CARACAS/WASHINGTON: Venezuelan President Nicols Maduro said authorities arrested two US citizens among a group of mercenaries on Monday, a day after a beach raid purportedly aimed at capturing the socialist leader that authorities say they foiled.

Maduro held up a pair of blue US passports, reading off the names and birth dates on them in a nationwide broadcast on state television. He showed images of the fishing boats the alleged attackers rode in on and equipment like walkie-talkies and night-vision glasses collected in what Maduro called an intense couple of days.

The two US citizens arrested were identified as Luke Denman and Airan Berry, both former US special forces soldiers.

He blamed the attacks on the Trump administration and neighbouring Colombia, both of which have denied involvement.

The United States government is fully and completely involved in this defeated raid,” Maduro said, praising members of a fishing village for cornering one group in the sweep netting the professional American mercenaries.

Florida-based ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau said that he was working with the two men in a mission intending to detain Maduro and liberate Venezuela. Goudreau has claimed responsibility for the operation.

The two served in Iraq and Afghanistan with him in the US military, Goudreau said, adding that they were part of this alleged mission in Venezuela called Operation Gideon. The aim was to capture Maduro.

Trump denies US role

President Donald Trump on Tuesday denied any involvement by the US government in what Venezuelan officials have called a failed armed incursion in the South American country that led to the capture of two American “mercenaries.” Trump made the comment to reporters at the White House after socialist Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said authorities there had detained two US citizens working with a US military veteran who has claimed responsibility for the foiled operation.

“We’ll find out. We just heard about it,” Trump said when asked about the incident and the Americans’ arrests. “But it has nothing to do with our government.” The State Department did not provide any immediate comment on the arrests. US officials had strongly denied any US government role in the incursions.

Washington has waged a campaign of tough economic sanctions and diplomatic measures against Venezuela in an effort to oust Maduro, accusing him of having rigged elections in 2018.

But while Trump has repeatedly said all options are on the table, his administration has shown no apparent interest in military action as it pursues what it calls a “maximum pressure” strategy against Maduro.

Maduro’s government, however, says the United States wants to control the OPEC member nation’s massive oil reserves.

Published in Dawn, May 6th, 2020