How not to invade a country: the Venezuela edition

Whenever President Nicolás Maduro addresses Venezuela, bombastic and controversial statements are almost a certainty. However, this past weekend, Mr. Maduro sat in front of television cameras to deliver some truly shocking news, that Venezuelan forces had intercepted an armed plot to ‘capture’ him and take down his government. 

On Sunday, elite Venezuelan armed forces neutralized an armed incursion at Macuto Bay — less than 20 kilometers from the capital of Caracas — killing six mercenaries and arresting 13. Launched by sea from neighboring Colombia, the attackers were made up of Venezuelan dissidents and security contractors from U.S. company Silvercorp.

Immediately, Venezuela’s Interior Minister Nestor Reverol classified the incursion as “a Colombian terrorist group intending to destabilize Venezuela.” Other Maduro supporters called the attack an attempted coup by U.S. President Donald Trump, drawing parallels to the U.S.’s botched Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba in 1961.

However, in “Operation Gideon” — as the Venezuelan government is calling the armed incursion — it would appear that the primary enemy came from within. Venezuela’s Prosecutor General Tarek William Saab pointed the finger at Juan Guaidó, the leader of the opposition and self-declared interim president. Having a recent track record of...