SEATTLE - Jordan Goudreau, a former U.S. Green Beret who in 2020 organized a failed cross-border raid of Venezuelan army deserters to remove President Nicolás Maduro, has been arrested in New York on federal arms smuggling charges on Wednesday.
Goudreau, alongside Venezuelan partner Yacsy Alvarez, are accused of violating U.S. arms control laws for allegedly assembling and sending AR-styled weapons, ammo, night vision goggles and other defense equipment to Colombia. Doing so requires a U.S. export license.
The federal indictment unsealed this week in Florida also charges Goudreau with conspiracy, smuggling goods from the United States and unlawful possession of a machine gun, among 14 other counts. The 48-year-old is being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn, New York.
The arrest of the former Green Beret comes as Maduro is once again facing international and domestic pressure, this time in relation to the controversial presidential elections. On July 28, Maduro was declared the winner by the government-friendly electoral council, but a several states, the U.S. among them, have refused to recognize the results and demand Venezuelan authorities to release individual precinct tallies.
Goudreau garnered the spotlight in 2020 when he claimed responsibility for an amphibious raid by a ragtag group of soldiers that he had helped train in clandestine camps in Colombia. Goudreau argued that he and others were acting to protect Venezuela's democracy after Maduro's reelection in 2018 was boycotted by the opposition and condemned as undemocratic by the U.S. as well as other countries.
In their 22-page indictment, prosecutors cited text messages between the defendants about their effort to buy military-related equipment and export it to Colombia, tracing a web of money transfers, international flights and large-scale purchases. According to court documents, Goudreau and co-conspirators used his Melbourne-based company, Silvercorp, to export the items to Colombia.
If convicted, Goudreau and Alvarez face the following maximum penalties: five years in prison for conspiracy, 10 years in prison for smuggling, 20 years in prison for violations of export control laws, and 10 years in prison for each violation of the National Firearms Act and unlawful possession of a machinegun.
In April, one of Goudreau's partners in the failed coup, Cliver Alcalá, a retired three-star Venezuelan army general, was sentenced in Manhattan federal court to 21 years in prison for providing weapons to drug-funded rebels.
In addition to Alcalá and Alvarez, U.S. authorities have also captured Luke Denman and Airan Berry, former U.S. special forces colleagues of Goudreau. The two former agents returned to the U.S. in December of 2023 as part of a prisoner swap in which the Biden administration released a close ally of Maduro accused in the U.S. of money laundering.
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