In May, this Venezuela State TV footage
made headlines around the world.
Venezuelan security rounding up a ragtag group of men
in a village on the country's northern coast.
Some of the captured men were wearing
no shoes or shirts at all.
Denman: Luke Alexander Denman.
Narrator: Two of the men captured were Americans,
ex-US Army Green Berets.
And Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro
said dozens more were captured
and eight men killed.
Narrator: Maduro said the men planned to enter Venezuela
on its northern coast and make their way to Caracas,
where they would attempt to kidnap him.
Many reports about the footage characterized it
as the aftermath of an attempted but failed coup
against the current Venezuelan government.
But the US State Department
called this footage "propaganda."
In a statement to Business Insider,
a spokesperson called it "scripted, coordinated,
and staged by the illegitimate Maduro regime."
Mark Denman: Something had gone terribly wrong.
Narrator: Business Insider spoke to
Luke Denman's brother, Mark,
along with the US State Department
and other key figures to try and understand
what happened in May and what happens next.
Jordan Goudreau: At 1700 hours, a daring amphibious raid
was launched from the border of Colombia
deep into the heart of Caracas.
Narrator: This is the man behind the mission.
Jordan Goudreau, also a former US Green Beret
and founder of a private-security firm
called Silvercorp USA.
Goudreau reportedly planned the mission,
known as Operation Gideon,
that led to the two Americans being captured.
But his whereabouts are currently unknown.
Goudreau: We manage risk.
Anywhere,
anytime,
any situation.
Narrator: In this promotional video
from Silvercorp's Instagram,
Goudreau is presented as an athletic,
adventurous, very patriotic soldier for hire.
Born in Canada, Goudreau eventually became a US citizen
and joined the Army Special Forces.
He served for about 15 years,
and during that time,
he met Luke Denman and Airan Berry.
Denman: He was their, from what I understand,
their superior officer, and heavily respected guy
that had a lot more time in than they did.
Narrator: After his service,
Goudreau founded Silvercorp USA in 2018.
In February 2019, Goudreau was reportedly hired
to work security at a concert event
on the border of Venezuela and Colombia.
He posted this video to Silvercorp's Instagram account
with the caption: "Venezuela Aid Live.
Controlling chaos on the Venezuela border
where a dictator looks on with apprehension."
The dictator in question seems to be Maduro.
Mike Pompeo: We're here to urge all nations to support
the democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people
as they try to free themselves from
former President Maduro's illegitimate mafia state.
Narrator: Opposition parties in Venezuela
have long claimed that Maduro's 2018 presidential election
did not meet international democratic standards.
Which is where Juan Guaidó's name comes in.
Pompeo: The time is now to support the Venezuelan people,
to recognize the new democratic government
led by interim president Guaidó, and end this nightmare.
Narrator: Guaidó, the president of the National Assembly,
claimed the title of interim leader in January 2019.
And political bodies including the European Union,
the Lima Group, and the US government
recognize the 37-year-old opposition leader
as the legitimate president of Venezuela.
And Guaidó's team was looking for ways to get Maduro out.
Juan Rendón: So, President Guaidó said,
"OK, everything's over the table.
And under the table, too."
Narrator: Juan José Rendón, otherwise known as JJ Rendón,
worked as an advisor to Juan Guaidó.
Rendón: So when they say that,
and they say, "OK, explore everything,"
we explore different scenarios of use of force.
Narrator: Jordan Goudreau was working on
one such scenario of his own.
A few months after posting this video,
Goudreau traveled to Bogotá,
where he met Clíver Alcalá,
a former Venezuelan Army general.
Juan Cruz: This is a person who was one of the generals
close to Chávez when Chávez was president.
Narrator: This is Juan Cruz, a former member
of the National Security Council who served as
a special assistant to President Trump.
Cruz: When Maduro comes on the scene,
there's a falling-out. That wasn't uncommon.
He was one of the individuals that was too often
associated with saying out loud
that he wanted to displace or overthrow Maduro.
Narrator: The Associated Press reported
that Alcalá said he had a training camp
with a few dozen men in Colombia.
And Goudreau said Silvercorp could train them.
So he sought the backing of Guaidó's government,
which led him to JJ Rendón.
Rendón: With Jordan, he asked to have
a moment to pitch his company.
He said that he was in contact with
the Venezuelans in Colombia.
And they were in touch,
and they were planning something.
Narrator: Rendón said Goudreau told him
the cost of the mission itself
would be covered by a secret group of backers
and that upon completion,
he wanted a payment of $212 million.
Rendón: He said that he has this plan
and that he has his people
and that he has backers.
Interesting.
"Who are they?"
"Oh, I cannot reveal to you."
OK.
But if you have big backers
with a big army ready to go,
we wanna know about it.
And we want that to be aligned,
or at least under the supervision of our government.
Narrator: That's when Rendón began to grow suspicious.
Rendón: Those were enough red flags to back off.
So we sit and say, "Look, my friend,
we are not moving with that."
Narrator: Rendón said he and Guaidó's government
cut all ties with Goudreau, paying him only $50,000
for any expenses and to wash their hands clean.
Rendón: It was like, let's get out of this.
"Oh, my expenses."
"OK, there you go. How much you spent?"
"$43,500."
"OK. In case you've missed something,
I will give you $50,000."
Narrator: But preparations at the camp in Colombia
continued with the help of the two former Green Berets.
Here's Luke Denman's older brother, Mark.
Denman: Luke's saying this is
a US-government-backed operation,
back in February the 2nd.
Narrator: We interviewed Mark via Skype on June 15.
Denman: What he told me,
he was training Venezuelans in Colombia
and had no intention of going to Venezuela at all.
Narrator: But obviously that's not what happened.
Goudreau: At 1700 hours,
a daring amphibious raid was launched.
Narrator: The same day Goudreau posted this video
announcing the mission had launched,
the Venezuelan government released its footage
of an operation that had seemingly been thwarted
by Maduro's security team.
Narrator: The global media covered the story
like something out of a Hollywood movie.
Headlines like "Bay of Piglets" and "Keystone Coup"
portrayed the captured Americans
as wannabe heroes who led a botched operation
that one writer described
as something out of "a bad Rambo movie."
But according to Luke Denman's brother, Mark,
what you can see in the footage raised red flags.
Denman: I mean, the guy was arrested
in shorts and a T-shirt
with his passport and driver's license on him.
And I know that people like to have a lot of fun with that,
but if you can kinda look at this realistically,
all of these guys are guys
that have gone on many combat missions
with combat loads and combat gear.
I don't think that he suddenly thought that
going into combat in shorts, T-shirt, no shoes,
with his passport on him and no weapon was a good idea.
It doesn't really add up.
Narrator: In a statement, Guaidó denied any involvement
and said the operation was "infiltrated
and financed" by the Maduro administration.
And a key event that occurred over a month before
supports the idea that Operation Gideon
was in fact infiltrated.
Narrator: On March 23, more than a month before the capture,
Venezuela's government announced that
$500,000 worth of weapons were seized
en route to a training camp in Riohacha, Colombia.
During this press conference,
the minister of communication and information
also identified the three Americans involved in the camp.
This means the Venezuelan government was not only
aware of a plot to oust Maduro,
but it also knew exactly who was involved.
US prosecutors then indicted Clíver Alcalá
on drug-trafficking charges,
and he turned himself in to US authorities.
Cruz: Things started to collapse a little.
When he's removed from the scene,
you and I probably would have taken a step back
and reevaluated what we had
and planned for another, for plan B or plan C.
In this case, it appears that Goudreau
and others that were still associated with it
decided that they were gonna move forward.
Narrator: One reason the operation
continued to move forward may have been
the $15 million reward offered by the US government
for information leading to Maduro's arrest.
And so, without Guaidó's support, without Alcalá,
and with the Maduro administration well aware of the plan,
Goudreau's team continued forward.
Only to be captured.
Cruz: There are probably three possibilities,
and I would say probably all three come into play.
One is bad operational security, known as OPSEC.
People probably writing emails
and having phone conversations and calling back home.
Second is deliberate infiltrations or penetrations,
where you, ahead of time, move somebody
to appear to be part of the group
who in reality was sent there
by the bad guys to keep a finger on the pulse.
Lastly, there are those that might be victimized in this.
You can certainly imagine where
there would be one of these guys,
and somebody on the other end in Venezuela
sends him a picture of his grandmother
with a 9-millimeter in her mouth.
And these guys say, "Hey, you either tell us
what you're up to, or else."
Narrator: It's unclear when and where
these men were intercepted by Venezuelan security forces
and at what stage of planning they were at.
Cruz: Clearly, the point is that what these guys were doing
was known to elements of the regime.
Narrator: One thing that's certain:
Goudreau was not with Berry and Denman
when they were captured.
And meanwhile, Venezuelan State TV
released footage of the two Americans...
Narrator: Giving what the government called confessions.
Denman: The only instructions that I received from Jordan
was to ensure that we
took control of an airport
for a safe passage for Maduro.
Mark Denman: What we're calling a confession video,
I mean, we're acting like this is somebody
that was read their Miranda rights.
I don't think those confession videos are their own words.
They're kind of being prompted, they're heavily edited.
Being held in some unknown environment
and reading off a script essentially
on what it is they're confessing to.
Luke Denman: My responsibilities to Silvercorp
are written in a contract.
Narrator: The so-called confession videos
released by Maduro's government
also feature a document with Guaidó's name on it.
Berry: Signed by Juan Guaidó,
Jordan Goudreau, and
Juan Rendón.
Narrator: But Rendón maintains that he only signed
an exploratory agreement and questions the validity
of Guaidó's signature on the document shown.
Denman: President Donald Trump.
Mark Denman: From what he understood,
this was a US-government-backed operation.
His very trusted friend
brought him in on it.
It was for a cause he believed in.
Narrator: Although Luke Denman may have believed
the mission had the support of the US government,
the State Department flatly denies it.
Pompeo: There was no US government
direct involvement in this operation.
If we'd have been involved, it would've gone differently.
Narrator: Trump also disavowed
any US involvement in the plot.
Trump: We just heard about it.
But whatever it is, we'll let you know.
But it has nothing to do with our government.
Narrator: Amid all of this, Mark Denman says
it has become almost impossible
to hire legal support for his brother
since the United States doesn't recognize
Maduro's government as legitimate.
Denman: I'm supposed to work through the legal process.
However, because of the situation in Venezuela,
there is no legal process to work through.
So that's the catch-22 of it.
That process doesn't exist,
and how are they lawfully detained
by a government you don't recognize?
Denman: I believed that it was
helping their cause.
Mark Denman: Luke is a strong guy.
He's mentally strong; he's physically strong.
He's been through training for exactly this kind of thing.
And we're confident that he can handle
what he's going through,
and we're doing everything we can to get him back.
Narrator: This interview was recorded on June 15.
On August 8, his brother Luke and Airan Berry
were sentenced to 20 years in prison.
In a statement to Business Insider,
the US State Department said:
In the meantime, Alcalá remains in US custody
and is reportedly cooperating with authorities.
A federal investigation is looking into Goudreau
on suspicion of arms trafficking,
and Goudreau is also wanted in Colombia.
He did not respond to Business Insider's
requests for comment.
[men shouting]
And on September 3, Colombian authorities
announced the arrest of four Venezuelan nationals
on allegations they conspired to plan the operation,
with President Iván Duque noting the allegations
that Maduro financed it.
If that's true, these events in May
on the Venezuelan coast
could have been orchestrated by Maduro's regime,
building a narrative that tightens his grip on Venezuela.
And Denman and Berry may have just been pawns in all of it.