Venezuela's 'Bay of Piglets'

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Documentary, Society & Culture

4.3 • 2.7K Ratings

🗓️ 30 July 2020

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

A failed coup in Venezuela - a story of hubris, incompetence, and treachery… At the beginning of May, the government of Nicolas Maduro announced the armed forces had repelled an attempted landing by exiled Venezuelans on the coast north of Caracas. Some were killed, others captured. This was Operation Gideon – an incursion involving a few dozen, poorly-equipped men, and two former US Special Forces soldiers. The hair brained plan to depose Nicolas Maduro, and force a transition in Caracas was conceived by Venezuela's political opposition in neighbouring Colombia, the United States and Venezuela. Command and control of Operation Gideon allegedly lay with another former US Special Forces soldier, Jordan Goudreau. But why would men with decades of military experience between them join a plan that, from the outset, looked like a suicide mission? For Assignment, Linda Pressly goes in search of answers.

Presenter / producer: Linda Pressly Producer in Venezuela: Vanessa Silva Editor: Bridget Harney

(Image: Jordan Goudreau and Javier Nieto address the Venezuelan people on 3 May, 2020. Credit: Javier Nieto)

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Great, you've chosen to download this edition of Assignment from the BBC.
0:04.4	Now, when I first heard this story in early May, I couldn't quite believe my ears.
0:09.1	An amphibious coup attempt against Venezuela's Nicholas Maduro with so few people?
0:14.9	What planet were they on?
0:16.9	Obviously we as program makers still can't travel to record so with Vanessa Silver in
0:22.3	Caracas we set to in an attempt to find out how this madcat plan came to such an inglorious end.
0:29.0	Stay tuned.
0:31.0	This is assignment on the BBC World Service. I'm Linda Presley.
0:35.0	Sunday May the 3rd, 2020. Military helicopters hover before dawn in a pitch black tropical sky over the Venezuelan
0:46.3	coastal town of Makuto. A burst of gun fire, it's the beginning of the end of a deeply flawed attempt to
0:55.0	overthrow the government of Nicholas Maduro. Welcome to Operation Gideon.
1:01.6	The daring amphibious raid was launched from the border of Colombia.
1:05.0	This is Jordan Gudro, a Canadian American military contractor, one of the
1:09.9	organizers of the disastrous coup attempt.
1:12.6	Our men are continuing to fight right now.
1:14.8	Our units have been activated in the south, west and east of Venezuela.
1:19.8	That wasn't true.
1:21.7	And by the time Gudro made this address to Venezuelans on social media,
1:25.6	eight men had been killed by Nicholas Maduro's armed forces at Makuto. Dozens more would be detained.
1:32.2	They remain in prison in Caracas, including two of Jordan Godreau's American friends,
1:37.2	like him former Special Forces soldiers. Operation Gideon jumped straight out of a 20th century playbook of Latin American conspiracies. It made the Bay of pigs look like D-Day,
1:55.0	quipped one commentator, referencing the failed invasion of Castro's Cuba in 1961.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.