The two US citizens arrested on Monday were identified as Luke Denman and Airan Berry, both former US special forces soldiers.

Florida-based ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau said earlier on Monday that he was working with the two men in a mission intending to detain Maduro and “liberate” Venezuela. Goudreau has claimed responsibility for the operation.

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The two served in Iraq and Afghanistan with him in the US military, Goudreau said, adding that they were part of this alleged mission in Venezuela called “Operation Gideon”. The aim was to capture Maduro.

Venezuela has been in a deepening political and economic crisis under Maduro’s rule. Crumbling public services such as running water, electricity and medical care have driven nearly 5 million to migrate. But Maduro still controls all levers of power despite a US-led campaign to oust him. It recently indicted Maduro as a drug trafficker and offered a US$15 million reward for his arrest.

Venezuela and the United States broke diplomatic ties last year amid heightened tensions, so there is no US embassy in Caracas. Officials from the US State Department did not respond on Monday to a request for comment.

“I’ve tried to engage everybody I know at every level,” Goudreau said of the attempt to help his detained colleagues. “Nobody’s returning my calls. It’s a nightmare.”

Goudreau’s account of the confusing raid has at times seemed contradictory – for example, he says he was plotting a rebellion for months while claiming not to have received a single penny. Meanwhile, a self-aggrandising Maduro has thrived on broadcasting videos on state TV of what he says was a flawless defence of the nation’s sovereignty.

Kay Denman, the mother of one of the Americans, said the last time she heard from her son was a few weeks ago when he texted her from an undisclosed location to ask how she was coping with the coronavirus pandemic. She said she never heard her son discuss Venezuela and only learned of his possible capture there after his friends called when they saw the reports on social media.

“The first time I heard Jordan Goudreau’s name was today,” she said when reached at her home in Austin, Texas.

Goudreau has said he reached an agreement with the US-backed Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó to overthrow Maduro, which Guaidó has denied. The opposition leader said he had nothing to do with Sunday’s raid.

Goudreau says Guaidó never fulfilled the agreement, but the former Green Beret pushed ahead with an underfunded operation with just 60 fighters, including the two US veterans.

He said he last communicated with Denman and Berry when they were adrift in a boat “hugging” the Caribbean coast of Venezuela. They were still in their boat following an initial confrontation with the Venezuelan Navy early Sunday, he said.

“They were running dangerously low on fuel,” Goudreau said. “If they had gone onto landfall, they would have gone to a safe house.”

Goudreau said the two were waiting for a boat on the Caribbean island of Aruba with emergency fuel to help extract them.

Venezuelan state television showed images of several unidentified men handcuffed and lying prone in a street. One video clip showed authorities handling a shirtless man in handcuffs.

He was identified as a National Guardsman Captain Antonio Sequea, who took part in a barracks revolt against Maduro a year ago. Goudreau said Sequea was a commander working with him in recent days on the ground in Venezuela.

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Maduro ally and Attorney General Tarek William Saab said that in total they have arrested 114 people suspected of the attempted attack and they are on the hunt for 92 others.

Goudreau, a three-time Bronze Star US combat veteran, claims to have helped organise the deadly seaborne raid from Colombia. Goudreau said the operation had received no aid from Guaidó or the US or Colombian governments.

Opposition politicians and US authorities issued statements suggesting Maduro’s allies had fabricated the assault to draw attention away from the country’s problems.

Goudreau said by telephone earlier on Monday that 52 other fighters had infiltrated Venezuelan territory and were in the first stage of a mission to recruit members of the security forces to join their cause.

An Associated Press investigation published on Friday found that Goudreau had been working with a retired Venezuelan army general – who now faces US narcotics charges – to train dozens of deserters from Venezuela’s security forces at secret camps inside neighbouring Colombia. The goal was to mount a cross-border raid that would end in Maduro’s arrest.