When Everything Seemed Like It Could Not Get Any Worse, Mercenary Goudreau Shows Up

By Misión Verdad – Feb 10, 2025

Mercenary Jordan Goudreau, operational head of the failed Operation Gedeón attempted in 2020, staged a “give and take” on social media platforms against Léster Toledo, co-founder of the [far-right Venezuelan] “party” Voluntad Popular (VP). This occurred due to the accusations he made against the elite of the aforementioned political group.

Through his X account, the US mercenary accused Juan Guaidó, Leopoldo López, and Toledo of being involved in the irregular handling of funds from the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), which was denied by the former VP political leader from the state of Zulia.

Goudreau’s response to Toledo’s comments was to say that he has evidence of his accusations, that the “real investigation is just beginning,” and claimed to have recordings of conversations with Toledo and other VP politicians. Toledo called Goudreau “screwed” and said that he would probably face years in prison “precisely for making up crazy stuff.”

The former US Army officer suggested that Toledo is being protected by the US government, saying, “No one investigated you, Léster. Biden, CIA, and FBI protected you.” He added, “The reality is this Guaidó and his friend Leopoldo López went to IV League schools in the US using USAID. USAID is a CIA company. Guaidó used friend Léster Toledo’s company to launder $1.6 billion. The DOJ [Department of Justice] and the FBI know this. Guaidó and Leopoldo are protected.”

Gideon: Everyone is accusing each other, and everyone is right?
The controversial figure has revealed—or confirmed—some episodes of the “maximum pressure” campaign by the first Trump administration against Venezuela, but in particular, the fraudulent handling of US funds and Venezuelan assets by VP, among other actors of Venezuela’s extremist opposition.

Last July, Goudreau was arrested in New York on federal charges of arms smuggling. His lawyers claim in documents that, during the previous Trump administration, he had authority from the Executive Branch to organize and carry out the military incursion into Venezuela in 2020 with the objective of deposing President Nicolás Maduro. The former military man declared in 2020 that the FBI wanted to make him disappear to erase traces of his relationship with the Republican who now rules from the White House.

In recent days, Goudreau gave an interview to Colombian media La W Radio, where he revealed the disputes between Guaidó, López, and Toledo over US funding. He said that Operation Gideon failed because it had no military support and that “the main problem with the operation was that the VP leaders and the US agencies had different interests.”

He added that, at that time, Trump had very powerful enemies within the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) who prevented the operation so that he could not lift the “trophy” that Venezuela represented. He revealed tensions between Guaidó and former general Cliver Alcalá Cordones, as well as López’s appetite for seizing power.

On the other hand, Juvenal Sequea and Rayder Russo, former officials of the Bolivarian National Guard detained in Colombia last weekend, confirmed the participation of former Colombian president Iván Duque and members of his government in Operation Gideon. “In all the actions that we were carrying out in Riohacha, we were clear that the Colombian government was aware of everything that was happening… the police went through the places and spoke with them,” said Sequea, according to information from La W Radio.

Russo also confessed that, after a meeting with Duque, coordination began with the National Intelligence Directorate (DNI) of Colombia. He added that, days before the incursion, they already had relations with the army in the Guajira camp.

The reformatting of USAID: a reorganization of interference against Venezuela?
The plot described by Goudreau reveals part of the intricate metabolism of money, agencies, and US officials involved in the “revolving doors” of politics, special interest groups, and Washington business. It also exposes the high levels of subordination that Venezuelan extremist opposition actors have with foreign entities with which they have established lucrative business initiatives in the name of “human rights” and the “freedom of Venezuela.”

These accusations indicate a growing distance between the Venezuelan far-right leadership and the current Trump administration. It is noteworthy that, in his flurry of accusations, Goudreau implicates the tycoon president but admits that his intentions were sabotaged by internal disputes in the US bureaucracy.

These elements may be useful to the new US government, especially Secretary of State Marco Rubio, to move forward with the restructuring of USAID that is underway. By demonstrating the failures and corruption schemes within the agency, they would be able to whitewash its image and accelerate the organizational and narrative conditions to relaunch interventionist actions with greater efficiency.

This would not be a “crusade against corruption” but rather a more precise and less “distracting” approach to intervention and regime change. In addition, the internal dispute between US political factors involves reordering the flow of “humanitarian” funds because the model maintained so far has not stopped the decline of US influence in international geopolitics.

Uncertainty remains about the relationship between the current White House tenant and the Venezuelan opposition extremists, particularly Rubio, who sponsored them to an obsessive level.

Added to the already known culpability of the former leaders mentioned are those who supported the “Guaidó Plan,” such as María Corina Machado, Antonio Ledezma, and Julio Borges, among others. This is a new blow to credibility without distinctions.

Meanwhile, internal divisions within the opposition remain. While the extremist sector accuses other opponents of being “traitors” for recognizing the national government, they are accused of continuing to enrich themselves with funds from US taxpayers and Venezuelan assets illegally seized by the tycoon’s previous government. Is this an act of what is known in psychology as projection?

Venezuela Asks For Washington’s Cooperation in USAID Investigation

Goudreau’s revelations and those of former military officers work against former candidate Edmundo González’s aspiration to be promoted as alleged [Venezuelan] president by Trump, who, until now, has been cautious and has wavered in his support for anti-Chavismo supporters. In the face of so much discredit, he has avoided repeating his support for a “parallel” government in Venezuela.

For its part, the sector that supports Machado and González maintains its objective of forcing all opposition organizations to abstain from the upcoming electoral processes. Faced with this disastrous scenario, where corruption with USAID funds is added to the serious accusations of Goudreau, it is difficult to impose the line of abstentionism given that the labyrinth of accusations and counter-accusations deepens.

The image of Gideon’s resounding failure reappears in the worst political moment, deepening the decline in spirit and scepticism surrounding Machado and González’s “strategy” while accentuating the battle for the narrative between participating or abstaining in the electoral cycle of April. Goudreau’s comments significantly affect extremism and facilitate the game of moderates and electoralists, who continue accumulating narrative and media advantages to strike back, seeking to establish themselves as a superior option in the face of a deep moral crisis.

(Misión Verdad)

Translation: Orinoco Tribune

OT/JRE/SF