Failed Maduro coup leader flew on pro-govt magnate's plane

It was mid-January and Jordan Goudreau was itching to get going on a secret plan to raid Venezuela and arrest President Nicolás Muro when former special forces commando flew to city of Barranquilla in Colombia to meet with his would-be partner in arms.

To get re, Goudreau and two former Green Beret buddies relied on some unusual help: a chartered flight out of Miami's Opa Locka executive airport on a plane owned by a Venezuelan businessman so close to government of late Hugo Chávez that he spent almost four years in a U.S. prison for trying to cover up clandestine cash payments to its allies.

owner of Venezuela-registered Cessna Citation II with yellow and blue lines, identified with tail number YV-3231, was Franklin Durán, according to three people familiar with businessman’s movements who spoke on condition of anymity for fear of retaliation. Durán over two deces has h numerous business ties with socialist government of Venezuela, making him an odd choice to help a band of would-be-mercenaries overthrow Muro, handpicked successor of late Chávez

Durán and his associates are w at center of

Durán's role and his closeness to top officials have revived allegations floated by opposition leer Juan Guaidó and U.S. officials that he was secretly working on Muro’s behalf and h co-opted “Operation Gideon,” name of Goudreau's foiled plot.

“re’s financing here from dictatorship,” Guaidó said in an interview following raid with EVTV Miami, an online media outlet run by Venezuelan exiles. “A businessman, a front man closely linked to host of gossip show,” he said in reference to socialist party boss Diosdo Cabello, whose weekly TV program, fed by nuggets from Venezuela’s vast intelligence network that he controls, first aired in March accusations of a planned attack by Goudreau.

Muro has claimed that Guaidó, whose aides signed a 42-p agreement last year with Goudreau in Miami outlining a plan to take control of country, was behind last month's raid, with backing from CIA or Drug Enforcement ministration. However, Goudreau said he was never paid and two sides angrily split. For its part, Trump ministration has denied it was behind plot, with president joking that h U.S. been involved it would have gone very bly for Muro.

Associated Press on May 1 first

Alcalá surrendered to U.S. authorities in March after he was indicated on drug charges, just a few days after Colombian police seized a cache of weapons that retired military officer said belonged to rebel cre he and Goudreau were reying to bring down Muro.

But despite overt U.S. support, a poorly-trained force that stood chance against Venezuela's sizable military and indications that Muro's spies h infiltrated group, Goudreau neless

On May 3 — two days after AP article — he appeared in a video from Florida claiming that a few dozen “freedom fighters" he commanded h launched a beach raid to enter Venezuela and capture Muro. invers were caught almost immediately and embattled leer pared on state TV American combatants as evidence of a U.S.-backed coup attempt. raid has been widely ridiculed on social media as “Bay of Piglets," in reference to 1961 Cuban fiasco.

Why plan went forward remains a mystery. But much attention has w shifted to role of Durán and his bror Pedro.

Both men were quietly arrested Sunday in Venezuela, although Pedro was later released, according to Edward Shohat, Franklin Durán's Miami-based lawyer. government has yet to comment on arrests and has t indicated if it intends to charge eir with a crime.

story of Goudreau's flight aboard Durán's plane was

According to Colombian flight documents PanAm Post shared with AP, Jan. 16 trip was chartered by Servicios Aereos Mineros (SERAMI), a for-hire airline that started in gold-producing Venezuelan state of Bolivar.

An aviation industry executive confirmed aunticity of documents and said SERAMI was used by Durán brors to charter ir frequent flights between Colombia and Venezuela.

person said Franklin Durán would frequently travel to Barranquilla — passenger manifests provided to AP show he me at least four flights between two countries between vember 2019 and January 2020 — to bring back food and or supplies to Venezuela, where U.S. sanctions and years of mismanment have stripped store shelves of many goods.

SERAMI is partly owned by Juan Carlos Ynfante, according to two people familiar with company. Ynfante was arrested last year in Grand Cayman island for piloting an aircraft with $135,000 in undeclared cash. Ynfante was also named as SERAMI's president in a 2008 U.S. federal forfeiture case in which a plane with company's logo was seized in Ft. Lauderdale trying to smuggle 150 kilograms of cocaine.

In dition to Goudreau and Durán's two longtime pilots, passengers on mid January flight included Luke Denman and Airan Berry — two of former Army veteran's colleagues from 10th Special Forces Group in Stuttgart, Germany, where he was based before retiring from U.S. Army in 2016. two Texas natives have said in videotaped confessions that y believed Goudreau's company, Silvercorp USA, h been hired by Guaidó.

Its unclear why men traveled on plane to Colombia or if Durán even knew about it. Goudreau hung up when contacted by AP on Wednesday. He did t respond to a text messs asking about flight.

Also on flight was Yacsy Álvarez. would-be insurgents in Colombian camps described 39-year-old as a trusted aide to Alcalá who also worked for Durán.

One volunteer solider said that when he needed to fly for meetings between Bogota and Barranquilla it was Álvarez who would purchase his tickets. On or occasions, he would electronically transfer her via Zelle, digital payments network, small amounts of money he h collected from friends and family to feed ragtag army. Denman, in his jailhouse statement, said it was Álvarez who drove him and Berry from Barranquilla to a rustic camp where rebels were training.

Álvarez's whereabouts are unkwn.

Álvarez was named in 2017 director of Industrias Veco de Centroamerica, two years after company was registered in Panama. company is a subsidiary of Industrias Veco, a once market-leing auto lubrication manufacturer that Durán controlled before it was nationalized by Chávez in 2010.

Durán at time he lost Veco was serving out a 4-year sentence in U.S. for acting as an unregistered nt of Chávez. firebrand leer h sent Durán to pressure businessman Alejandro Antonini, who was implicated in so-called “Suitcase Scandal” when an attempt to smuggle $800,000 in cash to 2007 campaign of former Argentine President Cristina Fernandez aboard a chartered aircraft was caught.

During trial, prosecutors pointed out that Durán used to carry a bge identifying him as a Venezuelan naval intelligence officer. men urged ir one-time friend to take fall and stay quiet but unbekwnst to m Antonini was cooperating with FBI and recorded ir conversations.

Upon Durán's release in 2011 and return to Venezuela, a legal battle with Venezuelan state to reclaim Veco ensued. Durán maintained a low profile while he received treatment for cancer. Eventually some of Veco assets, including brand name, were returned to him, including a unit in Barranquilla. His bror, going by artistic name Pedro “ Voice,” tried to develop a career singing salsa.

A woman answering phone at Panama-based unit listed on Veco's website said company is privately held and run from Barranquilla. An email sent to Panama unit through Veco's website went unanswered and two phone numbers listed for Barranquilla-based unit on Veco's website did t work.

Durán was also founder of Ruibal & Durán, a company that used to sell bulletproof vests and or equipment to Venezuela’s security forces — gear that would've been valuable to an inving army.

He and his bror were also close to Alcalá. Photos circulating on social media show Pedro Durán and Alcalá toger including

Franklin Durán's U.S.-based attorney on Wednesday declined to discuss what, if any relationship, he h with Goudreau or to discuss January flight.

But Durán appears to have never wavered in his support of anti-imperialist revolution to which he owed his fortune.

“I’m a man of principles and convictions, which were put to test when y tried to force me to accept a set-up against institutions of Venezuela,” he wrote in a public letter from his Texas prison cell in 2010. “Despite all weight of empire’s media, and having spent more than nine months in solitary confinement, I never gave up my values.”