideon, a 2020 coup plot to overthrow the government of Venezuela. Goudreau was arrested in New York in July this year on federal gun smuggling charges.
Judge Virginia Hernández Covington rejected arguments that Goudreau could flee while awaiting trial.
“If I were in his place, I would have been out of dodge long before an indictment,” said Judge Hernández while ordering Goudreau’s release from prison pending the scheduled start of his trial next month.
If convicted on gun smuggling charges, Goudreau faces 10 to 20 years in prison.
As a condition for his release, Goudreau, who has no residence or assets of his own other than a sailboat docked in Tampa, Florida, will have to wear an ankle bracelet while he remains out of prison. He will also remain under house arrest in the north Florida home of a former US Special Forces colleague.
Goudreau, a retired US Army Green Beret, organized and armed a terrorist cell that attempted to invade Venezuela from Colombia in May 2020 as part of Operation Gideon, a coup attempt with the aim of assassinating the president of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, and other high-level officials of the Venezuelan government. The coup plot was supervised by Juan Guaidó, who is currently in the US and is wanted by the Venezuelan judiciary.
Attorney General of Venezuela: Detained US Citizen Entered the Country Without Documents
The US case against Goudreau
A federal indictment issued in Tampa, Florida, charges Goudreau and a Venezuelan woman, Yacsy Álvarez, with violating US gun control laws for assembling and shipping weapons, ammunition, silencers, night vision goggles and other military equipment requiring a special export license to Colombia.
Goudreau was also charged with conspiracy, smuggling US-made goods, illegal possession of a machine gun, and 14 other charges.
Goudreau appeared in federal court following his arrest in Manhattan, but it was unclear whether he would be released from custody pending trial. He was held at a federal detention center in Brooklyn, New York.
In their 22-page indictment, prosecutors documented the arms smuggling scheme, citing text messages between the defendants about their effort to buy military equipment and send them to Colombia, and tracing a web of money transfers, chartered flights and bulk purchases.
A November 2019 message from Goudreau to an equipment distributor read, “Here is the list bro.” The list included AR-15 rifles, night vision devices and ballistic helmets, according to the indictment.
In Miami, Goudreau purchased various components to assemble about 60 AR-15-style firearms. Prosecutors revealed that in February 2020 he spent $90,000 to buy a used yacht, several cans of ammunition, armor plates, and magazines for AR-15 rifles.
A month later, Colombian police at a checkpoint near the Caribbean city of Santa Marta found the equipment stored in the back of a car rented by Álvarez.
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/SC/DZ
