Ex-US diplomat heads to Venezuela on private mercy mission for US men accused of coup plot

A retired US diplomat is heading to Venezuela on a private mercy mission for two US mercenaries arrested for attempting to overthrow President Nicholas Maduro.

Former US Green Beret soldiers Luke Denman and Airan Berry were detained in Venezuela in May, during a botched operation to try to kidnap Mr Maduro and bring him to the US for trial.

Both have been charged with terrorism and weapons trafficking offences, and face up to 30 years in prison.

On Tuesday, Mr Denman's relatives said that Bill Richardson, a former US ambassador to the UN and ex-Democrat politician, was en route to Venezuela to try to help the men after the US government failed to offer them any assistance.

It is not yet clear whether Mr Richardson will seek the release of the men outright, or merely ask for lenient treatment. However, he has a track record of involvement in talks to secure the release of US citizens detained around the world, including in Iran, Iraq and North Korea.

“Richardson is not a government official, he’s a private individual right now and so I’m glad he agreed to help us out,” Mark Denman told The Grayzone news website.

Mr Richardson runs his own non-profit organisation, the Richardson Centre, which Tweeted on Monday night that he would be meeting Mr Maduro on a "private humanitarian mission". It is understood that he travelled to the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, on Monday.

The two US soldiers were arrested along with a number of Venezuelan ex-soldiers as they attempted to land a boat on the Venezuelan coast. The ringleader of the attempted coup, fellow ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, claims to have had backing from Juan Guaido, the Venezuelan opposition leader now recognised as the country's legitimate leader by both the US and Britain.

However, Mr Guaido's supporters claim he pulled out of any involvement after it became clear that the coup planners had not the slightest chance of success. Mr Goudreau, who was in the US at the time, is now facing a weapons trafficking probe by the US government, which has denied claims that he had tacit US backing for the coup.

Mark Denman said that so far, his family had had no political assistance from Washington on his brother’s case. The only contact that they had had with US officials, he said, was from FBI agents conducting what "sounded like" a criminal inquiry about Mr Goudreau's activities.

Mr Richardson first conducted prisoner negotiations in 1996, when President Bill Clinton sent him to Iraq to seek the release of US aerospace workers captured by Saddam Hussein's forces after straying over the Kuwaiti border. That same year he also helped free Evan Hunziker, a US citizen arrested in North Korea on espionage charges. More recently, he was involved in talks to free Michael White, a US Navy veteran released in a prisoner exchange with Iran last month after nearly two years' detention.

It is unclear what his chances are of seeking clemency for the two mercenaries, given the hostility between Mr Maduro and Washington. Many believe the Venezuelan leader will seek a high diplomatic price in return for their release.