Two Former Green Berets Among Americans Freed In Rare Venezuela Deal

Major deal-making between Washington and the government of President Nicolas Maduro, long under US sanctions, has clearly been progressing. It follows on the heels of intensified Biden admin efforts to free up Venezuela oil as an alternative energy source amid the Russia-Ukraine war, having recently lifted oil-focused sanctions on a temporary basis months ago.

The Biden administration has just conducted what amounts to a rare prisoner swap with Venezuela. The US agreed to release a “close ally” of President Maduro in exchange for jailed Americans, the Associated Press reports Wednesday.

The pair of former Green Berets was captured in May 2020 along with six Venezuelan nationals in a boat carrying weapons off the coast.

That high profile Maduro ally is Alex Saab, who has been in US detention since his arrest in 2020 for money laundering. He was freed on Wednesday. There are reports that in exchange, some ten or more Americans who’ve been held in Venezuelan prisons have been released and are expected to return home to US soil. 

Venezuela has long claimed that Saab should have diplomatic immunity. US prosecutors have alleged he stole $350 million by skimming from Venezuelan government contracts. He was caught by an Interpol notice and flown to the United States: 

The Colombian-born businessman was on his way to Iran when he was detained on an Interpol “red notice” while his plane refuelled in Cape Verde in 2020.

The Venezuelan government described him as an “envoy” and argued that he had been travelling to Iran to buy medical supplies during the Covid-19 pandemic.

But Cape Verde ruled that he did not have diplomatic status and extradited him to the US, where he was charged with money laundering and bribery.

Among the group of Americans freed are two Green Berets who took part in a tactical beach landing as part of a bizarre failed attempt to work with locals to topple the Maduro government in 2020.

Former Green Berets Luke Denman and Airan Berry had at that time of their arrest been paraded for weeks in front of state TV cameras, with Maduro blaming the Trump administration for running covert ops to destabilizing his government. They were later sentenced to 20 years in prison each for their role in the failed assault.

Maduro and Alex Saab, right.

A shady Florida-based private security firm had been part of that fiasco, which proved a deep embarrassment to the US side:

On May 4th, 2020, Denman and Berry landed with a group of former soldiers and mercenaries in the fishing village of Chuao. The operation failed, with eight dead and dozens captured. Former Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, owner of private security firm Silvercorp USA, said he organized the attack under promise of payment from the “interim government”.

At that time, Juan Guaido was head of Venezuela’s political opposition and was strangely declared ‘Interim President’ by the US and some other countries, but without any recognition inside Venezuela or much of the rest of the globe (outside close US allies).

This prisoner release deal appears part of the quiet long-running conversations which saw the Biden administration greatly loosen sanctions on Caracas starting Oct. 18 of this year.