Trump’s “Bay of Pigs” Moment

TEHRAN (FNA)- US citizen Luke Denman, arrested in Venezuela during a failed incursion earlier this week, was broadcast on the nation’s state media detailing the plot, which boiled down to kidnapping President Maduro and shipping him to the United States.

Denman said the idea was for him and the other contractors, who work for Florida-based Silvercorp USA, to seize control of Caracas international airport, and then capture President Maduro, spirit him into the airport, and fly him to the United States. He said there were about 50 people trained for this operation.

Though US officials have denied a direct role in the matter, the Trump Administration has sought to remove Maduro from power for well over a year, either diplomatically or via force. Silvercorp has suggested that they were paid by US-backed opposition figure Juan Guaido for this plot, and this funding almost certainly would’ve come from the US.

Washington has vowed to do anything possible to secure the release of the American plotters inside Venezuela. With Denman openly admitting a plan to capture the president, it’s unlikely he’ll be released voluntarily.

Although the American government isn't likely to admit any complicity in Goudreau's actions, this latest report is convincing enough to show another US clandestine operation in Latin America. That just goes to show how much the Trump administration lost control of the situation if one of their reported assets could do things in such a dramatic way.

It also adds credence to earlier reports suggesting that the US government is in chaos under Trump's divisive leadership, which is definitely the case when it comes to the US Venezuelan policy. Kennedy's Bay of Pigs moment was shameful since the US shouldn't have tried to overthrow the government of Cuba, but at least some serious effort was put into the operation until everything fell apart the moment that it started.

Trump's "Bay of Pigs" moment, however, clearly wasn't thought through all that much and was embarrassingly unprofessional from a military perspective. It's therefore more shameful since it suggests that the US covert regime change operations are nowhere near as effective as they once were.

Of course, this is a cause of celebration for the country's critics at home and abroad who oppose the unprincipled policy of regime change, but it's shameful to the extreme for the man who loves boasting about how he modernized the American military in just a few short years.

While his claims are true to an extent, they're also misleading since the US wouldn't have had to even countenance relying on mercenaries for overthrowing the Venezuelan government if its military and intelligence services were really all that adept!

That's not to say that the threat posed by the US shouldn't be taken seriously anymore, but just to point out that it also isn't as strong as it portrays itself as being.

The trillions of dollars that Trump spent on the military since entering into office wasn't enough to properly train and equip the necessary number of mercenaries to effectively take on the Venezuelan government, which is all the more stunning when remembering how much the US president loves mocking Venezuela for supposedly being "broke" and on the "brink of collapse."

As is the case with many other nations, including Iran, Trump continues to fail to create a strong international anti-Maduro coalition. Instead, he has been busy vilifying Latin American immigrants, building a useless wall along the Mexican border, separating refugee kids from their parents, cutting foreign aid to Central American countries and slapping tariffs on governments and trading partners.

One final point: US policy today should instead prioritize Venezuela’s looming public health crisis. The need is urgent. A merciless pandemic is not the time for regime change fantasies in Washington. Rather, this is the time to end the illegal sanctions regime, allow international agencies provide aid through banking channels, and lift the inhumane blockade.