Erik Prince Reportedly Wants in on the Venezuelan Coup
Blackwater founder and DeVos brother Erik Prince is at it again, and by “at it,” I mean “itching to do some more war crimes.”
Reuters reported early on Tuesday that Prince is looking to build a private army to overthrow embattled Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro, seeking funding and support “from influential Trump supporters and wealthy Venezuelan exiles.” Prince has reportedly been taking his plan on the road as well, holding meetings in both the U.S. and Europe as recently as this month in which he’s pitching a $40 billion plan for up to 5,000 mercenaries from Colombia and other Latin American countries to fight on behalf of the Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó.
Unfortunately for Prince, even the White House and Guaidó appear to not want their hands anywhere near the idea. Per Reuters:
White House National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis declined to comment when asked whether Prince had proposed his plan to the government and whether it would be considered. A person familiar with the administration’s thinking said the White House would not support such a plan.
Venezuela opposition officials have not discussed security operations with Prince, said Guaido spokesman Edward Rodriguez, who did not answer additional questions from Reuters. The Maduro government did not respond to a request for comment.
A spokesman for Prince also denied the existence of the plan, telling Reuters that Prince “has no plans to operate or implement an operation in Venezuela.”
Last year, Prince laid out a plan to privatize the war in Afghanistan in an interview with the UK Independent.
It’s hard to think of a dumber, more violent, and all-around shittier idea than dumping thousands of armed foreign mercenaries into a country that’s already on the brink of civil war with the stated purpose of helping to overthrow the government. It’s just the cherry on top is that the person who wants to make this horrible idea reality is Erik Fucking Prince, whose company committed war crimes against Iraqi civilians, and who all but got pantsed on live television last month for denying that he lied to Congress about the role he played in the Trump campaign. (He is now facing new legal trouble in that area too.)
Prince or no Prince, however, it appears that the situation in Venezuela is only getting worse. On Tuesday, Guaidó launched a coup attempt against Maduro’s government, which was quickly backed by the State Department.