Analysis: US mercenaries arrested in Venezuela - would capture Maduro

In the evening, a satisfied President Maduro sits on the state television, waving the dark blue passports of the two captured Americans. Airan Berry and Luke Denman have both served in Afghanistan and Iraq but now act as mercenaries for the private security firm Silvercorp.

Former elite soldier Jordan Goudreau, who runs Silvercorp, has assumed responsibility for "Operation Gideon" and says the goal was to capture Maduro and liberate Venezuela from the Socialist regime. Goudreau with background in the elite band Green Baskers sits on a large contact network and has been a colleague with Trump's bodyguard.

In the shadow of the corona pandemic, the United States has increased pressure on Venezuela in the hope of forcing a change of power. The financial sanctions have been tightened further, military units have moved closer to Venezuela and the United States promises $ 15 million in reward to the one who seizes Maduro.

And now a group of former elite soldiers seems to have been trying to put the gloves on the reward. Operation Gideon is being prepared in neighboring Colombia and Goudreau says he had an agreement on support from Venezuelan opposition leader Guaidó but that promised financial payments were not made. Guaidó completely denies that he would support the operation.

President Maduro describes Operation Gideon as a US-backed coup attempt with the goal of killing him. The US government dismisses all allegations of involvement in the military adventure and suggests that it could all have been staged by Maduro himself. And it is hard to know what is true in the propaganda game that is now going on.

Ordinary Venezolans do not know what to think. Yet another act in the big political drama that takes place high above their heads. The population has something else to think about - full of electricity cuts and a dollarized economy that leaves many without the opportunity to meet basic needs.

Now, Venezuela - the country with the world's largest known oil reserve - has been hit by critical gasoline shortages. The result is that domestic production capacity has collapsed and the US embargo is making imports increasingly difficult.

I contact an acquaintance in Caracas to get his view of the failed military operation. In response, I instead get a mobile movie on a car queue that never wants to end. The goal of herding is a functioning petrol station. "I don't have much left in the idea as soon as it is my turn to put myself there in the queue," he says.