f

New York, August 2 (RHC)-- U.S. authorities in the state of New York have arrested a former U.S. Army Green Beret, who in 2020 planned a failed cross-border raid with deserters from the Venezuelan Army to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro.

Local media point out that the complaint, revealed this week in Tampa, Florida, names Jordan Goudreau and the Venezuelan Yacsy Álvarez, for violating gun control laws in the United States.

This is due to alleged shipments to Colombia of AR-style weapons, ammunition, silencers, night vision goggles, among other weapons equipment, without the required licenses from the United States Government decreed to carry out this type of movement.

In addition, a machine gun was found in his possession, which brings the total to 14 charges against him for which he must answer.

The defendant appeared before the federal court after being arrested on Tuesday in the city of Manhattan; however, just one day after being arrested, his chances of being released were unclear.

Meanwhile, both are awaiting trial to assess their sentence and, according to local media, Goudreau is being held in a federal detention center in Brooklyn.

Although Goudreau was awarded by the U.S. government for his service in the Iraq war, in 2020 he was charged with the responsibility of raiding with a group of soldiers who had been trained in Colombia, with the purpose of overthrowing President Nicolás Maduro.

At that time, he declared that he intended to help restore democracy in Venezuela after the boycott actions led by the opposition after the 2018 presidential elections; but it was shown that two years earlier he had actively worked in fundraising to finance Donald Trump's campaign and the Venezuelan opposition itself.

Goudreau had the support of self-proclaimed president Juan Guaidó, who did not sufficiently fund the group with food and basic necessities while they waited in the border area to enter and launch their attacks against Venezuela.

However, Venezuelan security forces dismantled the group, and many of its members were imprisoned.

Goudreau's arrest comes as Venezuela's far right takes action to destabilize the country, after President Nicolás Maduro was reelected in the July 28th elections.