Worst. Invasion. Ever.

Worldly

Vox Media Podcast Network

News, Politics, News Commentary

4.4 • 1.8K Ratings

🗓️ 7 May 2020

⏱️ 41 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Zack, Jenn, and Alex discuss the bonkers story of a botched invasion attempt of Venezuela, reportedly led by a group of US-based mercenaries. They explain the truly bizarre backstory of the head merc, former Green Beret Jordan Goudreau; discuss how a slapdash plan to topple President Nicolás Maduro reportedly came together in partial coordination with the Venezuelan opposition; and zoom out to look at what this fiasco says about Venezuelan politics and the role of private military contractors in world affairs. There is, of course, a lengthy discussion of Machiavelli. References: There are a lot of good reports on what happened, but this one by the Washington Post is comprehensive and easy to understand. Here’s the video of Jordan Goudreau announcing the raid. Now you can dig around Silvercorp USA’s Instagram page just like Jenn. This story from the Sun-Sentinel details Goudreau’s Puerto Rico trip to make money. Here’s a tweet featuring images of the IDs of the two captured Americans. The New York Post has a video of the moment the mercenaries were detained. New York magazine details some of the sillier moments. Hosts: Zack Beauchamp (@zackbeauchamp), senior correspondent, Vox Jennifer Williams (@jenn_ruth), senior foreign editor, Vox Alex Ward (@AlexWardVox), national security reporter, Vox Consider contributing to Vox: If you value Worldly’s work, please consider making a contribution to Vox: bit.ly/givepodcasts More to explore: Subscribe for free to Today, Explained, Vox’s daily news podcast to help you understand the news, hosted by Sean Rameswaram. About Vox: Vox is a news network that helps you cut through the noise and understand what's really driving the events in the headlines. Follow Us: Vox.com Newsletter: Vox Sentences Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	In December 2020, a Latino couple was falsely accused by a white momfluencer of attempting to kidnap her children.
0:07.0	The Karen phenomenon where white women falsely accuse people of color of crimes usually fixates on the
0:13.5	accuser the so-called Karen. But for this series we focus on the
0:17.2	innocent couple at the heart of this story. I just want the public to know
0:21.9	what she did was wrong.
0:24.0	In Perfect Paradise People versus Karen.
0:26.3	Available now wherever you get your podcasts. A private security firm run by a man who once attempted to charge a Netflix subscription model for
0:44.4	protecting high schools from school shootings, has attempted to overthrow the government
0:49.1	of Venezuela, seemingly with the cooperation of some arm of the Venezuelan opposition at one point
0:55.0	and an infamous narco trafficker.
0:57.5	You'd think that this is all made up, right?
0:59.5	That this is some kind of script, some sequel to Burn After Reading, that they left on the cutting room floor. of and it's what we're going to talk about unworldly part of the Fox Media
1:13.1	podcast network I'm Zach Beecham here as always with Jen Williams and Alex Ward
1:16.7	hey this is going to be so fun yeah we are fascinated by the story. We're obsessed with it.
1:22.8	Last week we talked about aliens and this honestly might be weirder than aliens.
1:27.5	We need an extended coronavirus break at this point in time.
1:31.5	So we're going to talk about what has to be like the strangest story in world politics, like certainly of 2020, right?
1:40.0	Maybe in the past five years, I don't know, it's just, it's mind-boggling how many layers of weirdness
1:46.2	that are associated with this. And, and though we're going to laugh a lot about the hair-brainedness of the scheme, there are serious implications both for Venezuela and for how we think about world politics and we will get into those.
1:58.0	But first, let's talk about the really ridiculous, ridiculous elements of this plot, right? So Jen, who is this man who is at the epicenter of all of this? One, Jordan Gudro, is his name.
2:11.6	Yeah, so Jordan Gudro is a three-time Bronze Star recipient.
2:16.7	He's a Special Forces veteran, he's Ex-Green Bereay in the US Army.
	...

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