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Eugene

(61,592 posts)
Thu Jul 30, 2020, 01:54 AM Jul 2020

'Bay of Piglets': A 'bizarre' plot to capture a president

Source: BBC

'Bay of Piglets': A 'bizarre' plot to capture a president

By Linda Pressly
BBC News
29 July 2020

On Sunday 3 May, the government of Nicolas Maduro announced Venezuela's armed forces had repelled an armed incursion. Operation Gideon was a deeply flawed coup attempt. But what would compel exiled Venezuelans and former US Special Forces soldiers to join a plan that, from the outset, looked like a suicide mission?

It is a story that leaps straight out of a 20th Century playbook of Latin American conspiracies.

"It made the Bay of Pigs look like D-Day," quipped one commentator, referring to the failed US-financed invasion of Fidel Castro's Cuba in 1961. Operation Gideon is a staggering tale of hubris, incompetence and treachery. Eight men were killed by Venezuela's armed forces off the coastal town of Macuto. Dozens of others were captured and remain in jail in Caracas. Less than a handful escaped.

At the heart of the failed mission was a former US Special Forces soldier, Jordan Goudreau.

Medic, marksman, veteran of Afghanistan and Iraq and recipient of three Bronze Star medals, Goudreau was way out of his depth.

-snip-


Read more: https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-53557235


The Venezuelan military said it captured mercenaries after the failed coup (Getty Images)


A Silvercorp promotional video shows Goudreau in various security roles (Silvercorp)
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'Bay of Piglets': A 'bizarre' plot to capture a president (Original Post) Eugene Jul 2020 OP
Very entertaining. Corporate media ALWAYS forget the Venezuelan opposition has ALWAYS been financed Judi Lynn Jul 2020 #1
Organic grass roots... LessAspin Aug 2020 #3
Here's a similar operation staged all the way back in 2004, against Hugo Chavez, launched from Col.: Judi Lynn Jul 2020 #2
Trump's hotel was used for planning.. LessAspin Oct 2020 #4

Judi Lynn

(160,217 posts)
1. Very entertaining. Corporate media ALWAYS forget the Venezuelan opposition has ALWAYS been financed
Thu Jul 30, 2020, 04:42 AM
Jul 2020

very handsomely through various channels of the racist, extraterritorial-aspiring, non-democratic elements in the US government, Republicans. Always. Anyone can learn that for him/herself by reading.

Excerpt:

Within hours of the disastrous culmination of Operation Gideon, Venezuela's opposition claimed it was a "false-flag" operation - a propaganda exercise sponsored and controlled by Nicolas Maduro's government.

"That's really a joke," says Jorge Arreaza, Nicolas Maduro's minister of foreign affairs.

"That is a way for the opposition to evade their responsibilities. They have done so many things in the last 20 years - aggressions of all kinds, and they never take responsibility for what they do. They always say it was the regime, it was the dictatorship, it was the tyrant."

LessAspin

(1,148 posts)
3. Organic grass roots...
Mon Aug 24, 2020, 09:26 PM
Aug 2020

Finally got around to watching Jack Ryan. They made it clear that any opposition is of the organic grass-roots variety.

Judi Lynn

(160,217 posts)
2. Here's a similar operation staged all the way back in 2004, against Hugo Chavez, launched from Col.:
Thu Jul 30, 2020, 05:16 AM
Jul 2020

Colombian paramilitaries arrested in Venezuela
Jeremy Lennard and agencies
Published onMon 10 May 2004 07.20 EDT

Opposition leaders, however, were quick to dismiss the president's claim, calling the raids on a farm less than 10 miles from the capital a ruse to divert attention from their efforts to oust Mr Chávez in a recall vote.

During his weekly radio and TV broadcast, Hello Mr President, Mr Chávez said that 53 paramilitary fighters were arrested at the farm early on Sunday and another 24 were picked up after fleeing into the countryside.

The country's security forces were uncovering additional clues and searching for more suspects, he said, adding that the arrests were proof of a conspiracy against his government involving Cuban and Venezuelan exiles in Florida and neighbouring Colombia.

Mr Chávez also claimed the plot was backed by Venezuela's mostly pro-opposition news media and said that the raids had "eliminated the seed of a terrorist group".

"Now they are importing terrorists," Mr Chávez said of his opponents, adding that the farm - in the municipality of El Hatillo - was owned by Roberto Alonso, a Cuban exile with links to Venezuelan and Cuban exiles.

"There are people in the United States who keep thinking how to start a war in Venezuela so that they can justify an invasion," he said.

Mr Chávez has frequently claimed that Venezuela's opposition - including a number of military officers who briefly ousted him from power in a short-lived coup attempt in April 2002 - has conspired to overthrow his government with US backing. Washington denies any involvement.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/may/10/venezuela.jeremylennard

~ ~ ~

Three Venezuelan Officers and 27 Colombians Sentenced for Assassination Plot

A Venezuelan military court sentenced three Venezuelan military officers and 27 Colombians to two to nine years of prison for plotting an assault on Venezuela’s presidential palace and the assassination of President Hugo Chavez.Another 73 Colombians and 3 Venezuelan officers, who had also been suspected of participating in the plot, were freed after spending 17 months in prison.

118 Colombians were captured in May 2004 on a ranch just outside of Caracas, wearing Venezuelan military fatigues. Many of them appeared to be Colombian paramilitary fighters who had been recruited for a mission in Venezuela to attack the Chavez government and to kill the president. Six Venezuelan officers were also arrested in the course of the investigation.

Some of the Colombians were peasants who had been lured to come to Venezuela with the promise of jobs. Upon arriving, though, they were forced to engage in paramilitary training exercises and were forbidden to leave the ranch. 18 of the Colombians were released immediately after the capture and returned to Colombia because they were minors between 15 and 17 years. The ranch belongs to Roberto Alonso, a prominent Cuban-Venezuelan opposition activist. The highest level officer to be sentenced was General Ovidio Poggioli, who had been charged with military rebellion and was sentenced to 2 years and ten months of prison. The other two Venezuelan officers are Colonel Jesús Farias Rodríguez and Captain Rafael Farias Villasmil, who were each sentenced to nine years of prison. The 27 Colombians were each sentenced to six years prison.
When the group of Colombians were first arrested, many opposition leaders argued that the government had staged the arrests, in order to make the opposition look bad. They pointed out that no weapons were found with the paramilitary fighters and that the whole operation looked far too amateurish to have any chance of success. Also, it was argued that it is practically impossible to transport 120 Colombian paramilitary fighters undetected all the way from Colombia to Caracas, considering that there are numerous military control points along the way.

More:
http://www.voltairenet.org/article130297.html







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