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Venezuela has charged two former U.S. soldiers with terrorism and conspiracy for allegedly taking part in a failed bid to topple President Nicolas Maduro, the attorney general said on Friday.
Luke Alexander Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41, were among 17 people captured by the Venezuelan military, which said it had thwarted an attempted invasion by mercenaries in the early hours of Sunday.
The White House National Security Council on Friday rejected the allegation, adding that if it had been involved, it would have been "overt, direct, effective."
The NSC issued a statement via Twitter after Maduro said that Venezuelan authorities had detained a pair of U.S. citizens working with a U.S. military veteran who has claimed responsibility for the foiled operation.
"The U.S. Govt had nothing to do with recent events alleged in Venezuela. Claims to the contrary are not credible. If this had been a U.S.-planned operation as claimed by Maduro, who's been indicted on narco-terrorism charges, it would have been overt, direct and effective," the statement said.
U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House on April 12, 2018 in Washington, D.C. /AFP
President Donald Trump has also roundly rejected the accusation, said: "If I wanted to go into Venezuela I wouldn't make a secret about it."
"I'd go in and they would do nothing about it. They would rollover. I wouldn't send a small little group. No, no, no. It would be called an army," he said. "It would be called an invasion."
Attorney General Tarek William Saab said Venezuela had requested an international arrest warrant for the capture of the pair of U.S. soldiers who have been confirmed the former members of the Green Berets deployed to Iraq by the U.S.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the U.S. government would "use every tool that we have available to try to get them back."
Bay of Pigs 'remake'
Maduro described the raid as a "remake" of the failed 1961 Bay of Pigs invasion, when Cuban exiles covertly financed and directed by the U.S. government attempted to overthrow then-Cuban leader Fidel Castro.
Announcing the arrests, Saab said Venezuela's opposition leader Juan Guaido, who is backed in his challenge to Maduro's authority by the United States and more than 50 other countries, was behind the mission.
On Friday the attorney general said arrest warrants had also been requested for U.S.-based Venezuelans Juan Jose Rendon and Sergio Vergara.
Rendon, an advisor to Guaido, admitted in an interview with CNN that he had signed a contract with Silvercorp USA, a private security firm founded by Goudreau, a former Green Beret who has claimed responsibility for an ill-fated military incursion into Venezuela and is under federal investigation for arms trafficking, according to current and former U.S. law enforcement officials. The Iraq and Afghanistan veteran admitted the existence of the operation in a video and claimed Silvercorp was contracted by Venezuela's opposition.
Despite the Venezuela regime's accusations against Guaido, he has not been charged with anything.
(Cover image: Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said during a live address on state television that two American "mercenaries" were apprehended after a failed coup attempt over the weekend. /Reuters)
(CGTN)
