Former Green Berets sentenced in bungled attack in Venezuela
CARACAS, Venezuela — A Venezuelan court has sentenced two former U.S. special forces soldiers to 20 years in prison for their part in a blunder-filled beach attack aimed at overthrowing President Nicolás Maduro.
Lawyers for the former Green Berets, Luke Denman and Airan Berry, said they were barred from the secretive jailhouse proceedings Friday night in what they consider a violation of their constitutional rights to a defense.
Maduro’s chief prosecutor announced the surprise decision late Friday night.
“THEY ADMITTED THEIR RESPONSIBILITY FOR THE FACTS,” Tarek William Saab announced on Twitter, adding that proceedings will continue against dozens of other defendants accused of assisting in the May 3 raid. He did not offer details.
“Operation Gideon” was launched from makeshift training camps in Colombia and left at least eight rebel soldiers dead while more than 60 were jailed.
Ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, who operated a Florida-based security firm, claimed responsibility for the failed attack and had hired two former army buddies to prepare a small cadre of deserting Venezuelan soldiers living at the makeshift camps. Venezuelan prosecutors have ordered his arrest. Goudreau is believed to be in the U.S., where he also is under investigation f or possibly violating arms trafficking laws in connection to the botched incursion.
Denman and Berry, both decorated former U.S. service members, were found guilty of conspiracy, trafficking in illegal arms and terrorism, Saab said.
Lawyers for the men said the hearing was marred by irregularities. Alonso Medina Roa said he was hired a month ago by the families of the two Americans but has so far been barred from meeting or speaking with his clients.
Florida early voting: Statewide in-person early voting began Saturday in Florida while the state continues to grapple with a high number of coronavirus cases.
Hundreds of early voting sites were open across Florida’s 67 counties, though it appeared that many were seeing light traffic 10 days ahead of a primary election with no statewide races on the ballot.
Voters are mainly choosing party nominees for Congress and the state Legislature, as well as voting in local elections. While both parties have pushed voters to cast ballots by mail in recent elections, this year there’s been a stronger push during the pandemic.
More than 4.2 million Florida voters have requested a vote-by-mail ballot, and nearly 1.5 million had been returned by Saturday morning, according to a Department of State website. That compares to nearly 1.3 million cast in the entire 2016 primary election.
Florida has had nearly 527,000 confirmed coronavirus cases, leading to more than 8,200 deaths.
Somalia bombing: A car bomb exploded at the gates of a military base in Somalia’s capital Saturday, killing at least eight soldiers and wounding 14 others, with the toll expected to rise, police said.
The al-Qaida-linked alShabab extremist group quickly claimed responsibility. The group often targets military sites in Mogadishu and controls large parts of southern and central Somalia, with little sign of being hampered by the pandemic.
Al-Shabab has been the target of a growing number of U.S. military airstrikes under President Donald Trump’s administration, with at least 63 strikes carried out last year alone.
Ohio governor’s test: The fourth COVID-19 test result for Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine came back negative Saturday after he received conflicting positive and negative results two days earlier and ahead of a scheduled meeting with President Trump.
The governor and first lady, Fran DeWine, were tested at Ohio State University “out of an abundance of caution” following a rollercoaster day Thursday that began with DeWine receiving a positive test result followed by two negatives.
The governor announced the negative results on Twitter on Saturday afternoon, thanking “everyone who sent along good wishes.”
Leaky ship: Anxious residents of the Indian Ocean island nation of Mauritius stuffed fabric sacks with sugar cane leaves Saturday to create makeshift oil spill barriers as tons of fuel leaking from a grounded ship put endangered wildlife in further peril.
The government has declared an environmental emergency and France said it was sending help from its nearby island of Reunion. Satellite images showed a dark slick spreading in the turquoise waters near wetlands that the government called “very sensitive.”
Wildlife workers and volunteers ferried dozens of baby tortoises and rare plants from an island near the spill to the mainland as fears grew that worsening weather Sunday could tear the Japanese-owned ship apart along its cracked hull.
Jean Hugues Gardenne with the Mauritian Wildlife Foundation said this is the country’s first oil spill, adding that perhaps no one expected the ship to break apart. For days, residents peered out at the precariously tilted ship as a salvage team arrived and began to work, but ocean waves kept battering the ship.
Body finally recovered: Crews on Saturday recovered the body of one of two construction workers that had been trapped nearly 10 months ago in the collapse of a Hard Rock Hotel under construction in New Orleans.
Family watched as the remains of Quinnyon Wimberly, 36, were lowered from the complex using a platform and a crane, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported.
There was no immediate word on when crews would extricate the remains of the other worker, 63-year-old Jose Ponce Areola. Crews have yet to reach the area on the eighth floor of the structure where they expect to find his body, authorities said.
The remains of Anthony Magrette, 49, the third worker killed, were removed the day after the partial building collapse on Oct. 12.
Plans to remove the bodies have been hit with several delays. Representatives for 1031 Canal Development, the project’s owner, said problems have included finding insurance and a contractor for demolition work at the site, as well as inclement weather.
Once the last body is removed, authorities said, they plan to demolish the building quickly since the city is in the middle of a new hurricane season. Officials have said they hope to have the structure down by October. The cause of the collapse remains under investigation.