All language subtitles for Men.of.War.2024.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DDP5.1.H.264-cACT_eng

[electrical crackling]

[switch clanking]

[electrical crackling swells]

[switch clicks]

[helicopter blades whirring]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[insects chirping]

[♪ dramatic music continues]

[Jordan Goudreau]
So, in May 2020,
I was raided by the FBI.

[FBI Team] Breach.

[device explodes]

[Jordan]
They took
technical gear, weapons,

my encrypted drives, 50 grand in cash.

[FBI Team] Closet. Closet.

[Jordan]
My lawyer's concern
was it would've been, uh,

some kind of death-by-cop scenario

in which they did the raid
in order to try to suicide me

or have me fight them.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

Like, can I be honest with you?

So, I don't really wanna shoot Americans.

That's not my deal.

And so, when I see a dude
outside my fuckin' apartment,

instead of shooting with my Glock,

jumping out, grabbing his blaster

and then clearing through counterclockwise

for the other 20 dudes
Jason Bourne-style...

[grunting]

...I decided I would just
get the fuck out of there.

Hopped on the bike,
and I headed south to Mexico.

And I didn't know who was
with me or who was against me,

and I knew that there were Americans
involved in the whole situation.

I didn't know if they wanted me
off the, uh, chessboard.

I didn't know.

[interviewer]
Why did the FBI raid you last year?

So, I planned and executed an operation

to invade Venezuela

and depose the illegitimate
ruler Nicolás Maduro

in hopes of liberating 30 million people.

[interviewer] How'd that go?

No soy bueno.

[laughs]

Badly.

Badly.

[reporter 1]
Now to a story
that seems like it was ripped

right from the pages of a spy novel,

but it's playing out in real life.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[reporter 2]
And we're getting
new images tonight

of what Venezuela says is the failed plot

to overthrow the Venezuelan government.

[reporter 3]
Operation Gideon,

as this botched mission was dubbed,

was over before the two boats
even hit Venezuela's shores.

[Nicolás Maduro in Spanish]

Nothing to do with our government.

There was no U.S. government,

uh, direct involvement in this operation.

If we'd have been involved,
it would've gone differently.

[reporter 4]
U.S. officials
say they're looking into

the self-proclaimed architect
of a failed infiltration

into Venezuela this weekend.

Florida contractor and ex-Green Beret,
Jordan Goudreau.

[reporter 5]
The man
behind Operation Gideon,

Jordan Goudreau, was boasting on Twitter
of the mission's success.

[reporter 6]
A $200 million contract

that supposedly the opposition leader,

Juan Guaidó, signed with Mr. Goudreau.

[reporter 7]
This is like
"Fyre Fest: the Army."

[reporter 8]
This had
no chance of working.

[reporter 9]
I don't know if
we have one foot in reality

and one foot in delusion.

I don't know what is real.

[waves crashing]

[electronic beeping]

[electronic warbling]

[soldier 1] Gravel saddle,
break from one from the inside.

From that gravel saddle,
break to the left.

[soldier 2] Yeah.

-[soldier 1] If you go about--
-[Jordan] I got movement on second target.

Re-engaging.

[soldier over radio]
Okay, Roger.

[indistinct chatter over radio]

[weapon blasts]

[Jordan] I think that's got him.

He's down.

He's done.

Well, that was nasty.

Fucking Afghanistan after an HR.
[Hostile Recon]

[Jordan]
Those times for me,
as terrifying as they were...

it's one of the best times of my life.

Hell, yeah.

Guys who love Special Forces

don't wanna do anything
else other than this job.

We're in the business of war.

And the more you get comfortable with it,

the more you do it,
it becomes like this drug.

[explosion blasts]

-[gunfire]
-[soldier] Oh, shit!

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Jordan]
A Special Operations veteran,

when we get out, there's no mission.

That's what I struggled with.

Like,
Apocalypse Now.

[Captain Willard]
Waiting for a mission.

All I could think of was
getting back into the jungle.

[Jordan]
And finding one's difficult.

You can't take a guy who
one day was Captain America,

and then next second, you're done now.

Now you can work at McDonald's.

I wasn't hurting for cash.

I just didn't... I didn't have a home.

Like Rambo, I didn't know where to go.

I didn't have anything to do.

I had my Harley, and I rode around.

And I would go to other countries,
pick up some small work here and there.

After Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico,

I helped with the reconstruction effort.

It was one of the first missions

that where I really saw some
good in what I was doing.

♪ Hooked on a feelin' ♪

-Sing it, Chris!
-Yeah.

♪ I'm high on believin' ♪

♪ That you're in love with me ♪

♪ I'm hooked on a feelin' ♪

And so, I started a security company,

Silvercorp USA.

-[indistinct shouting]
-The world is dangerous.

Some problems can't be
solved with conversation.

My name is Jordan,

and I've spent my entire adult life
in combat and training for combat.

I was a soldier since I was 17.

I both planned and led
hundreds of combat missions.

I was a Special Forces soldier
for most of my career.

And tried to get the company
off the ground.

My friend who worked
with me in Puerto Rico,

he recommended me
to a guy named Keith Schiller.

[reporter]
Keith Schiller
is Director of Operations

at the White House.

He's one of Donald Trump's
closest advisors.

Keith Schiller, the man who spent
the better part of 20 years

as Trump's bodyguard, who knows
where a lot of the bodies are buried

when it comes to the president.

[Jordan]
He was one step
removed from Donald Trump.

They are lifelong friends.

After he left the White House,

Keith Schiller started a security company
for presidential events.

We will make America great again!

-Thank you. Thank you.
-[cheering and applause]

[Jordan]
And I actually
did one of the rallies.

Schiller was looking
for guys with my background,

and so he reached out to me.

I have unique skill sets,

and he thought that I would be
a good fit for this project.

[♪ gentle tropical music playing]

Keith Schiller and I drove
together to a meeting at WeWork

with some Venezuelan political operatives.

We meet in Miami because it's the center

of all of the Venezuelan expats.

I was brought in
to see about the viability

of catalyzing a regime change
in Venezuela.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

Hola.

I'm Mike Pence.

And on behalf of President Donald Trump

and all the American people,

let me express the unwavering
support of the United States

as you, the people of Venezuela,

raise your voices in a call for freedom.

[Jordan]
The conflict in Venezuela

was explained to me into that meeting.

[gunshot]

[Donald Trump]
In Venezuela

and across the western hemisphere,

socialism is dying.

And liberty, prosperity,

and democracy are being reborn.

[reporter 1]
President Trump is taking sides

in the political crisis
brewing in Venezuela.

He's announced his support
for opposition leader,

Juan Guaidó, who has declared himself

the country's interim president.

[Jordan]
They told me about Juan Guaidó.

[speaking Spanish]

[cheering and applause]

[reporter 2]
Guaidó calling Maduro a dictator

who didn't win the presidency
in free and fair elections.

[reporter 3]
The National
Assembly is basically

the only democratic
institution left in the country

and Guaidó is the head
of the National Assembly.

[reporter 4]
At least 38 nations
now back Guaidó.

[reporter 5]
Only a handful of countries
are supporting President Nicolás Maduro.

The people of Venezuela
are standing for freedom and democracy,

and the United States of America
is standing right by their side.

[cheering and applause]

[in Spanish]

[cheering]

[Jordan]
They've explained to me
that you have the Venezuela

that is okay with Nicolás Maduro
and the current regime,

which is a very small percentage.

But these are wealthy elites.

These are people who benefit
from the Maduro regime.

Then you have everybody else.

[reporter]
Thousands
of protesters filled Caracas

calling for President
Nicolás Maduro's ousting.

[crowd chanting]

[Jordan]
Everybody and their mom

was trying to get money to
liberate Venezuela back then.

There were eight or 10
different groups in Miami.

The WeWork meeting

was the first meeting
that sparked everything.

There were no bones about it.

We were discussing black operations,

and SIGINT, and everything under the sun

as it pertained to liberating Venezuela.

Or deposing the current
leader of Venezuela, Maduro,

and replacing that leader
with Juan Guaidó.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

Keith Schiller was involved

in a company called Global Governments.

Global Governments was a lobbyist group

who used their political
relationships for business.

The Global Governments' team

would do the business side of everything.

They would've had their pick of contracts
from the new Venezuelan government.

Venezuela is an extremely
resource-rich country for its size.

Gold, uranium, obviously oil.

And so, we're talking billions of dollars.

[John Bolton]
It'll make a big difference
to the United States economically

if we could have American oil companies

produce the oil capabilities in Venezuela.

[Jordan]
My understanding was that

these Venezuelan
political operatives represented

the highest echelon
of the Venezuelan government,

and Keith Schiller represented
the highest level of the U.S. government.

I felt I was in good hands
with these guys,

and they assured me
that we would definitely get

U.S. government approval,
if not had it already,

had the unofficial approval.

I was brought in
to do the clandestine part,

which was to help liberate Venezuela.

[reporter]
Civil society
is collapsing in Venezuela,

which is why the stakes are so high here

and why President Trump
did extend recognition

to the interim president
and the National Assembly

as the real constitutional authority.

So, the money's one thing,
and that's great,

and it's good to have money,
and everybody wants money,

and that's-- That's cool.

But the big part was the challenge.

And so, when somebody says to me,

"Hey, we want you
to liberate 30 million people,"

knowing my ethos as a Green Beret,

and knowing the void that was in me,

there was no fucking way
I was gonna pass that up.

[♪ somber music playing]

I was always gonna be in the Army.

[fireworks popping]

It's always what I was gonna do.

I just had this thing in me.

[projector clicks]

I was born in Mississauga,
Ontario, Canada.

If you see pictures of me as a kid,

I had fatigues and the bandanna,

and I loved
Rambo,
Full Metal Jacket, Platoon.

I don't think any mom
wants her son to join the Army.

But you can join at 17 with a waiver,

and my mom needed to sign the waiver.

[projector clicking]

I wanted more than just the Canadian Army.

There's very little chance
you're ever going to deploy.

Whereas, the U.S. military...

[gunfire]

[whirring]

...there's a much greater opportunity.

[reporter]
Reporting that
an American Airlines plane

was hijacked. A United Air...

[Jordan]
I was in Fort Bragg at the time.

It was like something out
of
Starship Troopers.

Hey, Kit, what's going on?

War! We're going to war!

[♪ dramatic music playing]

It was the same way.
Everybody was armed to the teeth.

It was, you know, full lockdown.

Everybody thought we were going to war,

which we did,

and everybody was excited.

When you get a security clearance,

you have to renounce
your other citizenship.

So, I'd filled out paperwork,

submitted it to the Canadian government.

If you were in the enlisted
before the attacks,

you get your citizenship expedited.

And I got it very fast.

[reporter 1]
U.S. Army Ranger School.

[reporter 2]
The toughest tests
in the U.S. military,

where elite warriors have their physical
and mental limits taken to the extreme.

[Jordan]
And I always wanted
to be the top of the class,

best shot, most physically fit,
but in an unhealthy way.

Like, I hate to lose.

[soldiers chattering]

It's like Heraclitus said,

"War is the father and the king of all.

Some he has made men,

of others kings, and of some slaves."

[soldiers yelling]

[♪ brooding music playing]

[computer keys clacking]

[Sebastiana Barráez in Spanish]
I'm a journalist who covers

the military and the border.

Unbelievable things

happen in Venezuela.

Things that seem like magical realism.

What may seem implausible
in another country

will often occur in ours.

Operation Gideon...

It's like a novella told in acts
full of characters.

Where the heroes are not really heroes

and the villains
who are not really villains.

[♪ upbeat tropical music playing]

[Jordan]
I was sent by Global
Governments to Colombia

to figure out if a Venezuelan
operation was even possible.

Days of meetings with different exiles.

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
Leopoldo Lopez

the main leader of the
Voluntad Popular political party,

and Congressman Lester Toledo

bring to Colombia...

[indistinct chatter]

[Sebastiana]
...Jordan Goudreau.

[in Spanish] I need to learn Spanish.

[in English] I have to. I must.

-I'm so-- I'm still young.
-[laughing]

-I have to learn.
-I don't know.

You and I are warriors.

We're not-- We're not good with languages.

This is where I met Cliver Alcalá.

[interviewer in Spanish] Why is [Maduro]
always talking about a coup?

Because...

I think he's asking for it.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
Cliver Alcalá
is a Venezuelan military official

who reached the rank of major general.

[Hugo Chávez in Spanish]
Senior general of the division...

-Cliver Alcalá...
-[crowd applauds]

[in Spanish] A revolution
by the people and for the people.

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
He held
many important military positions

until Hugo Chavez's death
and Nicolás Maduro's rise to power.

[reporter]
Chosen by Hugo Chávez
as his successor,

Nicolás Maduro has followed
his mentor into power.

Some Chávez loyalists have their doubts.

[in Spanish] Cliver Alcalá
never accepted Nicolás Maduro.

[reporter in Spanish]
Alcalá spoke out against Nicolás Maduro

saying he is a traitor.

[Cliver in Spanish]
Maduro constantly lies to us.

Maduro does not respect our constitution.

Maduro has thrown the country into chaos.

[♪ "A Long Time" by Moby playing]

[♪ music stops]

[electronic beep]

[♪ ominous music playing]

[in Spanish] My priority is my country.

War is a continuation
of politics by other means.

With Maduro there are no more politics.

Without a doubt,
the use of violence is legitimate.

It is necessary!

Maduro won't step down
unless it's through legitimate violence.

Maduro is a man with no scruples.

He's capable of kidnapping anyone,
of assassinating anyone,

capable of killing,
of doing the unthinkable.

I made a choice to fight against this man.

It's a fight I will carry until my death.

I was forced to flee Venezuela.

From Colombia,

I tried to find ways
to liberate my country.

[in Spanish] Major General
Cliver Alcalá is now in exile.

[reporter 1]
Breaking news
out of Venezuela,

where an attempted coup is underway there.

[reporter 2]
The opposition
leader, Juan Guaidó,

publicly called for a military uprising.

[reporter 3]
John Bolton,
national security advisor

to President Donald Trump,
supported Guaidó.

I can tell you there's a lot
going on beneath the surface.

The opposition is in constant contact

with large numbers of, uh, admirals

and other supporters, uh, within
the Maduro administration.

[speaking Spanish]

[reporter 4]
But Venezuela's
military stuck with Maduro,

who remained in power.

[in Spanish] The Venezuelan military

has a hard time accepting
the leadership of a civilian.

[reporter 5]
If the opposition really wants

to swing serious military support its way,

it's likely going to have
to come up with a new strategy.

[in Spanish] When Operation Freedom fails,

many Venezuelan soldiers
who had abandoned the Armed Forces

went to Colombia.

Cliver Alcalá decides to organize them,

setting up several camps.

[in Spanish]
There is no doubt the Colombian government

knew what I was doing on their soil.

[in Spanish]
It was during this training process that

Venezuelan opposition leaders approached

and offered their support

and decided to plan an operation
in Venezuela.

So we will be the liberation
force or the task force.

What I would like to do

is I would like to build
a tiered strike force.

Two-tiered strike forces.
We'll train them.

My men will train them.
And then we'll equip them.

-[in Spanish] We're on the same page.
-[in English] Good. Okay.

[speaking Spanish]

[Jordan]
At first, I was very skeptical
about General Alcalá.

Uh, I figured he was just a Chávez guy,
and I didn't trust him.

But he never lied to me once.

He showed no signs of deception.

He was just a guy who wanted
to liberate his country.

[Cliver in Spanish]
I always trusted Jordan

because I was dealing
with a fellow soldier.

The operation was very high risk.

We were all aware that we were

risking our lives for this operation.

[Jordan]
General Cliver Alcalá
was in charge of the operation.

So I was legitimately going to link up
with Venezuelan military units

that General Cliver Alcalá
had accrued inside Venezuela

and we were going to catalyze a rebellion.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

So, catalyze is just a spark.
That's all we needed.

We needed the Venezuelans on the ground
to see the face of a gringo,

to realize that this was
actually going forward

and this was trusted,
that this had U.S. support.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

And if all of the units in Venezuela
activated based off of that spark,

the operation would've been successful.

[crowd cheering, car horns honking]

[in Spanish]
You have to understand that here

runs the blood of [Simon] Bolivar,

of [Antonio Jose] Sucre,

of [Francisco] Miranda.

These men at one point

had to go to other countries
to gather forces

and return

and return

to liberate Venezuela.

I hope this second campaign
ends in victory!

[in Spanish]
From the heart to Jordan and to you

we want to say thank you

for trying to liberate a nation

that is not yours.

Thank you to my general.

And thanks to you,

we are going to liberate Venezuela.

And rest assured,

if tomorrow your nation needs us,

we'll be there, brother.

Even if we are only armed
with a bat or a rock,

-we'll be there.
-[applause]

[in English] Let's go.

They're soldiers.

I'm a soldier.

And I was in a position to help,
so of course I'm gonna help.

And so, when I look in these
soldiers' eyes in Venezuela,

they're patriots,

exiles from their country.

And they say, you know,
"Will you help us?"

What the fuck am I gonna say, no?

I mean, it's the motto
of the Special Forces,

"De Oppresso Liber."

Free the oppressed.

I'm a Special Forces guy.

I was a Special Forces guy my whole--

[soldier translating in Spanish]

Younger than the young fighter.

[laughter]

Make no mistake, guys. So--

So the deal is, there's no--

There will be no chance in this.

There will be no "trying" in this.

We're not going to try to do this.

We are going to do this.
This is going to succeed.

It will be unfair for them.

[explosions]

[helicopter blades whirring]

[gunfire]

My first deployment was Iraq,
and that was Baghdad.

The first month, I was terrified.

Tell them to stop! Tell them to stop!

I mean, I would come back
from a mission, a gunfight,

and I would just puke my fucking guts out.

Guys, I got fucking blood
all over my goddamn gloves.

[indistinct radio chatter]

Back then,
dudes were dying left and right.

We had two rangers get blown
the fuck up in a striker.

We just got in country

and the left seat ride, right seat ride,

two of those guys
got cut in half with .50 cals.

I got back from that, I was like, "Fuck,

I don't know if I'm made for this thing."

[soldier speaking indistinctly]

[jet engine humming]

[Jordan]
But the more you do it,
the more you kind of start to like it.

My grandfather went to World War I,

and he stayed there for a few years.

But when they came back, they were back.

Compare this with my generation.

A generation of perpetual war.

[artillery fire]

[soldiers shouting]

So, we would keep going, coming back.

Keep going, coming back.

Do normal life,

maybe do some training, go back to war.

So, you normalized war
as part of your daily routine.

[soldier 1] Yeah, there's blood
everywhere, bro.

[soldier 2] Where's our other
body bag, dude?

I thought we had one per truck.

[Jordan]
And a lot of guys
weren't comfortable with that,

and those guys would
get out of the military.

But some of us really liked it.

-[gunfire]
-[soldiers yelling]

[♪ percussive music playing]

Like, once this shit happens,

you guys will have freedom of
reign in the political arenas.

[indistinct chatter]

Right.

[Jordan]
When I went to Colombia
to do the feasibility study,

Global Governments said,

"Go forward, the contract is signed."

And assured me that the
operation would be financed.

I said, "Great, no problem.

I brought my guys. I committed my money."

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[in Spanish] This is Nicolás Maduro.

-[laughter]
-[Jordan in English] Yes.

But then the deal with Global Governments
fell through.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

The money never materialized.

And-- And everything fell apart.

And I'm pissed off.

I was out over a hundred grand.

Everything I had.

I invested everything I had.

[♪ brooding music playing]

[♪ lively upbeat music playing]

About a month goes by,

and a guy named Phoenix,
who was Juan Guaidó's cousin,

reaches to me and basically says,

"Hey, we want to meet with you,

and I represent the, you know,

legitimate president of Venezuela,

and his name is Juan Guaidó."

I said, "I know."

I said, "Okay, let's meet."

We meet in a Dunkin' Donuts
in Orlando, of all places.

So we meet, and Phoenix says,
"Hey, listen,

we would like to keep this project going

because we're not kidding."

He then set up a meeting with J.J. Rendón.

According to our constitution,

every Venezuelan
have the duty, not the right,

the duty of do whatever in their power,

be it a public officer
or a regular citizen,

to bring back democracy

in the case that it's disrupted

for whatever legitimate means necessary.

[♪ foreboding music playing]

[reporter 1 in Spanish]
J.J. Rendon is a political strategist,

who has won many elections
in Latin America.

[reporter 2 in Spanish]

This is the official role of J.J.
within Juan Guaidó's scheme.

Power corrupts everything,

and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

[♪ meditative Eastern music playing]

[J.J. Rendón]
Someone,
that I will not mention who

because it's, for me, unnecessary,

he say, "There's this guy
that he has a proposal.

"A decorated guy who was
deployed, this and that,

and he is, um, a Green Beret."

And I say,
"Okay, let's talk with the guy."

[Jordan]
So I go
to J.J. Rendón's penthouse,

which is in Miami.

[♪ tense music playing]

Now, he's a wild guy.

He's into ninjas and samurai,

and, uh, he's got, like,
ancient tapestries

from the fuckin' Fourth Dynasty
of the samurai warrior--

I don't know, he loves ninjas.

I mean, he was proper. He was educated.

He was a gentleman, I can say.

J.J. Rendón had a letter
of appointment by Juan Guaidó

to his position as the crisis strategist.

I think it was like five titles,
but I don't remember.

It may have been the unilateral
crisis management strategist,

you know, dark lord, I don't know.

He wages psychological warfare
when he's in the room with you.

He's a cagey guy.

He's a worthy adversary.

I have very low tolerance,
very low, to bullshit.

But I was prepped,
and I had a very good, uh...

I had a good read on
in how to deal with Rendón,

so I felt I was adequately prepared.

And he said, "We have a plan
with these people in Colombia

to get in Venezuela

and take down the government.

We have an agreement
with the Colombian government.

We have the people,
and I'm flying there frequently.

And I'm providing them with training.

And we have a plan."

"Interesting. What else you have?"

"Oh, we have, uh, some contacts

with the high-level government
in the United States."

Hmm.

At which point,

we started to discuss the next steps.

Who's gonna pay me? My time? My thing?

Look, I have skin in the game already.

You need to show me
that you have skin in the game.

"The effort I put on.

I talk with other opposition leaders.

They made me waste my time. No one pay me.

I spent already this amount of money."

[Jordan]
I was wearing a lot of hats.

The business piece was new for me.

Was I in over my head? Yeah, I was.

But I'm always in over my head.

I'm in the over-your-head business.

Let's suppose
that we are interested in that.

So, what are the next steps?

Because I got screwed once
with the first iterations,

I'll look at this and I'll do this,

but you have to come up with 1.5.

Okay, we can do that.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Jordan]
So, maybe
our second or third meeting,

J.J. Rendón signs a promissory
note for 1.5 million.

[Rendón]
Memorandum of understanding.

Okay, let's do that.

[Jordan]
He also gives me
a wire bank transfer for $50,000.

It was like a down payment
on the retainer.

So that was a process
of, like, two or three weeks

until there was a moment,
"Okay, I need a contract."

I was putting a lot
of pressure on J.J. Rendón,

and I said, "Listen, man,

we either do it or we don't do it."

And then apparently J.J. called

the president of Venezuela,

and they decided,

"Yes, okay, okay,
we're gonna sign this thing."

Okay, let's do the contract.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[satellite beeping]

[Jordan]
So I get to D.C.

and Juan Guaidó is standing by
in his office in Caracas.

And I remembered something I learned
in, uh, spy school in the military.

Tape everything that's critical.

[Juan Guaidó]
Hi, Jordan, nice to meet you.

[Jordan] Hi, Mr. President,
nice to meet you.

[Juan Guaidó]
Thank you for the effort, for the time

for our cause.

[Jordan] My pleasure.

Are there any questions, Mr. President?

Concerns?

-I know.
-[Juan Guaidó]
A lot of concerns,

but we are doing the right thing
for our country.

We are in a very hard

humanitarian crisis
and we have to resolve.

I'm about to sign.

[attorney] Yeah, you can do the sign.

Okay, he signed every page.

[Jordan] Oh, my God.

[Juan Guaidó]
Let's go to work!

[Jordan] Yes, sir.

[all laughing]

[attorney] Thank you very much,
Mr. President.

-[Jordan] Thank you.
-[Juan Guaidó]
Thank you.

Bye. Nice to meet you.

[Jordan] Likewise. Thank you.

[Jordan] Hard part's done.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Jordan]
There was a clause
that was a deniability clause,

which I've seen that shit in movies.

It's from
Mission: Impossible.

[IMF director]
Should you
or any member of your team

be caught or killed...

[IMF director]
The Secretary will disavow
any knowledge of your actions.

Fuckin' crazy.

So, the contract was for 212 million.

Minimum.

Called my dad up and said,

"Shit, man, I just signed
this crazy contract."

It was the first business
contract I ever signed.

So, I mean... [scoffs]

[speaking Spanish]

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
The interim government

didn't sign a contract with Alcalá.

The interim government signs a contract
with Jordan Goudreau.

Cliver Alcalá was to be the
military chief of the operation.

[in Spanish] They knew that
Cliver Alcalá had the troops.

[in Spanish] The interim government
didn't want to send a mixed message

with a military leader
from Chavez's revolution

commanding an operation funded
by the Venezuelan opposition.

[♪ gentle upbeat music playing]

[Jordan]
I'm not a lawyer.
I am not a lawyer.

And so, there was a lawyer
who vetted the contract,

Travis Lucas.

Travis Lucas is the lawyer
for Keith Schiller

and a lot of prominent D.C. power players.

[notifications pinging]

[message chimes]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

From Travis Lucas,

I was introduced to a man named Drew Horn,

who would've been very
interested in this project

because he was an ex-Green Beret,

and so, it was in his wheelhouse.

And he now worked directly
for the Vice President, Mike Pence.

[chiming]

[message chimes]

[notifications pinging]

We had several discussions,
him and I, about the project.

And he was very excited about the project.

The second meeting
that Drew Horn and I had,

we discussed the nature of the operation,

and there were no bones about it.

I was gonna catalyze change
of government in Venezuela.

He essentially said, "Listen,

we don't really care how bloody this is.

The money is going to flow afterwards."

And I remember that distinctly

as I was sitting in P.J. Clarke's.

You know, Mike Pence said...

All options are on the table.

All options are on the table.

All options are on the table.

[notification pings]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[pings]

And the time has come to end

the Maduro dictatorship

once and for all.

[♪ dramatic music continues]

So, I've got a man directly
in touch with the president,

directly in touch with the vice president.

And I figured, you know what?

I'm good to go.

[♪ dramatic upbeat music playing]

I had a team in Miami

who was working the logistics here.

Miami is Casablanca.

It's the center of South American,

Central American intrigue.

[shouting in Spanish]

This place is a hotbed
for this sort of activity.

Obviously, with Cuba, Venezuelans,

a lot of expatriates.

[reporter]
A big demonstration
taking place

against the Maduro regime in Miami.

[speaking Spanish]

[Jordan]
I had a private plane going out

from Opa Locka Airport in Miami.

It was a very small Cessna, a six-seater.

[interviewer] Who's paying for that?

I didn't ask.

All I know, it was at our disposal.

And we took, you know, a couple trips

to Colombia moving personnel,

some gear.

Nothing ITAR, just regular gear.

Just equipment.

[interviewer speaking]
What does non-ITAR mean?

[Jordan]
Non-ITAR basically means
it's nothing restricted from,

you know, no guns, no Level 4
strike plate carriers.

Nothing-- No instruments of war,
things of that nature.

The guy who donated supplies
was a gentleman in Miami.

Venezuelan. Patriot.

And he just wanted to help out.

He has contracts in
South America to sell firearms,

tactical gear, things of that nature.

[interviewer] What would you call
his job description?

[chuckles]

Uh, well, I would say
he would be a... tactical-- He--

In the United States we would
call him-- Well, I don't know.

He-- We would call him a tactical gear...

distributor.

[interviewer]
What would everybody else call him?

-[laughing]
-He's an arms dealer.

He's an arms dealer,
but he is 100% on the level.

Everything he does is 100% ITAR-compliant.

[♪ ethereal music playing]

[Rendón]
Days later, Jordan, he came.

He said, "Okay, I want--
we want 1.5 million on deposit.

I need you to prove that you're serious."

J.J. Rendón kept saying,
"We're gonna pay you in two weeks."

In order to move money in this amount

for a thing like that,
you need permission.

So, treasury and things, you understand?

He don't understand any of that.

They kept saying, "Two weeks. Two weeks."

And he became like a...
Like another person.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Rendón]
"Look at you.

How it's possible that you live like this

and you don't have 1.5 million?

Like, armors and paintings

and your apartment and whatever.

How is possible that--
That you... You don't care?"

[Jordan]
You've got
30 million people starving,

living in squalor.

In the other hand,
you've got these dickheads

living in fucking Miami high on the hog.

[Rendón]
Are you really telling me

that the Venezuelan people are dying?

We're fighting for that
for the last 22 years.

You just arriving to the movie.

Late, by the way.

We checked the guy,

and there was red flag after red flag.

We see that he didn't have

any contact with the administration.

J.J. Rendón was specifically
looking for my D.C. contacts

to provide validity
to the operation, which I had.

I don't think any of that is true.

That he has a connection,
that he talked to people.

He was a guy in search of an opportunity.

In our point of view,

this agreement is a prenup.

You sign a prenup

and then you don't get married,

the supposed wife that is
your ex-girlfriend now...

she cannot come and say,
"Oh, I want half of your assets,

and have a-- We will have sex
Wednesdays and Fridays."

I say, "No, you're my ex-girlfriend."

They thought that, oh, well,

we've got this contract with this guy,

so we're good, we're just not
gonna give him any money.

I said, "Look, you didn't
bring the contacts,

you don't have the license.

We don't like your tone
and, uh, it's over."

[Sebastiana speaking Spanish] The
opposition never canceled the contract.

Because they figured

if the task force was successful,

they could take credit for the operation.

But if it failed,
they could deny involvement.

[applause]

[Trump] Maduro is an illegitimate ruler.

A tyrant who brutalizes his people.

But Maduro's grip and tyranny
will be smashed and broken.

[applause]

We were in a good moment
of the opposition.

[Trump]
Here, this evening

is a very brave man

who carries with him the hopes, dreams,

and aspirations of all Venezuelans.

Joining us in the gallery is the true

and legitimate president of Venezuela,

Juan Guaidó.

-[audience cheering]
-Mr. President,

please take this message back to your...

[applause]

[♪ rousing music playing]

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
J.J. Rendon is a merchant of illusions.

I have no doubt that J.J.
manipulated information

making U.S. officials believe

the opposition

was solid and credible.

When in reality, it wasn't.

The United States wants to announce today

an additional tranche of $118 million,

uh, to aid the Venezuelan crisis response.

The United States will provide
an additional $56 million

to support our partners in the region.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
In the end, it only served to fill

the coffers and pockets
of a few opposition leaders.

So, it wasn't in their best
interest to liberate Venezuela.

They didn't want to.
They just wanted to appear like

they were liberating Venezuela.

They're full of shit.

They were making too much money.

Who is him to even give a proper opinion?

Stick at it.

[smacks leg] You know?

We are suffering,

fighting,

getting the heat for 23 years.

And you decide that you're gonna
save the country?

Really?

[♪ ominous music playing]

[in Spanish] We started working
hand in hand with the opposition...

[translator] We started working
with the opposition, thinking...

...thinking that their interests
were the same as ours.

We could not agree
or coordinate operations.

Juan Guaidó signed a contract
with me three months ago.

Broke the contract

because they're playing a game
at the expense of a country.

[in Spanish] It's like they want
to stop this operation.

[translator] They are even
planning to stop this operation.

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
Going back to Cliver's training camps,

the Venezuelan government had intelligence

on those activities in Colombia.

[in Spanish]
We had a personnel of 300 men.

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
The Venezuelan government

opened a dialogue
with the interim government

to address concerns

and meet some of the interim
government's demands.

[in Spanish] They cut a deal
with the criminal government.

I thought that their concern,
like mine, was Venezuela.

And I was wrong.

I was very wrong.

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
Leopoldo Lopez
sends Deputy Lester Toledo to Colombia

to persuade General Cliver Alcalá

to abandon the operation
against Nicolás Maduro.

[Cliver in Spanish]
After that meeting, Lester Toledo

invited Commander Morantes

to discuss something in private.

Morantes informs Jordan
and Jordan tells him to record it.

The conversation in that recording

clearly reveals the need
to eliminate Cliver Alcalá.

By any means.

He was asking Morantes for a way
to physically eliminate me.

[Morantes in Spanish]
Everyone who is
here in Colombia are under Cesar.
[Cliver]

Cesar is a necessary figure,
because it won't be the same

to crush the military leadership
that remains in Venezuela

with me, a lieutenant colonel, as with him
a major general. You understand?

[Lester Toledo in Spanish]
Now we have
an ugly problem that we have to tackle.

What is the problem?

The problem with first
and last name is Cesar.
[Cliver]

We have to find a way
to make him invisible.

[Morantes in Spanish]
Not Cesar.
[Cliver]

[Toledo in Spanish]
He can't be the face of the project.

[in Spanish] Venezuelan
opposition leaders were worried,

believing that Cliver Alcalá could

seize power for himself

once Maduro was ousted
from the presidency.

[Jordan]
I'm a man of my word,

and if I say I'm going
to fucking invade a country,

that's typically what I do.

[speaking indistinctly]

[indistinct chatter]

We realized we would
have to fund it ourselves

and so that's what we did.

All I needed was 1.5 million.

I went and pitched some of the video

that I had taken with the boys
at the camps in Colombia.

[shouting in Spanish]

Bueno
Venezuela.

-Bueno
Venezuela.
-Bueno
Venezuela.

Bueno
Venezuela.

[Jordan]
I did absolutely raise money

with that footage, and it worked.

I raised anywhere from

400 to half a million.

[applause]

[in Spanish]
Jordan is an excellent soldier.

This, I think, is a man

that anywhere he sees injustice happen

he is against it.

And for me, that helped me
identify with him.

My hand over my heart,
I have no economic interest.

My only interest is my country.

The Colombians and the Americans,

if they don't like you, that's fine.

Then we just say, okay, "Well, yeah,

General César has nothing to do with it."

And then when we cross the line,

after that, who gives a shit?

Then, of course, you have
everything to do with it

and we're gonna create a narrative
of you being a patriot and a hero

and you doing all this
because that's what you're doing.

You're the main component
of this entire plan.

I had the military in place.

I had all the right people in place.

All we needed to do
was coordinate and catalyze.

But I need help.

[soldier speaking Spanish]

[engine rumbling]

[soldiers shouting]

-[flint striking]
-[insects chirping]

[flames whooshing]

[fire crackling]

[Jordan]
I must've asked
over 50 Green Berets,

Navy SEALs, Air Force PJs,

everybody through the Special Operations
community who is retired,

still wearing their tough guy T-shirts,

on, you know, fuckin' YouTube
with all the guns and shit,

telling everybody how to be a badass,

spending all day killing paper.

[gunfire]

And two motherfuckers said,
"Yeah, we'll do this."

[♪ upbeat music playing]

[notification pings]

[messages chiming]

[♪ upbeat music continues]

[Mark Denman]
In January of 2020,

my brother Luke,

he shared with me that he was in Colombia.

And I said, "What the heck
are you doing in Colombia?"

And he alluded to doing
some kind of mission there.

I had immediately gotten
concerned that some idiot friend

had talked him into doing contract work.

He says, "Don't worry,
this is a U.S. mission.

It's approved by the U.S. government.

We're working with the rightful
recognized president of Venezuela

to train Venezuelans."

[Jordan]
Airan Berry and Luke Denman

are two of the bravest men
I've ever known in my life.

These guys both served
with me in Special Forces.

Luke was with me in Iraq.

[Mark]
He's always been,

you know, I'd jokingly call him
Captain America.

Patriotic to a fault.

"Western democracy is the way to go.

Tyrants are evil."

He saw September 11th and terrorism,

and was passionate about
bringing justice to the world.

And as he went through the military,

found that he had a talent
for that kind of work.

And our family has been
represented in every conflict

the United States has been in
since the Revolutionary War.

[Jordan]
Luke Denman's,
an incredible shot,

incredible soldier.

And likewise, Airan Berry.

Airan and I have been
through a lot together.

We were in Israel together
for probably six months.

I was his cell leader or his team leader.

[Mark]
For both Luke and Airan,

when they started serving
as Special Forces guys,

Jordan was higher ranked.

He is senior. He knew how things worked.

And everybody looked up to him.

[gunfire]

He's one of the fastest shots. That he--

He has all the things
that these guys admire.

Boom!

It's hard to describe the level of trust
that they had in Jordan.

But everybody's seen
the series
Band of Brothers,

and people understand the bonds in combat.

You gotta understand it's even more tight
when it's a small unit.

These six-man teams

where everybody has a very specific job,

and if anybody fails at that job,
everybody dies.

So you are trusting these people
with your life

day in and day out for years.

What Luke has said on that

is that they absolutely trusted
Jordan with their lives,

and that trust was misplaced.

There had been camps set up
with training going on.

So, Luke and Airan arrive into this thing
a little late in the game.

[♪ tense music playing]

Jordan, when he approached Luke,
described the plight of the Venezuelans

and that there's this
U.S.-backed operation

that fits exactly what they've done
in Special Forces in the past.

Training forces to overthrow a tyrant

and, uh, take back Venezuela
for Juan Guaidó, the lawful president.

My two boys, they didn't even hesitate.

No hesitation.

They said, "Jordan, fuck it. Let's go.

I'll follow you anywhere."

[notification pings]

[Mark]
It's my impression of Jordan

that he was absolutely
playing on Luke's ideals

and duty and patriotism

in order to pull him
into Operation Gideon.

They did it because they saw
what I saw in the mission set,

which was the most incredible mission set,

and the mission set they'd trained for
since they were in Special Operations.

Jordan made absolutely direct statements,

not alluded to, not hinted at,

that he was in direct contact

with people within
the Trump administration,

and this was a U.S.-backed mission.

[Jordan]
Yeah, I mean, Luke and Airan
would've shared in the profits

had this been successful.

But that's not really why they did it.

[Mark]
Jordan saying that Luke and Airan
weren't doing it for the money,

is probably one of the few things

that I agree with
that Jordan has ever said.

[chuckles]

And to this day,

they couldn't give you a dollar figure

on how much they were
gonna get paid, anyways.

There's no signed contracts anywhere,
uh, for Luke and Airan.

They openly state
they just trusted Jordan.

[water lapping]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Jordan]
I was heading
from Miami in a boat

to link up with our teams
by the border of Colombia-Venezuela.

My boat had twin diesels,
and it was a civilian model.

It gave us more flexibility
and deniability if we were compromised.

My guys down south,

they had already moved forward on land

with the Venezuelan rebels
into that sector

that was a cartel-heavy sector.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

This was the plan.

Three boats meet at sea.

We would've made a link-up
in international waters.

I would've hopped
onto one of the other boats.

The point was to slip in undetected.

The idea was not to shoot it out

with the Venezuelan military.

The two main body boats would've proceeded

to the Venezuelan drop-off point
and made landfall.

Several elements in Venezuela
were waiting to be activated.

Once activated, it would've been like

a bunch of dominoes falling in place.

I needed Alcalá there

so that he could command
the respect of not only his troops

that were on the border,
but the troops inside Venezuela.

They would have assumed that
because there were Americans,

that we were backed by the U.S. government

and that the Americans are here.

And then the objective,

it was a satellite tower,
a broadcasting network.

We would've broadcasted
victories from all of the people

liberating different cities
and whatnot in Venezuela.

[broadcast tone beeping]

[crew speaking Spanish]

[in Spanish] My colleagues and I
took this action

in response to the tyranny
imposed on our country,

by an unscrupulous criminal group.

I'm not referring only
to the Maduro regime,

but to a corrupt segment
of the opposition.

I'm not undertaking this action
in pursuit of power.

It kind of reminds me
of Operation Valkyrie

in Germany in World War II,

where some patriots
tried to assassinate Hitler.

[Ludwig Beck]
But remember,
this is a military operation.

Nothing ever goes according to plan.

[in Spanish] A dizzying series of events
unfolded over the next four days.

And in those four days,
everything unraveled.

[reporter in Spanish]
Weapons captured in Colombia

that were going to Venezuela...

A massive war arsenal found in a van.

[interviewer]
You've seen photos of the weapons.

Sure.

Did those look like the guns from Florida?

I think an AR-15 looks like an AR-15.

Could they have been? Yeah, sure.

But they could've been guns
from anybody's collection, right?

So, could they have been mine?
Sure, because I had AR-15s.

Here-- Here's the bottom line.
We didn't ship any weapons.

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
When that cache of weapons was seized,

the driver of the vehicle with the weapons

confessed he was hired to deliver the van

to someone named Pantera.

[Jorge Rodríguez in Spanish] Alias Pantera
is a leader of a mercenary group.

His destination was Riohacha

where there are training camps,

under the command
of this traitor named Cliver Alcalá.

Cliver Alcalá has American advisors

who are coordinating,
who are directing and giving him orders,

and that each one of these camps
has American military trainers.

[Jordan]
In retrospect,

that would've been the best
time to cancel everything,

[reporter in Spanish]
The dismantling of this operation

leaves the Americans desperate.

Here is Mr. Jordan...

They put my face on Venezuelan news.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[reporter in Spanish]
Here is the mercenary.

The American agents
we have here are Agent Jordan

who you just saw,
agent Luke and agent Aron.

[Mark]
Luke and Airan absolutely
had no knowledge of that,

that Venezuela television had aired
that this thing was going on

and that, you know,
they named Luke and Airan by name.

His name was on TV.

Every freaking detail.

The contract was on TV.

[Rodríguez in Spanish] Here it is. Guaidó

signed a contract

to invade Venezuela

with Mr. Jordan Goudreau.

[scoffs] Once it was done, it was done.

And so I had to assess damage control.

I had to take a hard look
and say, "Listen...

what pieces of information
does the enemy have?"

So, in war,

the enemy typically knows
the troop strength.

They know what I'm gonna do.

They know how many people I have,

but as long as they don't
know where I'm going to do it

and when I'm going to do it,
I still have the element of surprise.

Really?

I've pulled hundreds
of Special Operations missions.

And most of the time, the enemy knows.

They'll have my face.

When I was in Afghanistan,

I had a "wanted" poster.

So, it's easy to say,

"Well, it was obvious
that I was compromised."

But I saw no evidence of that.

There was plenty of evidence

of a hard compromise on this.

This person was on a suicide mission.

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Jordan]
I was on our final stretch.

Coming from Jamaica,

guys were staging,
preparing to make movement.

[in Spanish] The very next day,

the U.S. government
held a press conference.

Today, I'm here to talk about

the former Maduro regime
and drug trafficking.

Nicolás Maduro and his co-defendants

alleges a conspiracy

involving an extremely
violent terrorist organization

known as the Revolutionary
Armed Forces of Colombia,

the FARC,

in an effort to flood the United States
with cocaine.

[Rendón]
President Guaidó
came to the United States.

There were some conversations
there about other paths.

The U.S. government has
announced a $15 million reward

for information leading to the arrest

of Venezuelan president Nicolás Maduro.

After that visit,

rewards over the heads of Maduro

and other public officers.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[Geoffrey Berman]
Cliver Alcalá
is a former Venezuelan general,

who operated near the Colombian border

as an intermediary between
the FARC and the cartel.

[in Spanish] Who gave the order
to include me in that terrible indictment?

Who put a ten-million-dollar bounty
on my head?

[in Spanish]
Cliver Alcalá is so impulsive,

that when the U.S. put a price on his head

he went on a radio show
and spilled everything.

[radio host in Spanish]
Let's talk about the situation this week.

A Venezuelan citizen
was detained with weapons--

[Cliver in Spanish]
No, a Colombian citizen, who I hired

to transport weapons for the purpose
of the liberation of my country

as part of a contract,
signed by President Guaidó

to authorize a military operation
against the dictator Maduro.

[phone line ringing]

[Jordan]
I called Keith Schiller.

Nothing.

I called Drew Horn...

[message chimes]

...and I said, "Listen,
there's Americans in trouble."

[notifications pinging]

[message chimes]

These charges carry with them
a mandatory minimum sentence

of 50 years imprisonment

and a maximum sentence of life.

[messages chiming]

[fire crackling]

Yeah, it was unbelievable.

So un-fucking unbelievable, man.

[in Spanish] To my family,
I must say goodbye for a while...

I am confronting...

their allegations with the truth.

I neither offend nor fear with the truth.

I love you all and I hope...

with all my heart,

now that I will continue to do
what I've always done

in my life as a soldier.

[♪ somber music playing]

[Jordan]
At that point,
it was incredibly confusing.

I had U.S. government support,
or so I thought,

and yet they removed my strongest ally.

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
The warrant
for Cliver was a response to the interests

of the government of Juan Guaidó.

The U.S. would remove Cliver Alcalá

because his operation kept moving forward.

[♪ tense music playing]

[in Spanish] I had already been warned

they would find a way
to take me out of the game.

And this was the most drastic way.

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
The interim government,

specifically Juan Guaidó,

denied ever signing the contract.

JJ Rendon also claimed it was a lie.

[in Spanish] We haven't signed
any document of any kind.

[Sebastiana in Spanish]
There's so much to the art of war

that was used to sabotage
Jordan Goudreau's ability to lead.

So when Cliver Alcalá
was taken to the United States,

the task force died.

There was no successor.

[in Spanish] My country's
political enemies achieved their goal.

They thwarted an operation
they knew was being planned.

Cliver Alcalá,

that was supposed leader of the thing,

extradited
to the United States right away.

So, if there is any indicator

why nothing's gonna happen.

[Jordan]
When the general was arrested,

I decided to stop the operation.

[♪ "Never Let Me Down Again"
by Depeche Mode playing]

It was this terrible circumstance

of one thing after another going wrong...

that changed my mission.

I'm in international waters,
and I'm committed.

My guys are in Colombia,
and I'm gonna take the boat.

I'm getting my guys the fuck out of there
right now.

♪ I'm taking a ride ♪

♪ With my best friend ♪

[Jordan]
But that didn't work out.

♪ I hope he never ♪

♪ Lets me down again ♪

Because the boat engine died.

[waves lapping]

I spent three days adrift at sea.

Finally, I get picked up.

[seagulls cawing]

I landed in Louisiana.

I rented a car,
and I headed back to Florida.

[Mark]
And one of the questions
I want an answer to is,

how are these guys going in
and you're not even there?

You're in Florida.

[Jordan]
My options were really limited.

Because of coronavirus,

travel at that point had shut down.

[camera rattling]

My guys down south

were still committed
to fulfilling the operation.

My men told me, "Listen,
we don't need to head back.

We want to go forward
and knock this thing out.

We're not leaving these guys."

And I had my reservations,
but I said it was okay.

As far as, uh,

Jordan expressing, uh, skepticism

about the success of the operation,

and then Luke and Airan
insisting on it going forward,

this is a direct quote from Luke is,

"That is complete and utter bullshit."

Jordan, over satellite phone,

was telling them, every step of the way,

"Go forward. There's men
and material waiting for you

in Venezuela.

Go to Venezuela

and catch up with these
4,000 military and police

that are ready to go."

[soldier speaking Spanish over phone]

[Jordan]
When I looked at it
as a strategist,

and at this point I'm just a strategist,

whether Luke and Airan
went through with the operation

or if they went through Colombia
is two bad decisions.

In combat, the emphasis
is on decisiveness.

If you have to make a decision
and it's bad, that's fine.

Just make a fucking decision.

[Mark]
Talking to Luke,

he agrees there was
no good options at the time.

And it sounds like they were
under some level of threat

there in Colombia as well.

[Jordan]
When everything
started to go badly,

the Colombian partners
that I had got nervous.

Very nervous.

And there were teams that were sent out

by the Colombian military
to find everybody.

[Mark]
That the ELN, the socialist thing

that works in the area,
and the drug cartels,

those things suddenly became threatening.

[Jordan]
Once that was relayed to the ELN,

Luke and Airan were in grave danger.

So, they could've either tried

to sneak through Colombia as gringos,

or they had a shot
at actually moving forward

and conducting an operation in a big sea

where all they really had to do
is touch the ground

and link up with Venezuelan generals.

They were to show an American face.

They were there to show
that this is the catalyst

and, to be perfectly honest,

it was supposed to be me,
not Luke and Airan.

I was supposed to be the one there.

[in Spanish] Remember,
I had already been here for a month.

The fact that the operation
went forward that day

was a big surprise to me.

The execution of it

completely deviated
from what Jordan and I planned.

[fire crackling]

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[Jordan]
I had satellite communication
between Luke and Airan.

And they essentially said,

"Hey, listen, our lead boat
was compromised."

[gunfire]

[person speaking native language]

[helicopter whirring]

[Jordan]
"And we are escape and evading."

They get word
that the first boat has been killed.

Everybody in it's killed, captured.

[in Spanish] None of the men
on that first boat survived.

That's where Pantera died.

The Venezuelan regime,

they did what they've always done...

assassinate.

[Jordan]
When I learned
my guys were on the run,

I essentially started calling news outlets

and trying to redirect Venezuelan forces

to different areas of the country.

Anything to throw off the regime.

And so, I made a video.

At 1700 hours, a daring amphibious raid

was launched from the border of Colombia,

deep into the heart of Caracas.

Our men are continuing to fight right now.

Our units have been
activated in the south,

west and east of Venezuela.

And essentially, we made
the video to divert forces.

I needed to divert Venezuelan troops
away from my guys.

[in Spanish] Members of the Armed Forces,

generals, commanders,
captains, subordinates, superiors,

please join this liberation effort,
Operation Gideon.

[Jordan]
My guys were supposed to infil
during hours of limited visibility.

That didn't happen.

So, the journey took longer
than they thought.

[in Spanish] This operation should
have been executed in 16 hours

and ended up being 72 hours.

[radio beeps]

[Luke Denman over radio]
We dropped off the bulk of the guys.

[radio beeps]

And a few of us are headed west
up the coast right now.

They changed plans.

They're no longer
trying to go to Venezuela.

They are now trying to make it to Aruba.

Okay, roger that. That's a good copy.

How much gas do you have?

[Luke]
Not a lot.

[Jordan]
I told Luke and Airan,
I said, "Listen,

I need you guys to take
a photo right fucking now."

[radio beeps]

[Luke]
What do we need?

Pictures?

Yes, just a photo or a video
of your current situation.

[♪ ominous music playing]

The last thing I wanted
was for them to get killed.

I needed the regime to know
that they were American citizens.

I needed their face plastered in the media

so that they wouldn't kill them
had they seen them.

Again, I apologize.

I'm trying to win the information war.

We're trying to gain a lot of support,

and we're getting a lot of support.

We just have to keep pushing hard today.

[Luke over radio]
Anything else we need to do?

[Jordan]
Stay alert, stay alive.

Anything else for me?

[Luke]
Negative.

Okay, stay safe.
Skywalker one, Yankee one, out.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[messages chiming]

[notification pings]

[computer keys clacking]

[Jordan]
Yeah, I tweeted
out of frustration.

And I sent it to Donald Trump.

And it was basically a cry for help.

[♪ suspenseful music continues]

[soldier shouting]

[officer] Come down! Come down!

[indistinct shouting]

[message chimes]

[♪ somber music playing]

[boat motor rumbling]

[Mark]
Maduro's men
knew exactly where they were

and when every step of the way.

The only way a helicopter's
gonna find this fishing boat

out in the middle of the ocean

is if somebody's telling them
where to go look for it.

[Jordan]
Our means of infil was covert.

We were compromised.

And because we were compromised,
the mission failed.

I can tell you that it was
a pretty gut-wrenching morning.

And I was like, okay,
I need to talk to my parents now

before anybody else does.

That was one of the hardest conversations
I've had to have with anybody.

As I'm following all these Twitter feeds,

I finally come across a photo
of what's going on there,

and it's a photo of a pickup truck

with a bunch body bags in the back.

And I'm looking at those body bags

and, like, that lump of a human
inside that bag right now

could be my brother.

And finally, there's a photo
of a bunch of men

lined up with their faces down,
and I notice a tattoo.

That's him right there.

I'm just glad he's alive.

Eight of my men were killed.

Everybody else is in captivity.
Some of them are still hiding.

And some of them are underground.

[reporter 1]
Venezuelan security forces

continue combing the countryside,

arresting more alleged conspirators

from Sunday's ill-fated armed incursion.

All of them have now been
charged with terrorism,

conspiracy, weapons trafficking and more.

[reporter 2]
Two Americans
were sentenced to 20 years

in prison in Venezuela

for an apparent botched mission

to overthrow that country's president.

My name's Airan Seth Berry.

Luke Alexander Denman.

[Mark]
They were stripped down
and had hoods over their head,

subjected to sleep deprivation and no food

and then random beatings,
and that goes on, uh, for days.

Both of them described
having a sharp blade

dragged across their body
and saying they would gut 'em

unless they cooperated.

[interrogator in English] Where and when
did you meet Jordan Goudreau?

We both know Jordan from,
uh, our military experience.

[interrogator] Who commands Jordan?

President Donald Trump.

[interrogator] Who gave you the weapons
and the tactical uniforms?

Jordan through Silvercorp.

A private security contracting,

known in some places as mercenary work.

[in Spanish]
I believe that the request for extradition

in accordance with the agreement between
the United States and Venezuela,

of Mr. Jordan Goudreau

who has confessed his crime

against the legality and peace
and sovereignty of Venezuela.

A $200 million contract

that supposedly the opposition
leader Juan Guaidó

signed with Mr. Goudreau.

[reporter 1]
This plot
could long-term implicate,

not only the U.S. government,

also the opposition of Venezuela.

It also allows them plausible deniability.

It has echoes of a Bay of Pigs,
black op operations

that were done in Latin America

during the 1970s, '80s and '90s.

[reporter 2]
Jordan Goudreau
is under investigation

for potential arms trafficking violations.

[reporter 3]
Jordan Goudreau,
the fact that he went ahead

with this fucking amphibious assault...

[reporter 4]
What the fuck is going on?

[reporter 5]
A freedom-loving
patriot, a mercenary,

and a gifted warrior scarred by battle
and in way over his head.

[laughter]

I'd say that there's three entities

that are responsible
for this botched operation.

On the forefront of this
would be Jordan Goudreau.

What he could do is fall on the sword.

[Jordan]
Luke and Airan's capture

and the defeat of the mission,
that's my failure.

I carry a tremendous sense of shame

because it's my responsibility.

It's my operation.

[Mark]
Right behind Jordan
would be Juan Guaidó.

It's hard to see Guaidó as much more

than a sort of puppet opposition,

which the U.S. has been able
to use for political purposes.

And overarching is appointed officials

in the United States government
serving under Trump.

Career folks.

Guys like John Bolton.

[reporter 6]
Five thousand troops
to Colombia

scrawled in clear view on the notepad

of White House national
security advisor John Bolton.

Military action is possible
if that's what's required.

[Mark]
Mike Pompeo said
the United States government

had no direct involvement.

There was no U.S. government
direct involvement.

[Mark]
And then later, the U.S. government

had no involvement in Operation Gideon.

[reporter 7]
The Trump administration
is denying any involvement.

[Trump]
No, I know nothing about it.

The government has nothing
to do with it at all.

If we'd have been involved,
it would've gone differently.

[press corps laughing]

[waves lapping]

[♪ brooding music playing]

[lawyer over phone]
Who's lying? Who's telling the truth?

Because what happened, happened.

We can't change the past.

Jordan, we need to explain the past to say

because of what these people
told me and who they are,

I thought this was approved.

That's your defense.

I was working with people
that were telling me

that they were in contract
with the administration.

I was working with somebody

that was in the administration.

I had a contract signed with a president
of a foreign country that we recognize.

I mean, Guaidó said we don't
know anything about this guy.

What the fuck?
You have a contract with the guy.

By the way, they moved
the meeting up to 1 p.m.,

and it's gonna be
at the FBI office in Miramar.

Okay?

-All right--
-I'm the fuckin' fall guy, man.

[laughs] I'm the fuckin' fall guy.

That's-- That's kinda
how I'm feeling, man.

[lawyer]
But... But... Okay...

This is the situation.

I'm fucked. That's the situation.

They're gonna fuckin'
gut me like a fuckin' trout.

So-- Fuck!

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[officer] Let's move!

[Jordan]
We had set up
in a meeting with the FBI.

[device explodes]

And so when they raided me,

I decided I would just
get whatever I had and leave.

I got on my bike, headed south to Mexico.

Tried to beat the surveillance
that was on me.

Used my tradecraft.

Used the fact that it was coronavirus
to hide my face with a mask.

Blended in. Used cryptocurrency
to cover my financial tracks.

And laid low in Mexico.

[reporter 1]
Jordan Goudreau,
he's disappeared.

[reporter 2]
Goudreau's whereabouts
are currently unknown.

[♪ tense music playing]

[satellite beeping]

[no audio]

The U.S. government was complicit in this.

They worked with Guaidó's people
to fucking do this, man.

Like, the country I fought
for my whole life was just--

It's all a crock of shit.

[reporter over phone]
They're accusing now the general

of conspiring with Maduro against America.

The general is probably
the most honorable guy I've ever met.

Period.

The government was given
some bad information by J.J. Rendón.

[lawyer]
This is interesting.

Guaidó has not given
an accounting of $104 million

that he managed in 2020.

How much money?

[lawyer]
$104 million.

[in English]
They're trying to come up with something

to justify why they took him.
[Alcalá]

It's a big thing
that the case is just weak.

There is nothing to justify

the fact that he's here right now

and the general wants you to know
that you're a hero for him.

Wow.

[lawyer over phone]
They can't release your guys.

You can't release people that

that went to your country
intending to overturn it.

I spent my whole life fighting
for this fucking country!

Iraq and Afghanistan.

[♪ tense music playing]

[Jordan] What's up, Mom?

Front and center, soldier.

Not much. Not much.

Dad was in World War I, you know.

[Jordan] Yeah, I know.

He trained the troops for World War II.

They're fuckin'--
They already took everything

they could from me, man.

I got-- I left the Army
with my mind destroyed,

and this was the round two of it.

You know what I'm saying?

[Mary Goudreau]
Yeah, Jordan,

just stay on the right side of the law.

[lighter clicking]

They're gonna have to take--

Like, I'm gonna be honest with you.

If me getting my guys back
means I have to break the law,

then I'll break the law, I don't care.

Like, I-- You know, I tried
to trade myself for them.

I said, hey, I-- I told Maduro,

like, I sent the message to Maduro.

I was like, I'll--
I will trade me for my guys.

[lighter scratches]

[Paul Goudreau]
Yeah.

Just stay on the right side of yourself.

Thanks for having my back always, man,

no matter what. I really--

Like, without you guys, I'm nothing, man.

I'm nothing.

[Mary]
No problem.

[Paul]
Well, we're always

-there for you, boy.
-[Mary]
Love you, Jordan.

[♪ suspenseful music playing]

[Jordan]
Luke and Airan have
been in there for 11 months.

While those guys are
in fuckin' jail, I can't, man.

It's like a fuckin' knife in my heart.

[sighs deeply]

[razor buzzing]

Whenever I'm on mission,

I shave my head, shave my face.

And it's a technique I've always used.

It just reminds me I have a mission.

You know, I am a man of war,

and I will grind whatever grist
the mill fuckin' requires.

[♪ dramatic spirited music playing]

[motorcycle engine revving]

[Mark]
Jordan stayed in contact
with us for some time.

The last time I spoke to Jordan,

he's asking how my cardio is,
and he's got a plan.

Like, we're gonna run on some mission

and blow a hole in the wall

and pull the guys out
and some cowboy stuff.

I mean, this is what he's hinting at.

And all of a sudden,
there's just no more contact

'cause it's pretty obvious

he's not actually
doing anything to help, right?

[gunshots]

That's what it came across as.

[engine revving]

[♪ dramatic music playing]

[Jordan]
Fort Bragg's--

I mean, it's the only home
I've ever really had

since I left my parents' house in Calgary.

And whenever I deployed,
they say, "You're going home."

And I would always come home to the base.

And it's home.

[sniffles]

It was a tough year. I'm not gonna lie.

I mean, I'm human.

It-- It-- It brought me back

to when I first left the military.

It was like I was alone again.

[♪ solemn music playing]

On the last deployment that I had,

I had a lot of memory loss.

Huge pieces of my memory
that were just gone.

Like, I'm not the normal guy
who I used to be.

And so, I go to the TBI clinic.

The neurologist says to me,

"Sergeant First Class Goudreau,
I've reviewed your MRIs."

They diagnosed me with
traumatic brain injury and PTSD

because I guess they go hand in hand.

And he said, "We're going
to medically retire you."

I said, uh...

I said, "You just fucked up."

And he said, "What are you talking about?"

And I said,
"Yeah, you just fucked up, man."

And he said, "Why?" I said,

"Because you put me
between you and the fuckin' door

and there's a window behind you."

And I said, "If you write that report,

I'm gonna throw you
out that fuckin' window."

And they basically
put together an intervention

to convince me to hang it up.

But I never really felt like I had PTSD

because I didn't exhibit the same symptoms
as most of the other guys.

I was always comfortable in war zones.

My PTSD would really stem
from being back in civilian world.

[♪ solemn music continues]

There are some dudes who...

They get caught in that, you know,

and it is fucking devastating.

I've lost more friends to suicide

than I have in the wars...

in both Afghanistan and Iraq combined.

I think it's an indicator
of how much they were up against

and how desperate
and desolate their lives became

after the military, after the Army.

[Paul]
And, uh, when he left the Army,

it was like he...

He no longer had a home.

I couldn't hang up my guns, man.
I just couldn't put it away.

You know, if I did that,
it would've killed me.

You can't separate me from the soldier.

It's impossible.

There would be nothing of me left.

And so, that didn't work so well, yeah.

[Paul]
There'll always be...
[chuckles]

...something somewhere,

somehow that Jordan will feel

that he is the guy to be handling it

and solving that problem.

Yeah, I think Jordan
will always be a soldier.

You know, the Army pumps
millions of dollars into your training.

You're leaping tall buildings
with a single bound,

chasing terrorists across rooftops,

heloing in, uh, to objective.

You're jumping out of planes.

You're doing all these incredible things.

And then one day
they say, "Oh, that's it."

It's like, it doesn't work that way, man.

I was like a hammer
that was, like, broken in half.

Just, no longer of use.

So, you dispose of it, you know.

And maybe what-- That's what
the Army doesn't do so good,

is they don't take...

the broken tools and fix them.

When I was in the Army
and I was doing what I was good at,

there's always a purpose.

Ernest Hemingway said,

"Those who go to war

and those who hunt men and like it

rarely find anything else worth doing."

War's the ultimate crucible.

It shows you who you are.

When you transition
from that high-speed mentality

into civilian life,

it can be very dangerous.

I'm terrified of stopping.

I try just to keep moving.

I try just to keep moving.

[engine humming]

Part of me wishes I was killed in combat
because, uh... [sighs]

...yeah, it would've been easier.

What I was so good at,

what I was the best at,
I can no longer do.

I didn't know. I didn't have a goal.

That's what was wrong with me.
I didn't have a goal.

That's why getting out
of the Army was so hard,

because I had to redefine...

wh...

I don't have--
What the hell is my goal now?

[Paul]
What I was mostly
concerned about Jordan

about this,

was that he had ideas
about trying to help,

and, uh, he got stepped on real hard.

I don't know whether
he was gonna learn a lesson

from that or not.

And he might get involved again,

and, uh, that's what worried me mostly.

[in Spanish]
I have fulfilled my duty as a soldier.

My life will continue
in the fight for my country.

We can't give up the fight.

It's the fight for justice.

The fight for dreams.

And the fight for freedom.

And if my sacrifice helps

I completely offer it to this goal.

[Mark]
The U.S. government
is basically saying,

"We have no responsibilities
to these guys.

"They're just some crazy cowboys

that ran off to Venezuela
in their flip-flops and shorts

and thought they were gonna
take over the country."

What I do know is there's D.C. politicians

sitting around comfortable
in their suits and ties

doing nothing to bring these guys home.

And I think it was a big shock
to Luke's system

to see how quickly and completely

the U.S. is prepared to abandon them.

[Jordan]
I learned that this government
is not worth fighting for.

I learned that people
are worth fighting for.

And if there are people who are oppressed,
send me.

I'll fuckin' fight and die, man.

I hate to say that, you know,

but fucking violence solves problems.

Change happens through men with guns.

It's bad but, hey, man,
I guess it gives me

good job security, at least. Hmm.

[♪ "Taps" softly playing]

Sorry.

-[interviewer] What happened?
-Nothing. I'm good. [laughs]

[interviewer] No, what happened?

I'm okay, man.

-What's the matter?
-Fucking "Taps," man.

Fucking "Taps," bro.

"Taps" breaks me down, dude.

Let my-- Let-- Let me
just clear my shit, dude.

[♪ "Taps" continues playing]

[sighs]

Give me a minute, man.

[♪ "The Dogs" by Moby playing]

♪ I am too shy to cry ♪

♪ You did the work ♪

♪ And took the blame ♪

♪ Winning these battles ♪

♪ Losing the war ♪

♪ What did I gain? ♪

♪ This is how ♪

♪ How we tried ♪

[reporter]
Ten Americans
who've spent months and years

imprisoned in Venezuela

are now back in the United States.

♪ Like the dogs left outside ♪

[♪ song stops abruptly]

[ambient traffic noise]

[♪ ominous music playing]

[♪ dramatic spirited music playing]

[♪ dramatic music fades]