Operation Gideon was primarily planned by
Clíver Alcalá Cordones and
Jordan Goudreau. Alcalá was a
Major General in the
Venezuelan Army with close ties to the
Hugo Chávez government until he defected under Maduro In February 2019, Silvercorp provided security services at the
Venezuela Aid Live concert in Colombia, and Goudreau turned his attention to Venezuela. According to Goudreau's friend and business partner, Drew White, he saw a business opportunity in the Trump administration's intensified efforts to remove Maduro from power.
Initial promotion: March–May 2019 Alcalá openly discussed his plans to overthrow the Maduro government with a 1,000 men strong force with
The Wall Street Journal, saying "If you don't do this now, the republic is lost." In May 2019, Schiller and Goudreau met with Guaidó administration officials in
Miami, Florida, where Goudreau promoted the idea of providing security for Guaidó officials. Guaidó and his representatives, as well as Prince and his representatives, denied such reports.
Colombia Silvercorp established: June 2019 A Colombian branch of Silvercorp was opened in mid-2019 by Goudreau and Yacsy Alezandra Álvarez Mirabal, who acted as a translator for Alcalá and Goudreau. Álvarez was an assistant of
Franklin Durán, a Venezuelan businessman who had business ties with the Venezuelan government for about two decades until his company was expropriated by the government; one of his businesses had a history of importing military equipment. Durán and his brothers were friends with Alcalá prior to the event; the AP described Durán as "close to the government of the late Hugo Chávez".
Negotiations with Guaidó representatives: August–November 2019 Guaidó established a Strategic Committee in August 2019 and named
J. J. Rendón to head it. the group adopted the position that the Venezuelan Constitution, the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime, and other treaties provided justification for pursuing a change of government. A General Services Agreement between Venezuela and Silvercorp was signed on 16 October 2019, by Goudreau on behalf of Silvercorp and Rendón and
Sergio Vergara, on behalf of the Guaidó administration. Rendón told reporters that shortly after signing the agreement, Goudreau began acting suspicious and demanding immediate payment of the $1.5 million retainer that was due within a five-day period according to the agreement. Rendón transferred Goudreau $50,000 from his personal account for "expenses" (confirmed publicly by Goudreau On 8 November 2019, Goudreau met Rendón and the two had a heated argument. Guaidó and his allies denied that he signed the contract directly. Goudreau provided a covert recording of "what appears to be", according to the
Miami Herald, Rendón said that Guaidó "grew suspicious" of the "exploratory plan" having seen only an outline. Although an agreement had been previously signed, the opposition attempted to distance themselves from their past interactions with Goudreau. By December 2019, Silvercorp had purchased a fiberglass boat in Florida that was equipped with navigational equipment two months later. while Denman left the Army in 2011. More than sixty Venezuelan dissidents gathered in
Riohacha, Colombia, to train. Goudreau then contacted Guaidó's officials one last time asking for funding. On 28 March, the boat was damaged, triggering an
emergency position-indicating radio beacon that alerted authorities in
Curaçao, who rescued Goudreau. He stated that Rendón never financed the operation and that he and Alcalá undertook the operation with Goudreau without his party's knowledge, but denied by
Jorge Arreaza, Maduro's foreign minister. On 26 March 2020, the United States accused Maduro of narcoterrorism, and through its
Narcotics Rewards Program offered a US$15 million reward for information leading to his arrest, plus an additional US$10 million each for information leading to the arrest of four close Maduro allies:
Diosdado Cabello,
Maikel Moreno,
Tareck El Aissami,
Vladimir Padrino López and Cilver Alcalá, one of the alleged leaders of the operation. The same day, Alcalá placed a video on Twitter where he assumed responsibility for "a military operation against the Maduro dictatorship" that included the shipment of weapons captured in Colombia, stating that the United States, Colombia, and Guaidó officials had signed an agreement to overthrow Maduro. Guaidó denied knowledge of the event while United States Special Representative to Venezuela
Elliott Abrams described Alcalá's statement as "despicable and quite dangerous". Abrams later said that Alcalá "was put up to making those terrible charges by the [Maduro] regime". The Venezuelan government said that Alcalá was a US agent and that, after the operation failed, the United States government used narcoterrorism charges as a way to transport him to the United States to prevent him from revealing more secrets. According to Alemán, who acknowledges participating in the planning of the operation up until the point Alcalá was extradited to the United States, Sequea took control of the operation and replaced military personnel. In June 2023, Alcalá pled guilty in the U.S. to "two counts of providing material support to a terrorist group and illicit transfer of firearms", with the narcotics charges dropped.
Prior knowledge of operation According to the Associated Press, the operation "was infiltrated by Maduro's vast, Cuban-trained intelligence network" early on. The Associated Press asserted that it had investigated and published about the operation before it happened.
The Washington Post wrote that Maduro "was well-informed of the effort virtually from its start". Rodríguez mentioned that there were three American instructors at the training camps. Cabello also identified by first name the two Americans; he referred to Denman and Berry only as "Luke" and "Aaron" [phonetic spelling]. Around the middle of 2019, Maduro stated there was a "plan ... to get 32 mercenaries into Venezuela to kill me and to kill Venezuelan revolutionary leaders". According to
The Washington Post, a "senior opposition official called the Alcalá-Goudreau plan 'the worst-kept secret in Venezuela'. while
The Wall Street Journal said that the CIA monitored and knew about the plot. During the event, Goudreau gave an interview by telephone from Florida to an AP reporter. Goudreau said that his intention in launching the raid was to "introduce a catalyst", acknowledging that it is impractical to believe "60 guys can come in and topple a regime". Despite the long odds, he expressed his belief that "60 guys can go in and inspire the military and police to flip and join in the liberation of their country". == Landing attempt ==