Guaido has been using funds “stolen” from the Venezuelan State oil company - PDVSA. Some of these funds were to be used in a Contract between Guaido and Goudreau, named above in the attempted attack on Sunday. A few days earlier, on Tuesday 31 March 2020, Pompeo made headlines calling for "the set up an interim government" as a framework for a democratic transition. I suspect, it was a ploy by Pompeo - as a cover and a diversion away from him and VP Pence, as the main backers of Guaido. I doubt, Guaido can tap into the PDVSA stolen Funds without Pompeo and Pence's signature? What makes the situation even more devastating, while this gang is tapping into the frozen PDVSA Funds, Pompeo has lined up the IMF and other International lenders to offer "economic emergency funding" to keep the Country stabilized. The IMF would eventually, secure a holding on any asset Venezuela had of value - leaving the Country destitute and powerless.
Venezuela arrests two Americans for failed ‘invasion’ by sea, Maduro says
Venezuela has arrested two Americans after an alleged failed armed invasion, according to the Venezuelan president.
Nicolas Maduro said 13 “terrorists” had been detained on Monday in connection with a foiled plot to enter the South American country from the Caribbean coast and ultimately topple him.
Eight people were killed and two arrested during the alleged attempted beach invasion near La Guaira, a northern port city, in the early hours of Sunday, Venezuelan authorities have said.
The group tried to land by speedboats, according to officials.
US asks Juan Guaido to renounce claim to Venezuela leadership – for the time being
Tuesday 31 March 2020 - The United States has called on Venezuela’s
Juan Guaido to temporarily renounce his claim to the presidency as it recalibrates its strategy to oust leader
Nicolas Maduro.
The shift came after more than a year of faltering US-led efforts to oust the leftist Mr Maduro.
Mr Guaido came under growing pressure from authorities, who on Tuesday summoned him to answer charges of attempting a coup.
The US secretary of state,
Mike Pompeo, said that as part of a new “democratic transition framework”, bitter rivals Mr Maduro and Mr Guaido should set up an interim government with members of both their parties that will arrange elections in six to 12 months.
The person who heads the transitional government would not be allowed to run for president.
If fully implemented, the US and
European Union would then lift
sanctions, including sweeping US restrictions on Venezuela’s vital
oil exports and on Mr Maduro and his allies as individuals, the State Department said.
In addition, the IMF and other international lenders would be invited to consider economic relief for Venezuela, from which millions have fled as they face dire shortages of food and other necessities.
The plan also calls for the departure of foreign forces from Venezuela, a reference to the regime’s support from Cuba and Russia.
Mr Pompeo urged all sides to consider the proposal “carefully and seriously”.
“We believe this framework protects the interests and equities of all Venezuelan people who desperately seek a resolution to their dire political, economic and humanitarian crisis, and who know Venezuelans can have something better,” he said
On Twitter, Mr Pompeo said: “Today the US presented a framework for a democratic transition as a clear, equitable, and common sense path to end the political crisis in Venezuela. Economic pressure will continue until Maduro accepts a genuine democratic transition.”
The proposed framework is not without stumbling blocks. Mr Maduro has repeatedly ruled out stepping aside, and Mr Guaido proposed a transitional government in failed talks brokered by Norway in 2019.
Mr Pompeo signaled that US goals have not changed, saying that Washington still wants Mr Maduro out of office and still supported Mr Guaido.
Venezuela arrests two Americans for failed 'invasion' | DefenceTalk
May 5, 2020 - CARACAS: Two Americans were detained in Venezuela on Monday on suspicion of plotting to topple President Nicolas Maduro’s government, which has accused US-backed opposition leader Juan Guaido of bankrolling the scheme.
The arrests came a day after the government said it foiled an “invasion” from the sea, killing eight assailants and capturing two others.
Maduro appeared on state television to show the passports of Luke Denman, 34, and Airan Berry, 41, and told the Venezuelan military high command that the pair were members of the US security forces.
Attorney General Tarek William Saab earlier told reporters that “hired mercenaries” had signed a $212 million dollar contract with Guaido using funds “stolen” from state oil company PDVSA.
The United States — one of more than 50 countries backing Guaido as Venezuela’s acting president as he challenges Maduro for power —
has slapped sanctions on PDVSA and allowed Guaido to use funds from frozen accounts belonging to the firm’s Houston-based subsidiary Citgo.
Saab said Guaido had signed a contract with former US special forces soldier Jordan Goudreau, linked in several press reports last week to an allegedly bungled attempt to topple Maduro.
The Canadian-born Goudreau, an Iraq and Afghanistan veteran, is accused of training a mercenary force to invade Venezuela that disbanded after Colombian authorities seized a weapons shipment meant for the group.
Saab also shared on social media a video of Goudreau, who now runs a private security firm called Silvercorp USA, in which the former soldier claims an operation against Maduro’s regime is ongoing.
Guaido’s press team released a statement on Monday denying the accusations and insisting it had no agreements with private security firms.
US, Colombia blamed
On Sunday, Venezuela claimed a group traveling on speedboats and embarking from Colombia tried to land before dawn in the northern coastal state of La Guaira but were intercepted by the military and special police units.
Diosdado Cabello, deputy leader of the ruling Socialist Party, claimed the operation was “orchestrated” by the United States and its Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), with Colombian support.
Colombia denied any involvement, while Maduro claimed on Monday that the mission’s aim was to assassinate him.
