Operation Gideon, which intended to enter Venezuelan territory by sea, was thwarted by the FANB
The Colombian Prosecutor’s Office admitted that “Operation Gideon”, executed in May 2020 and frustrated by the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), was conceived in Bogotá.
“In order to capture members of the Government of Nicolás Maduro, the entire operation was planned in the city of Bogotá [Colombian capital],” said the prosecutor in the case Francisco Barbosala, announcing his investigations into what happened on May 3 2020. The objective was to generate violence and attack members of the Venezuelan Government, especially President Nicolás Maduro.
For its part, the Colombian Public Ministry charged four people, including two officials who planned and trained military personnel who participated in the armed operation that was going to carry out a coup against the Government of Venezuela.
The accusing body pointed to Clíver Alcalá as the main leader of the failed coup plan. In March 2020, Alcalá turned himself in to the US authorities for the crime of drug trafficking, he was a military man who rebelled against Caracas and in 1992 he attempted another coup d’état.
The defendants pleaded guilty in exchange for an agreement with the Prosecutor’s Office. Rayder Alexander Russo, alias Teniente Pico, and majors Juvenal Sequea Torres and José Sequea Torres will have to spend six years in prison for the agreement, according to local media reports.
The case has not been closed with the confession of the detainees, since the role played by Yacsy Álvarez, translator of the mercenary Jordan Goudreau, who was one of the leaders of this plan, is still being investigated.
The “Operation Gideon” was a failed landing by sea, carried out on May 3, 2020 from Colombia to Venezuela, with the aim of destabilizing Venezuela, but it was unsuccessful thanks to the timely intervention of the FANB and the Special Actions Forces (FAES) of the Bolivarian National Police.
