{"id":161135,"date":"2020-05-18T12:00:52","date_gmt":"2020-05-18T11:00:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=161135"},"modified":"2020-05-18T05:55:56","modified_gmt":"2020-05-18T04:55:56","slug":"corporate-media-dont-think-americans-paid-to-invade-venezuela-count-as-mercenaries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2020\/05\/corporate-media-dont-think-americans-paid-to-invade-venezuela-count-as-mercenaries\/","title":{"rendered":"Corporate Media Don\u2019t Think Americans Paid to Invade Venezuela Count as Mercenaries"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Photo from Telesur (via People\u2019s Dispatch, 5\/6\/20) of captured mercenaries in Venezuela.<\/p><\/div>\n

11 May 2020 – <\/em>When an attempted invasion of Venezuela launched from the shores of Colombia was foiled on May 3, after armed commandos were intercepted at Venezuela\u2019s coastline of La Guira, it seemed undeniable that the heavily armed men, possessing satellite phones and uniforms with the US flag emblazoned on them, had been paid to take part in a coup attempt to overthrow the Venezuelan government (People\u2019s Dispatch<\/b>, 5\/6\/20<\/a>).<\/p>\n

In recent reports regarding the Bay of Pigs\u2013style<\/a> invasion, however, the term \u201cmercenary\u201d was accompanied by scare quotes, as if these men could only be seen that way from the perspective of an Official US EnemyTM<\/sup> (whose perspective is always illegitimate in the eyes of corporate media).<\/p>\n

\n

\"Hill:<\/p>\n

The Hill <\/strong>(5\/5\/20<\/a>) is not sure whether an armed force invading Venezuela, led by the head of the \u201cFlorida-based security company called Silvercorp USA,\u201d can be described as \u201cmercenaries.\u201d <\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Fox News<\/b>\u2019 \u201cVenezuela\u2019s Maduro Says Two US \u2018Mercenaries\u2019 Were Captured in Failed Raid Attempt\u201d (5\/5\/20<\/a>) described Maduro as the \u201cembattled leader of Venezuela,\u201d who said that authorities in Caracas had \u201ccaptured 13 \u2018terrorists\u2019\u2014including two US citizens\u2014in a failed invasion attempt that he said was no doubt orchestrated by the Trump administration.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Hill<\/b>\u2019s \u201cVenezuela Says Two US \u2018Mercenaries\u2019 Captured in Raid\u201d (5\/5\/20<\/a>) reported that \u201cVenezuelan President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro on Monday said that two US citizens have been detained as part of a group of \u2018mercenaries\u2019 authorities captured in a raid,\u201d and added that<\/p>\n

Maduro said during a state television address that 13 \u201cterrorists\u201d were arrested by Venezuelan authorities for allegedly being involved in a plot Maduro claimed was coordinated with Washington to oust him from power.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The New York Times<\/b>\u2019 report (5\/5\/20<\/a>) actually mentioned that the two Americans captured, Airan Berry and Luke Denman\u2014who had their names and birthdays, from their ID cards and passports, recited aloud in a state address\u2014were employed by \u201cSilvercorp, a Florida-based security company whose owner has claimed responsibility for the failed incursion on Sunday<\/a>,\u201d which appears to confirm the Venezuelan government\u2019s account. The Times <\/b>cited a video posted on social media by Silvercorp owner Jordan Goudreau, a retired Green Beret, and retired Venezuelan army captain Javier Nieto, claiming that \u201cOperation Gideon\u201d had been \u201csuccessfully launched \u2018deep into the heart of Caracas.\u2019 They added that other armed cells had been activated throughout the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"AP:<\/p>\n

AP<\/strong> (5\/5\/20<\/a>) described the American who led the attempt to overthrow Venezuela\u2019s government as \u201ca three-time Bronze Star US combat veteran,\u201d whereas President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro describing the foiling of the effort was \u201cself-aggrandizing.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Before the coup attempt, the Associated Press<\/b> (5\/1\/20<\/a>) published a report describing these men as \u201caspiring freedom fighters,\u201d scolding the soldiers-for-hire for \u201cskimpy planning\u201d and \u201cpoor training,\u201d leaving them unprepared to execute their regime change schemes. The article seemed to take more issue with the fact that it was an unrealistic and poorly planned effort, rather than the fact that trying to overthrow democratically elected governments in Latin America is immoral and illegal.<\/p>\n

Subsequent articles (New York<\/b>, 5\/5\/20<\/a>, 5\/5\/20<\/a>; Vice<\/b>, 5\/6\/20<\/a>) mocked the botched coup plotters for announcing their plans via Twitter<\/b>. Perhaps US journalists should be more focused on condemning and investigating these coup attempts, rather than giving advice on how to pull one off better?<\/p>\n

The AP<\/b>\u2019s later report (5\/5\/20<\/a>) on the failed invasion, \u201cVenezuela: Two US \u2018Mercenaries\u2019 Among Those Nabbed After Raid,\u201d which described how Venezuelan authorities \u201carrested two US citizens among a group of \u2018mercenaries\u2019 on Monday,\u201d went on to omit the role of US\u2019s genocidal sanctions<\/a> devastating Venezuela\u2019s economy by pinning the blame on Maduro, absurdly painting him as an all-powerful dictator, despite the opposition controlling the Venezuelan legislature (Venezuelanalysis<\/b>, 1\/16\/20<\/a>):<\/p>\n

Venezuela has been in a deepening political and economic crisis under Maduro\u2019s rule. Crumbling public services such as running water, electricity and medical care have driven nearly 5 million to migrate. But Maduro still controls all levers of power despite a US-led campaign to oust him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Wall Street Journal<\/b>\u2019s report (5\/6\/20<\/a>) not only put terms like \u201cmercenary incursion\u201d in scare quotes, but also lionized these mercenaries by portraying them as unlikely heroes, out to \u201carrest Venezuela\u2019s authoritarian government and free political prisoners.\u201d Whereas BBC<\/b>\u2019s headline \u201cVenezuela Detains Two US Citizens Over Speedboat Incursion\u201d (5\/5\/20<\/a>) seemed better suited to describing rich bros wandering into the wrong area, rather than soldiers of fortune caught trying to overthrow a government.<\/p>\n

The Washington Post <\/b>(5\/4\/20<\/a>) reported that Maduro claimed that his government \u201chad captured two American \u2018mercenaries\u2019 Monday in a murky operation allegedly intended to infiltrate Venezuela, incite rebellion and apprehend its leaders.\u201d But even as it cast doubt on the idea that a mercenary force had tried to overthrow Venezuela\u2019s government, the Post <\/b>seemingly tried to justify such a coup effort by reiterating bogus and hypocritical US accusations against Maduro for being involved with narcoterrorism. The Post<\/b> inserted\u2014without any critical scrutiny\u2014that \u201cUS officials\u201d have \u201cindicted Maduro on narcoterrorism charges, offered a $15 million bounty for information leading to his capture or conviction, and imposed severe sanctions on his government.\u201d<\/p>\n

FAIR (4\/15\/20<\/a>) has documented how the US has long been involved in a War for<\/i> Drugs and a War of <\/i>Terror, and how corporate media covered for the US government\u2019s threats against Venezuela by laundering numerous evidence-free drug allegations against Official US Enemies (Extra!<\/b>, 1\/90<\/a>, 9\/12<\/a>; FAIR.org<\/b>,\u00a0 9\/24\/19<\/a>, 5\/24\/19<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The Grayzone<\/b> (8\/6\/19<\/a>, 3\/27\/20<\/a>) reported how Maduro has survived previous assassination attempts, and documented US-backed opposition figurehead Juan Guaid\u00f3\u2019s ties to the infamous Los Rastrojos drug cartel<\/a>. The news site noted that only 7% of total drug movement in South America comes through Venezuela, with the US being the biggest consumer of cocaine, while US-allied Colombia is the biggest producer.<\/p>\n

Pino Arlacchi<\/a>, former executive director of the UN\u2019s Office for Drug Control and Prevention, claimed that he never came across evidence of Venezuela\u2019s involvement in the drug trade, and observed that Colombia and the US have driven drug production and consumption in his 40 years of anti-narcotic work. Honduras\u2019 US-backed President Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez<\/a> has been linked to drug trafficking<\/a> in US courts and brought about a resurgence of death squads<\/a>, yet the US has put no Mafia-style bounty on his head.<\/p>\n

That the US government and corporate media recite these dubious talking points suggest they\u2019re more interested in sabotaging the Bolivarian Revolution and undermining domestic progressive movements (FAIR.org<\/b>, 2\/8\/19<\/a>, 2\/20\/19<\/a>) than in any sincere effort to combat narcoterrorism, as the Venezuelan government has a strikingly different political agenda than the right-wing Colombian<\/a> and Honduran<\/a> governments aligned with the Trump administration.<\/p>\n

\n

\"WaPo:<\/p>\n

The Washington Post<\/strong> (5\/3\/20<\/a>) isn\u2019t even sure if armed forces coming into your country to overthrow the government can really be called an \u201cinvasion.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The Washington Post<\/b>\u2019s earlier \u201cVenezuelan Government Says It Stopped \u2018Invasion\u2019 Launched From Colombia\u201d (5\/3\/20<\/a>) couldn\u2019t even acknowledge that it was an invasion attempt, putting scare quotes around the term when it wrote, \u201cThe government of President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro said it had thwarted an early morning \u2018invasion\u2019 off its Caribbean coast on Sunday.\u201d The Post<\/b> did this despite explicitly mentioning that Operation Gideon was \u201can effort to capture senior members of Maduro\u2019s government,\u201d and citing three anti-Maduro figures familiar with Sunday\u2019s coup attempt, including \u201copposition lawmaker Hern\u00e1n Alem\u00e1n,\u201d who claimed that the captured men hailed from Colombian training camps filled with Venezuelan military defectors (who were urged to defect<\/a> by the US) and sought out by former Venezuelan army general-turned-defector Cliver Alcal\u00e1.<\/p>\n

According to Alem\u00e1n, the initial plan to invade Venezuela at La Guaira (where the mercenaries were captured) had to be adjusted after weapons shipments were seized by Colombian authorities in March. Omitted by the Post<\/b>\u2019s report (and corporate media coverage more generally) were earlier reports (Grayzone<\/b>, 3\/27\/20<\/a>; People\u2019s Dispatch<\/b>, 3\/27\/20<\/a>) of Alcal\u00e1 confirming the Venezuelan government\u2019s account of the March 24 weapons seizure in Colombia being part of regime-change efforts, when he gave interviews and posted on social media revealing plans concocted with US government advisers and Guaid\u00f3 to assassinate Maduro. Alcal\u00e1\u2019s testimony seems to be corroborated by the fact that the weapons in March were headed towards Robert Colina Ibarra, alias \u201cPantera,\u201d who was one of the men killed in Sunday\u2019s coup attempt (Telesur<\/b>, 3\/26\/20<\/a>, 5\/3\/20<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Although corporate media reports of the coup attempt frequently cited denials by US officials and Guaid\u00f3 of any involvement with the La Guaira invasion, testimonies by Silvercorp\u2019s Jordan Goudreau<\/a> and Luke Denman<\/a>\u2014as well as photos of Guaid\u00f3\u2019s signature<\/a> on a general services contract, offering payment for their services\u2014seem to contradict at least Guaid\u00f3\u2019s claims.<\/p>\n

It is also unclear how the US-backed Guaid\u00f3 could hope to come up with the minimum of $212.9 million agreed upon in Silvercorp\u2019s contract<\/a> unless he anticipated the financial support<\/a> of the US (which bankrolls him to a generous degree<\/a>)\u2014though the fact that he ultimately reneged on his financial promises to Silvercorp raises the possibility that his Washington paymasters might have been unimpressed with the coup plan\u2019s prospects.<\/p>\n

At Grayzone<\/b>\u00a0(5\/10\/20<\/a>), FAIR contributor Alan MacLeod reported that Silvercorp\u2019s contract also authorized the killing of anyone the mercenaries considered to be \u201carmed and violent colectivos.\u201d The term colectivo<\/i> is a dehumanizing catch-all term used by certain sectors of the Venezuelan elites to apply to any working-class person, and appears to instruct these mercenaries to convert into death squads under Guaid\u00f3\u2019s command after fulfilling their mission, in order to kill opposition to a successful coup. This bolsters the Maduro government\u2019s case for regarding the mercenaries as potential terrorists as well.<\/p>\n

While there is no definitive evidence that the US was behind the coup attempt, the Trump administration has never made its consideration of a \u201cmilitary option<\/a>\u201d to enact regime change in Venezuela a secret. And the March weapons seizures coincided with the administration\u2019s explicit declarations of a \u201cmaximum-pressure March,\u201d and the announcement of a \u201cMonroe Doctrine 2.0,\u201d as the US stepped up its illegal, genocidal sanctions on Venezuela, and military buildup in Latin America under the pretext of fighting foreign threats (Grayzone<\/b>, 3\/17\/20<\/a>, 3\/30\/20<\/a>; FAIR.org<\/b>, 3\/25\/20<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Journalists should not be too quick to discount the possibility of US involvement,\u00a0 because the US has a history<\/a> of exploiting a loophole<\/a> in international law banning the use of mercenaries that allows the use of \u201cprivate military security contractors\u201d as soldiers-for-hire under a different name. These serve to provide plausible deniability<\/a> for war crimes and evade accountability. The UN<\/a> has noted that the increasing use of contractors in US wars<\/a> clearly amounts to mercenary activity by another name. It\u2019s hard to believe that US officials didn\u2019t anticipate that\u00a0 mercenaries would to attempt to kidnap or assassinate Venezuelan government officials, as a US hit list<\/a> incentivizes people to collect millions in bounty money. Recent reports<\/a> indicate that Silvercorp was trying to obtain the Trump administration\u2019s bounty.<\/p>\n

FAIR (5\/1\/19<\/a>, 11\/26\/19<\/a>) has documented how corporate media have been advocating for a coup in Venezuela on behalf of the US government, and whatever the case may be regarding official US involvement, it\u2019s clear that the men behind the La Guaira invasion aren\u2019t described as mercenaries because the US government and media alike favor regime change in Venezuela.<\/p>\n

___________________________________________<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/h4>\n
\n

 <\/p>\n

Joshua Cho is a writer based in Virginia.<\/em><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Go to Original – fair.org<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

11 May 2020 – In recent reports regarding the Bay of Pigs\u2013style invasion the term \u201cmercenary\u201d was accompanied by scare quotes, as if these men could only be seen that way from the perspective of an Official US EnemyTM (whose perspective is always illegitimate in the eyes of corporate media). It is clear that the men behind the La Guaira invasion aren\u2019t described as mercenaries because the US government and media alike favor regime change in Venezuela.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":161136,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[867,120,393,276,267,1764,1050,378,541,559,234,109,287,1961,249,70,557,126,172],"class_list":["post-161135","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-media","tag-anglo-america","tag-conflict","tag-coup","tag-democracy","tag-geopolitics","tag-guaido","tag-imperialism","tag-journalism","tag-latin-america-caribbean","tag-maduro","tag-media","tag-politics","tag-power","tag-silvercorp-mercenaries","tag-trump","tag-usa","tag-venezuela","tag-violence","tag-west"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161135","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=161135"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/161135\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/161136"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=161135"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=161135"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=161135"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}