translated from Spanish: Trump rules out U.S. involvement in Venezuela invasion

President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States had nothing to do with the thwarted maritime incursion into Venezuela that left 16 detainees, including two Americans who have been charged with acting as “mercenaries,” further cracking the straps between Caracas and Washington.Trump told journalists in Washington, before leaving for Arizona, who had just learned of the arrest of two Americans that their counterpart , Nicolás Maduro, said they were part of an operation seeking to assassinate him and that it had the support of Colombia and the United States.The State Department reiterated that the United States is not involved in the case and accused Maduro of launching a “disinformation campaign” to distract attention from a recent event, citing a riot that occurred last Friday in a downtown prison that left at least 46 dead and dozens of injuries.” Nothing should be taken to the letter when we see the distortion of the facts,” a State Department spokesman said in a statement, adding that the Venezuelan government is using the case to “justify a higher level of repression.” U.S. officials said they are trying to learn more about the events, including the activities of two detained U.S. citizens, and former green Jordan Goudreau.Maduro announced Monday that those captured by security forces included Luke Denman and Airan Berry, both former U.S. special forces loyalists associated with private security firm SilverCorp. , which is based in Florida.Goudreau, a third Silvercorp associate, was held responsible for “Operation Gideon”, which involved a failed foray into a beach in the coastal state of La Guaira during Sunday morning that left six dead and five other people detained, Venezuelan Communication Minister Jorge Rodríguez.Denman and Berry said Tuesday , from the central state of Aragua, in a second boat, also involved in the operation, in which eight other men were. The deserter captain of the National Guard, Victor Pimienta Salazar, said in a recording that the authorities broadcast on Tuesday that the second boat, in which about 50 people were going, was also scheduled to arrive in La Guaira, and that after learning that the passengers of the first boat had been shot down they decided to leave the site and start traveling to a Caribbean island.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to the lack of fuel.Due to , the second vessel undertook a tour of venezuela’s coasts where they were leaving some of the passengers until they reached the village of Chuao where they were arrested by members of the Navy, precis pimenta Salazar.La Venezuelan Navy announced during the day that they continue in the coastal area of the states aragua and La Guaira the persecution of “mercenaries and terrorists who on the run leave military material”. On the military corps’s Twitter account a photograph was disseminated of twenty camouflaged military helmets, some of which had a U.S. flag attached.During his presentation, the Minister of Communication presented copies of a convention and audio of an alleged conversation between opposition leader Juan Guaidó, opposition congressman Sergio Vergara — who fled the country after they opened a process — and Goudreau in which they discussed an alleged agreement , and stated that with such evidence “it is impossible” for the head of the National Assembly to evade its association with the case.” We are on the side of the Constitution,” Guaidó said on Tuesday in a speech he gave at a virtually held session of Congress, rejecting the authorities’ accusations, and said that “Parliament has nothing to do” with Operation Gideon.” They wanted to sow confusion, they wanted to sow an apparent state of shock to hide what is happening in Venezuela,” said the opposition leader, who has been recognized as Venezuela’s interim president by nearly 60 countries, accusing Maduro of trying to hide the deaths in the recent prison mutiny, severe fuel shortages, and recent hunger protests in the east of the country. Goudreau noted that Guaidó never fulfilled the contract but the green ex-fi went ahead with the operation with only 60 men, including the two American veterans. The opposing leader ruled out having any relations or responsibility with the action of the SilverCorp company, which has been related to Goudreau.The signals against the also head of the National Assembly was joined by the attorney general, Tarek William Saab, a close ally of the government, who stated on Monday that the opposing leader “justice sooner rather than later will come.” The case has also been linked to retired major general Cliver Alcalá, a former military officialist who surrendered in March in Colombia to THE US authorities shortly after he was accused by Washington of narco-terrorism along with Maduro, the strongman of the Venezuelan government Diosdado Cabello and 12 others. Alcalá said in March that he had coordinated the transfer of a batch of weapons to Venezuela, which were seized by the Colombian authorities, and that the arms acquisition contract was signed by Guaidó and US advisers. Following Alcalá’s complaint, the Attorney General’s Office opened an investigation to Guaidó of alleged coup and quoted him to appear, but the leader did not show up. Amid the tensions generated by the frustrated raid, Vice President Delcy Rodríguez reported on the day that the national electricity system suffered a “attack” on its transmission lines on Tuesday hours after the event. Rodriguez said on his Twitter account that “we are already in the process of recovering from the service,” but did not mention the states that were affected by the partial blackout that occurred during the afternoon. Social media reported that the capital and at least a dozen states were affected by the temporary blackout. Venezuela is in the midst of a complex economic and social crisis that threatens to be aggravated by the pandemic of the new coronavirus, which has so far left 10 dead and 351 infected.

Original source in Spanish