Family of former green beret captured in foiled Venezuelan plot speak out about son's involvement

The family and friends of two ex-green beret who captured during an alleged failed plot to overturn Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro have spoken out about their sons’ arrest.

Former US special forces members from Texas, Luke Denman and Airan Berry were two of a small group involved in the alleged attempt on 3 May to overthrow Mr Maduro. The botched plot led to the deaths of eight people and a number of captures.

A number of the men’s relatives and friends spoke to CBS News about the interactions with the men in the lead up to the invasion.

“He said I had something come up in Florida,” Mr Denman’s father, Frank Denman, told the broadcaster. “He said it was a confidential kind of thing.”

Mr Denman said his son told him the work would be “the most meaningful thing” he had ever done in his life.

Venezuela has been in a deepening political and economic crisis under Mr Maduro’s rule with crumbling public services such as running water, electricity and medical care causing widespread suffering.

“I get it now,” Mr Denman said. “Everyone knows about the suffering of the Venezuelan people.”

“And the motto of the green berets,” he added, “is free the oppressed.”

Mr Berry’s girlfriend Tatianna Saito also spoke to the outlet about her ignorance of the plot but spoke of how the former green beret insisted that his work would be for a good cause.

“I didn’t know the nature of the job or where it was,” Ms Saito said. “I just knew that he seemed to think it was a great opportunity.”

“I’d ask, ‘Is everything okay?’ And he’d say, ‘I feel like this is my calling. I feel like this is something very meaningful’,” she recalled.

The small army did not have enough funding or government support to sustain a victory against the president’s larger army and the plot was almost immediately scuppered.

Friends of Mr Denman and Mr Berry have said that if involved they believe the men may have been swayed by Jordan Goudreau a third green beret who has claimed responsibility for the plot.

“The only conclusion I can draw is he was intentionally deceived,” said Daniel Dochen, a friend of Mr Denman. “And Goudreau sent his former comrade-in-arms on a suicide mission in service of his ego.”

Mr Goudreau did not respond to request for comment when contacted by CBS News.

Others told the broadcaster they would not have participated in the coup without believing it was supported by the US government.

“He’s not the type of person who would do something that hasn’t gone through the proper channels,” Mr Berry’s wife, Melanie, told NBC News

The US government has continually denied involvement in the plot. “This was a rogue group that went in there,” President Donald Trump said last Friday.

The government previously offered a $15m reward for information leading to the arrest of Venezuela’s president, who has also been charged with narcoterrorism and weapons offences.

Both men served as part of Charlie Company of the 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group, according to CBS News.

Mr Berry is said to have served in the army from as an engineer sergeant between 1996 to 2013 and Mr Denman as a communications sergeant up until 2011.

Very little remains known about the operation, or how the men are being treated in Venezuelan custody.

“All that matters is to get them home,” Mr Berry’s wife said. “They love their families. They love their country. They’re good men.”