A former U.S. special force soldier arrested in Venezuela was paraded on Venezuelan TV Wednesday as he ‘admitted to a plot to capture President Nicolas Maduro’.
Luke Denman, 34, was arrested Monday alongside fellow American Airan Berry, 41, six Venezuelan mercenaries as part of the foiled coup that he said was commanded by President Donald Trump through an ex-Green Beret named Jordan Goudreau, 43.
‘The only instructions I received from Jordan were that I should make sure to take control of the airport for safe passage transfer of Maduro and receiving airplanes,’ Denman said.
‘Take Maduro back to the United States’.
In the broadcast, Denman also holds up a document that he says is his contract with Goudreau’s company Silvercorp outlining his job for the mission. He states that it is signed by Goudreau, Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó as well as his advisor Juan Rendón.
It came after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo ridiculed the idea of official government involvement Wednesday, saying: ‘There was no U.S. government direct involvement in this operation.
‘(If) we’d have been involved, it would have gone differently.’
Asked who may have bankrolled the operation, Pompeo said: ‘We’re not prepared to share any more information about what we know took place.’
Luke Denman (left) and Airan Berry (right): Two arrested US ‘mercenaries playing Rambo’ are paraded after failed attempt ‘to kill’ Venezuela’s Maduro in a failed raid, the president claimed
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro showing the passports of the two U.S. citizens arrested Monday – Airan Berry and Luke Denman – during a press conference on Wednesday. A video of Denman was also played in which the American said that the coup was organized by ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau but that President Trump was Goudrea’s commander
In the video broadcast to Venezuelan state TV, the American citizen identifies himself as Luke Alexander Denman from Austin, Texas.
He said that he entered the U.S. Army in 2006 and served for five years. He claims to have met Goudreau for the first time in Germany in 2009 or 2010.
Goudreau has previously said that Denman served in Iraq and Afghanistan with him.
Denman adds that he was first approached by Goudreau about the plot in early December but was given very few details.
‘I believed that it was helping their cause,’ said of his involvement.
‘I was helping Venezuelans take back control of their country.’
He flew into Columbia on January 16 with Goudreau and Airan Berry, 41, who was also arrested Monday. The former soldier said in the video that the plan was to meet with Venezuelans and train them in Colombia.
U.S. President Donald Trump and Juan Guaido, who swore himself in as the leader of Venezuela, right, stand for photographers outside the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on February 5. Guaido was a surprise White House guest at Trump’s State of the Union speech
Luke Denman (right) and Airan Berry (left), both former U.S. special forces soldiers, were identified by Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro during a press conference
The group of ‘mercenaries’ were taken from the fishing boat at gunpoint and forced to lie on the ground during the arrest. The American men are seen here with six Venezuelans during the arrest
While Goudreau has claimed a force of 300 was assembled, Denman says it was much smaller: ‘There was three small groups. In total it was 60 so 20 people per group.’
After training, the Americans would then travel to Venezuela, he claimed, where they would work to secure Caracas and an airport. He said he expected between $50,000 and $100,000 for the job.
Denman claimed to have no information on any other training camps and he said that just he and Berry had been contracted by Goudreau’s company Silvercorp.
At the end of the edited video, Denman presents a document which he says is a contract detailing his ‘mercenary work’ with Silvercorp that is signed by Guaidó, Goudreau and Rendón.
President Maduro also presented the alleged contract as the press conference continued. The document desribes a $212.9million fee for the mission.
Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro holds a document during a virtual news conference in Caracas
President Maduro held up a document he claimed was a signed contract between Gourdrea and his opposition
The contract the Maduro claims was signed as part of a failed attempt at a $212.9million coup by his opposition
Goudreau, 43, has claimed responsibility for the attack but the U.S. government has denied all involvement. Goudreau claims to have built a force of 300 men, reportedly backed by US billionaires, to carry out the mission to capture Maduro and bring him to the United States.
Maduro has compared the failed attempt at his capture to the Bay of Pigs, the infamous 1961 failed landing of Cuban exiles who opposed Fidel Castro that was supported by the United States.
The president on Tuesday called the arrested men ‘terrorist mercenaries’ and blamed the attacks on the Trump administration, Venezuela’s opposition leader Juan Guaidó and neighboring Colombia, all of which have denied involvement. The U.S. has backed Guaidó as the country’s leader.
He repeated his attacks on Wednesday, claiming that Goudreau was linked to President Trump, claiming the ex-Green Beret provided Donald Trump with bodyguard and protection service on many occasions.
‘I believe that the facts speak for themselves. Top tier testimonials have emerged that speak to the involvement of this ex-Green Beret, Jordan Goudreau, president and owner of Florida-based security firm Silver Corp,’ Maduro said.
Former Green Beret Jordan Goudreau (pictured center) has claimed responsibility for a failed operation to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro in a plan named ‘Operation Gedeón’.
‘Jordan Goudreau was the one who contacted the State Department of the United States of North America to be the head of security for the show that they staged on the Cucutá border on February 22, 2019 with a famous billionaire Richard Branson, a multimillionaire [whose business has been] broken by the coronavirus.’
The ‘Live Aid for Venezuela’ concert was reported by Associated Press as the event that spurred Goudreau to form a plot to overthrown Maduro.
Maduro added further accusations about the coup, asking what the consequences would be if roles were reversed.
‘They will be judged with all of their rights. These Americans have found another Venezuela they didn’t expect,’ he said.
‘I would ask if a group of Venezuelans prepared an incursion against the United States in a city, in Miami, in New York, in Washington, and they were downright captured, what would happen to those Venezuelans? What punishment would they received? Would they capture them alive? Would they forgive them?’
He later added that Venezuela would approach the United Nations and the International court about the attempted attack.
‘We are going to the International Criminal Court,’ Maduro said.
‘We are going to the UN Security Council. I have given direct instructions to the ambassador, Professor Samuel Moncada, who is in New York, who is listening to us … so that we can prepare a substantial complaint before the United Nations Security Council. … What Venezuela wants is peace.
‘The affairs of Venezuelans are our affairs, our problems, and we with our own capacities, our own methods and models, only we must solve our problem.’