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Venezuela arrests US ‘mercenaries’ after failed beach raid
- The two American citizens have been identified as Luke Denman and Airan Berry, both former US special forces soldiers
- The two served in Iraq and Afghanistan and were part of a mission to detain Maduro, according to a third man who said he was working with them
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Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said authorities arrested two US citizens among a group of “mercenaries” a day after a beach raid purportedly aimed at capturing the socialist leader that authorities say they foiled.
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Maduro held up a pair of blue US passports, reading off the names and birth dates on them in a nationwide broadcast on state television on Monday. He showed images of the fishing boats the alleged attackers rode in on and equipment like walkie-talkies and night-vision glasses collected in what Maduro called an “intense” couple of days. He blamed the attacks on the Trump administration and neighbouring Colombia, both of which have denied involvement.
“The United States government is fully and completely involved in this defeated raid,” Maduro said, praising members of a fishing village for cornering one group in the sweep netting the “professional American mercenaries”.
Before dawn on Sunday, officials say the first attack started on a beach near Venezuela’s port city of La Guaira, when security forces made the first two arrests and killed eight others attempting to make a landing by speedboats.
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The two US citizens arrested on Monday were identified as Luke Denman and Airan Berry, both former US special forces soldiers.
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