There is no mystery surrounds Matthew Heart marine veteran’s imprisonment in Venezuela.
I don’t know if it’s due to ignorance of the Matthew Heart’s family about the complicated problem that their relative have in Venezuela, or other claims of The Associated Press …
I’ll turn on some lights here.
According to Matthew’s relatives, they’re surprised that the case did not have the media coverage that the failure of the Gedeon operation had, where there were videos of the detainees.
And they are right, this case was taken differently, and it wasn’t the magnitude of the failed operation Gedeon case, where their objective was to kill a president of the republic and there were armed clashes, the government had to offer evidences that they were respecting their human rights despite the seriousness of what they were trying to do.
Why are there no videos of him? Perhaps the answer is that he doesn’t want his statement to be made public, the videos of the detainees are made public with consent.
“My guess is he was an American in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Everett Rutherford, who is married to Heath’s aunt. “It was a bonehead idea, and it didn’t help once they could figure out his history
It could be suggested that Matthew John Heath himself would have even work-family reasons for his foray of industrial espionage and sabotage in the Falcón state, since he is the political nephew of Dr. Everett Rutherford Jr., a senior geologist dedicated to oil exploration . They share the same family home in Maynardville, Tennessee. but that’s another investigation
Everett…You may be right, but he did know what he was trying to do.Do you see the photo below?
Heath was captured precisely in Los Pedros, territory of the Mene Mauroa municipality, on Falcón and Zulia border. The Paraguaná Refining Complex (aka Amuay Refinery) is located there. The capture was carried out by members of the Zone 13 Command of the Bolivarian National Guard on the Coro-Maracaibo highway.
Military personnel carried out a patrol in response to the eventual presence in the area of so-called “structured groups of organized crime”. During that op, they retained a vehicle, car license plate AH642ZA, and four people identified as Daeven Enrique Rodríguez Argueta, Marco Antonio Garcés Carapaica, Third Sergeant Major (GNB), Darwin Andreizo Urdaneta Pardo, and John Heath Mattew.
Heath was one of the US agents hired to enter Venezuela, through the Guaji border axis Colombian-Venezuelan government, to “obtain strategic information” on the Amuay Refining Complex – one of the most important in Latin America, located on the western coast of Falcón state – “in order to carry out possible sabotage actions”.
Likewise, Heath would have the mission of carrying out targeted attacks against military units in the states of Zulia and Falcón, and illicit drug trafficking from Colombia to the island of Aruba (Netherlands Antilles),this explains the fishing boat adventure that his relatives explain in the interview ;using Venezuelan territory “to prop up the campaign of discredit and aggression imposed by the United States government ”.
The evidence that the Attorney General showed Heath didn’t carry a passport with formal entry into the country; He only had a photocopy of the document hidden inside a shoe.
In addition, he carried with him a satellite phone with photographs of oil and military installations in Zulia and Falcón. One of the bags contained a coin linking the American to the CIA.
After investigations, the Public Ministry along other Venezuelan authorities determined the detainee belonged to the mercenary contractor MVM Inc and “he carried out a mission in Iraq from 2006 to 2016, three months a year,” said Saab, as an communications operator at a secret CIA base.
Along Matthew , Marcos Garcés, Darwin Urdaneta, this member of the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB), and Daeven Enrique Rodríguez Argueta, who was driving the vehicle that connects the states of Zulia and Falcón, were captured.
The Attorney General reported it was found:
An AT4 grenade launcher, caliber 84 mm.
· A submachine gun model UZI, caliber 9 mm.
· Four rectangular pieces of suspected C-4 explosive material.
· Money in foreign currency.
· A satellite phone and three cell phones.
· A cap with the logo of a Venezuelan state security agency.
In addition to the aforementioned nationals, Ivonne Coromoto Barrios Finol, owner of the vehicle and wife of Rodríguez Argueta, were also detained for their relationship with the case; Leobaldo Antonio Gutiérrez, Andry Ramón Finol and Asterio José González García.
All of them are charged with the crimes of treason, terrorism, illicit arms trafficking and criminal association.
Matthew Heart’s charged with terrorism, illicit arms trafficking and criminal association.
If we consider the accusations are similar to the former American Green Berets Luke Denman and Airan Berry who were sentenced to 20 years in prison, that is what awaits Matthew.
