Fishermen Against Green Berets: Venezuela Under Seige
Written By: P. O’Neill
Only days ago, while the rest of the world is still reeling from the effects of Covid-19, another more insidious virus attempted to disrupt the lives of citizens in a far-off land. It is the same virus that ejected Bolivian president Evo Morales from power only months ago and led to the death of Salvador Allende some 46 years ago in Chile. This seemingly unrelenting virus is none other than US Imperialism in Latin America. Under the cover of Covid-19 it has once again reared its ugly head.
“the alleged orchestrator being Jordan Goudreau, a former US Green Beret under investigation for arms trafficking”
On the 4th of May, a coup was attempted against the democratically elected government of Venezuela. The coup, dubbed “Operation Gideon” by a number of those involved, was a failure in achieving all of its aims. The coup attempt was led by a number of US mercenaries, with the alleged orchestrator being Jordan Goudreau, a former US Green Beret currently under investigation for arms trafficking. Goudreau is also the owner of Silvercorp USA, the private security firm that is believed to be involved in the attack. Other complicit mercenaries include another former Green Beret, Luke Denman, who, according to Latin American news outlet Telesur has admitted to Venezuelan authorities he “was expecting anywhere between US$50,000 to US$100,000” in an effort to arrest President Nicolás Maduro and bring him to the United States to receive trial in what we can only imagine would be a kangaroo court. This is considering not only the likely involvement of the government of the United States, but their failure to recognise Maduro as President, and the actions of a government entity, the DEA earlier this year in placing a 15 million USD bounty on his head. President Maduro has made an official statement that those involved in the coup have confessed to their crimes but will nonetheless be tried fairly and in due process. Maduro also went on to state that “The United States is fully and completely involved in this defeated raid.”, giving credence to widespread belief that the attack was more than just a number of Afghanistan War veterans and a small posse of Venezuelan defectors.
“Operation Gideon was halted by civilian fishermen, one element of Venezuela’s working class”
This attack is far from the first against Venezuela and the “Bolivarian revolution”. In the last few years, Maduro has survived drone attacks and multiple other attempted coups. It was only last year that the United States backed Juan Guaidó as a supposed “acting President of Venezuela”, calling Maduro’s victory in the 2018 election “rigged”, without any solid evidence to back this up. Guaidó is still recognised as the President by the government of the United States, being invited to a state of the union addresses by US President Donald Trump in February of this year. One of the most interesting notes regarding the nature of coups against Maduro is the propaganda claim that the Venezuelan people supposedly do not want Maduro. The story goes that they do not see him as their legitimate leader and that he holds popularity only in rigged elections. Following this line of thought you would expect brave US soldiers and returning countrymen who want to topple this despotic regime to be welcomed as heroes by the average Venezuelan. Of course, reality has a way of disproving imperialist propaganda. “Operation Gideon” was halted by civilian fishermen, one element of Venezuela’s working class. The Venezuelan people are armed and ready to protect their nation from foreign interference, and there is no greater evidence of this than the time a group of Venezuelan fishermen ended a US coup before it even had a chance to begin.
“This was not the first, nor will it be the last, US coup carried out against a sovereign nation that dares to forge its own path outside the control of the imperialist countries”
Like Guatemala’s Arbenz, Chile’s Allende and Bolivia’s Morales before him, many of President Maduro’s problems arise from the fact that the “Bolivarian Revolution” was not a complete revolution. Neither he nor his predecessor were able to secure state power from the capitalist ruling class or set out to do that. That noted, this was not the first, nor will it be the last, US coup carried out against a sovereign nation that dares to forge its own path outside the control of the imperialist countries. Venezuela’s working people stand ready to defend their revolution and its gains from any interference. Let the utter failure of this most recent coup stand as an example of the bankruptcy of US anti-Venezuelan propaganda, and the strength of working people standing united.