Venezuela arrests 3 more mercenaries, seizes attack boats after failed coup
Venezuelan authorities said they busted three more
mercenaries and seized three Colombian attack boats tied to a botched attempt
to oust President Nicolas Maduro last week.
The capture of the mercenaries — including a former
Venezuelan army sergeant and a Bolivian national guardsman — brings the number of combatants taken into custody
to 34, among them two ex-US Special Forces members who were leading the failed
attempt to kidnap the Venezuelan strongman.
The report comes just days after American mercenaries Luke
Denman and Airan Berry appeared on Venezuelan television admitting their role
in the wild May 3 attack, which authorities said was orchestrated by
controversial ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau and Gen. Cliver Alcala, a
Venezuelan army defector.
Goudreau reportedly helped set up the raid to cash in on a
$15 million US bounty for Maduro’s capture.
Alcala was jailed on drug charges in the US prior to the
attempted attack, and Goudreau remained in Florida, where he runs a private
security company, SilverCorp, that helped secure weapons for the raid.
The doomed attack, led by two boatloads of combatants, was
quickly thwarted, with eight mercenaries killed and the others — including
Denman and Berry — taken into custody.
On Saturday, Venezuelan authorities said three more boats,
described as Colombian light combat vessels filled with arms, were found
floating and empty by a patrol on the Orinoco River,
In a statement, the Venezuelan Defense Ministry said the
boats and the newly captured mercenaries were found during stepped-up patrols
in the wake of the failed assault.
Maduro has blamed the US, the Colombian government, and
Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido with backing the raid.
President Trump has denied any US involvement.
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