Jordan Goodrow, The former US Special Forces soldier who failed to lead a rogue uprising in Venezuela in 2020 will face federal charges in what became known as the “Bay of Pigs.”
rolling stone Goudreau was indicted in an unsealed indictment filed July 16, charging him and his co-defendant, a Venezuelan living in Colombia named Yaxi Alvarez Mirabal, with conspiracy, trafficking, violating gun laws and illegal possession of a machine gun, among other charges. Authorities arrested Goudreau Tuesday morning and released him from the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn on $2 million bail, which his girlfriend posted through a property he owns.
“Godreau, Alvarez and others conspired to export AR-type firearms, night vision devices, laser sights and other equipment from the United States to Colombia, without obtaining the required export licenses, to carry out an armed incursion into Venezuela to remove [Venezuelan President] “The Venezuelan conspiracy against Nicolás Maduro Moros from power,” reads the opening of the conspiracy section of the indictment.
Goudreau's attorney did not immediately respond. rolling stones Request for comment. A representative for the U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment beyond what was already in the public case file. “She will plead not guilty to these charges this afternoon, and so far, under our system, they are nothing more than allegations,” Alvarez’s attorney told The Associated Press.
rolling stone In a 2020 article, Goudreau and other former Special Forces operatives detailed the alleged incursion, explaining how they planned to load boats with guns, ammunition, and about 50 Venezuelan fighters with the goal of removing Maduro. The mission, Operation Gideon, was a failure. Goudreau later claimed it was carried out with then-President Trump’s knowledge. “Look, I’m responsible for everything I do or fail to do,” Goudreau said in the article. “I’m not, ‘Oh, it wasn’t me. That’s not me, man. I messed up. I take responsibility. It’s on me.’ But at the same time, there are reasons behind it.”
In the indictment, the government alleges that Goudreau and Alvarez operated their conspiracy between November 2019 and March 2020, during which time they planned to export the aforementioned “defense items” from the United States to Colombia. Federal authorities allege that Goudreau texted the equipment distributors on November 7, 2019, “Here’s the list bro,” detailing AR-style rifles, ballistic helmets, and other warfare equipment. Goudreau also allegedly wrote texts about “where to pick up ammo” and things like, “We definitely need our guns.” The indictment alleges that Colombian authorities recovered 24 AR-style semi-automatic rifles from the defendants on March 23, 2020.
Goudreau spent 15 years in the Army, earning three gold stars and the rank of sergeant first class while serving in Afghanistan and Iraq. The soldier claimed responsibility for the 2020 invasion of Venezuela, saying he had trained fighters in Colombia. He said his goal was “self-defense.” rolling stoneThe goal of this operation was to liberate the Venezuelan people and install Juan Guaido as president. In the end, the Venezuelans installed a spy and the operation collapsed.
“If we had succeeded, do you really think the Guaidó administration would have said, ‘This is not us, we don’t want to have anything to do with this?’” Goudreau said. rolling stone“Do you think Donald Trump would have said, ‘It wasn’t us?’ Everybody I talked to would have said, ‘It was us! The United States of America, baby!’ He would have taken credit for all of this. And if you say that’s not true, you’re very naive.”
The accusations coincide with Maduro's supposed re-election. But reports indicate that the United States does not recognize his victory, and insists on seeing the election results. Maduro's opponent, Edmundo Gonzalez, claims that he won by a margin of two to one.
Cliver Alcala, an associate of Operation Gideon who was a former general in the Venezuelan army, was sentenced in Manhattan to more than two decades in prison for providing weapons to the rebels, according to the Associated Press.
