‘Freedom Fighters’ Led by American Tried Invading Venezuela Eight dead, 13 captured in assault Maduro likens to ‘playing Rambo’; Trump says plan received no U.S. support By John Otis, and
https://www.wsj.com/articles/freedom-fighters-led-by-american-tried-invading-venezuela-11588722164
BOGOTÁ, Colombia—Seasick and vomiting aboard fishing boats packed with guns, ammo and two-way radios, the ragtag band of fighters—including two American veterans of the Iraq war—made their way from Colombia to the Caribbean coast of Venezuela.
But their plan to arrest Venezuela’s authoritarian government and free political prisoners collapsed before they hit shore. The two-boat invasion force, made up mostly of Venezuelan military defectors, ran into helicopter gunships, snipers and even irate fishermen.
The Venezuelan government said it has captured 13 “terrorists” and killed another eight.
“They were playing Rambo,” crowed President Nicolás Maduro during a TV address as he held up the passports of the two detained Americans. On Twitter, the botched raid was quickly dubbed “The Bay of Kids,” a modern-day version of the 1961 failed Bay of Pigs landing in Cuba.
On Tuesday, questions were swirling around the true nature of the amphibious landing as soldiers mopped up what was left of the tiny invading force that, according to President Trump, had received no U.S. support.
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