Information surrounding last week’s failed incursion into Venezuela continues to emerge with the release of documents related to the planning stages in 2019, and the revelation that Silvercorp USA was courting “investors” in the takeover of Venezuela at the time.
The documents implied Silvercorp USA had ties to the Trump Administration, and sought to raise $750 million to execute the takeover of Venezuela on behalf of opposition leader Juan Guaido, noting that Trump had already endorsed Guaido’s takeover of the country.
Once they succeeded, the plan was to take control of Venezuela’s oilfields and would turn a profit from the sale of oil after the coup. One of the investors solicited said Silvercorp USA leader Jordan Goudreau claimed the scheme had State Department backing.
While the budget calls for funding and equipment for hundreds of people and a 30-day operation, Venezuela foiled the incursion in a matter of hours, capturing what was only a few dozen plotters. The American plotters captured suggested the plan was to kidnap President Maduro, conquer the Caracas airport, and spirit him to the US to collect the bounty on him. It doesn’t appear they were close to accomplishing any of this.
The Trump Administration denied any knowledge of or involvement with the plot. Though there is as yet no definitive proof of administration ties, Silvercorp was certainly selling this fiasco as though it was an official operation.
… Well that was covert… Weren’t these guys supposed to be ex-special forces?
Guess there’s a reason why they’re ex.
you could say they botched this up royally. however, there are many groups wiling and more able to pull this off versus an extremely weakly defended country like venezuela. all they have is a few militia groups roaming around with no leadership whatsoever.
Ya, I could walk over and beat up the neighbor kids too. Course it just shows what an ass***e I would be, and, it’s against the law.
we do no adhere to international laws or court. we enforce them but do not have to abide by them.
Venezuela is not ‘weakly defended’ or the official U.S. forces would have gone in.
Any number of illicit armed groups, even criminal drug gangs, operate with more panache than Silvercorp and haven’t gone after Maduro.
Of course, he probably pays many of local ones off in excess of a $15 mil one-time payday.
“Silvercorp was certainly selling this fiasco as though it was an official operation”
Er, no.
“Official operations” don’t need investors.
Silvercorp was selling it as an unofficial operation that was unofficially smiled upon by the right people.
And that’s probably true, else the plotters and the executors would have been arrested before the actual attempt was made.
Or both public and private. Was Blackwater public ? or private ? There appears a coincidence of the recent deployment of US Navy assets to Venezuela, and the botched raid.
What is rarely mentioned is that by taking Venezuelan oil off the market US helps boost the oil price on behalf of the fracking industry. So it is unlikely that this attempted “coup” would have the backing of the government.
It’s not that the US fracking industry wants Venezuelan oil off the market. It’s that the US fracking industry wants that cheap, dirty Venezuelan crude for itself so that it can be mixed with clean, expensive fracking oil at US refineries.
Well good for Venezuela, and, may other foreign govts continue to have the same success. Lord knows we need to waste those resources here in the US instead of on yet another foreign misadventure which enriches the MIC…
They may have kept Trump ignorant of the details so he could truthfully claim “plausible deniability,” but his support for such a thing is well known, and for sure folks somewhere in the administration were helping to pull the strings. This has CIA written all over it.
And we are supposed to be surprised that private corporates have a hand in overthrowing foreign governments?
Foreign policy of US always has financial interest of one industry or many, the root cause of Afghan invasion began with Corporate/ private Texas Oil interest, and remember Chenys meeting between Gov and all US major oil firms before Irqq invasion, the text of which is still top secret to this day.
Somali, of Blackhawk down fame, began with a plot by BP and Canadian partners, along with smaller US firms attempt to assassinate all of Somalias war lords by using US military.
Called to meeting by oil firms supposedly to discuss oil contracts, all but one warlord attended, and all others were assassinated by US Blackhawk choppers.
The one who escaped led the forces that made a popular propaganda film, Blackhawk Down, that was in truth a US/ Private Corporate financial failure,
Each war Lord was met by private contractors of oil firms.
Regans invasion Into Latin America in contravention of Congress law was initially sponsored by private investors, each promise huge returns, from diverse peoples from Formosa, Phillipines, a couple US Admirals, English Royalty, Chile, that is sponsorship.
Lobby groups campaign contributions are “sponsorship”, and those groups are led and made up of extremely wealthy ” individuals”.
Almost every NGO in world is acting under sponsorship of Government/ private Corporate/ Financial interest.
Africa and Central- South American overthrow has initially been initiated by individuals who caught interest of “investors i.e. sponsors.
The so called miners equipment import into a small African nation turned out to be a mercs idea for an overthrow that caught some British Royals sponsorship.
Hell Trump just stole all of Venezuelan Gold Deposits, its oil refineries, and delivery systems to gas stations, In actions initiated by private contractors with Venezuelan Oligarchs on multiple industrial agricultural interest.
Under US treasury Syrian, Iraq, oil is classified as US Assets.
Come down to real nitty gritty of sponsorship by individuals, every US citizen is sponsoring worlds largest individual and Financial Robber Barons and the deaths caused by them.
Did Pompeo and Trump sell the stock once information was coming to the CIA that it was a failure ?
… Silvercorop wouldn’t be worth buying let alone shorting…
I never want to hear again any more complaints about “foreign meddling” in America’s “sacred” democracy.
Only $750 million to “knock over” Venezuela – sounds like a bargain – our own official Defense Department gets $750 billion a year to do it and can’t seem to do it. Never understood why conservatives who worship free enterprise, won’t entertain private undertakings that challenge their own private “rice bowl”.
It occurs to me that the last thing that Trump wants is a lot of Venezuelan oil appearing on the market but is he aware of it?