LAWYERS FOR A FORMER Venezuelan military officer, who tried to topple President Nicolás Maduro in 2020 with the help of American former soldiers, have claimed that senior officials in the United States Central Intelligence Agency were aware of his activities “at the highest levels”.
The court case centers on Major General
Clíver Alcalá Cordones, a retired member of Venezuela’s Bolivarian Army,
who is being tried in a Manhattan court. Alcalá is accused of being a
member of a drug smuggling ring that worked closely with Colombian
terrorist organizations to smuggle over 250 metric tons of cocaine to
the US.
Prior to his arrest for drug trafficking,
Alcalá had been living in Colombia since at least 2019, from where he
allegedly masterminded the so-called “enfrentamiento en El Junquito”
(“El Junquito raid”), or “Operación GEDEÓN”. GEDEÓN refers to a failed coup plot
against Maduro, which was carried out on May 3 and 4 by a group of up
to 60 armed men. It is alleged that the coup was launched from Colombia
with the support of Silvercorp USA, a private security group led by
Jordan Goudreau, a Canadian-born former sergeant in the US Green Berets.
At least six coup plotters, who participated in the first phase of the
operation, are believed to have been killed by the Venezuela military.
Many more were arrested before being able to reach a network of safe
houses that had allegedly been set up their supporters inside Venezuela.
At least two of the arrestees, Airan Berry and Luke Denman, are
American citizens and former soldiers.
On January 28, the Associated Press reported
that lawyers for Alcalá have filed a letter that claims his “efforts to
overthrow the Maduro regime have been well known to the United States
government”. This is because these activities were “reported to the
highest levels of the Central Intelligence Agency, National Security
Council, and the Department of the Treasury”, according to Alcalá’s
lawyers. The letter provides no details about which officials in the US
government allegedly knew about Alcalá’s activities. In an accompanying
document, however, the lawyers for the accused are seeking “documents
and information” containing relevant communications between a number of
US officials, including former Attorney General William Barr, former
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, senior White House officials, as well as
the CIA station in Colombia.
According to the news agency, Alcalá’s
lawyers hope that, by providing proof that the US government knew about
their client’s paramilitary activities, his argument that he was not
operating illegally will be bolstered. More broadly, however, the
accusation raises fresh questions about what the administration of US
President Donald Trump knew about the coup plot in Venezuela, which
involved several American citizens. The government of the United States
has consistently rejected allegations by the Venezuelan government that
the coup was planned with American assistance or knowledge. The
Associated Press said it contacted the CIA for comment, but received no
response.
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