CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — 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.
A federal indictment unsealed this week in Tampa, Florida, accuses Jordan Goudreau and a Venezuelan partner, Yacsy Alvarez, of violating U.S. arms control laws when they allegedly assembled and sent to Colombia AR-styled weapons, ammo, night vision goggles and other defense equipment requiring a U.S. export license.
Goudreau, 48, also was charged with conspiracy, smuggling goods from the United States and unlawful possession of a machine gun, among 14 counts. He was being held at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Goudreau, a three-time Bronze Star recipient for bravery in Iraq and Afghanistan, catapulted to fame in 2020 when he claimed responsibility for an amphibious raid by a ragtag group of soldiers that had trained in clandestine camps in neighboring Colombia. He said he and others were acting to protect Venezuela’s democracy after Maduro’s 2018 reelection was boycotted by the opposition and condemned as undemocratic by the U.S. and dozens of other countries.
Two days before the incursion, The Associated Press published an investigation detailing how Goudreau had been trying for months to raise funds for the harebrained idea from the Trump administration, Venezuela’s opposition and…
