By Victoria Torres on September 11, 2024
US mercenary and war entrepreneur Erick Prince. Photo: RedRadioVE
Erik Prince is a US mercenary and the founder of the US private military contractor Blackwater, which is known for committing war crimes. He is a prominent supporter of the United States presidential candidate Donald Trump. And he is currently promoting a plan to deploy a private army in Venezuelan territory with the intention of attacking the re-elected president, Nicolás Maduro.
According to some international news outlets, Prince is organizing high-level private meetings in the United States and Europe to seek investment and political support from influential Trump supporters and wealthy Venezuelan exiles for such an operation. Prince was involved in the failed Operation Gideon when a mercenary corporation was hired on behalf of Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaidó, to assassinate President Maduro.
It is worth noting that Prince, 55, is a former member of the US Navy’s SEALs (the elite military unit), and he participated in many destabilizing missions from Haiti to Yugoslavia.
Escalating threats
On September 9, he joined the recent social media trend #YaCasiVenezuela and shared a video on his X account with the comment “Stay tuned all freedom-loving Venezuelans. More to follow.” The video ominously announces September 16 as an important date where “Venezuela will change course”, and has been creating anxiety among some people in Venezuela.
This mercenary and former military man has been active regarding the political situation in Venezuela and expressed his support for María Corina Machado in several occasions.
In August of this year, he said on social media that if they raise the US bounty on the head of President Maduro to 100 million dollars, along with that on Diosdado Cabello and his entire regime, then “they just have to sit back and wait for the magic to happen.”
These threats from Prince have already been addressed by the revolutionary government. In fact, in July of this year, the ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela to the UN, Samuel Moncada, highlighted in a post on his X account that “In Venezuela the fight is against global fascism and the clear majority of our people are willing to fight for our independence.”
These new threats made by Erik Prince, the new “hero” of the Venezuelan opposition, come just days after the former presidential candidate Edmundo González Urrutia left the country for Spain, after being granted safe passage by the Venezuelan government. The departure of González left the opposition orphaned and revealed his desire to distance himself from any movement that seeks to destabilize the peace of Venezuela.
Why Venezuela?
Prince’s posts began trending on social media, saying an “unstoppable movement” has begun in Venezuela and that the administration of legitimate President Nicolás Maduro is on the verge of facing a “radical transformation.” In a video posted on August 17th, he told the Venezuelan far-right “your friends from the north are coming soon and we will support you until the end.”
There is more evidence of an upcoming violent plot in collaboration with the regional far right. The Venezuelan fascist, Iván Simonovis, revealed that Prince had had a meeting with the Salvadoran president Nayib Bukele about a month ago. Simonovis, a fugitive from justice, added that “we must be patient and wait for the moment to act. They will never sleep in peace again.”
The Blackwater company was created to avoid investigations by the US Congress; it was better to privatize the horrible activities of murder, torture and massacres that cannot be carried out by the US armed forces themselves. But what does this character want with Venezuela and why has he suddenly returned to threaten the national government? Well, the same as his friend Elon Musk: Venezuela’s abundant energy and mineral resources.
These billionaires therefore represent a new type of corporate colonialism, which seeks to take over a country through companies that set up shop and exploit its resources without giving anything back, and thus end up influencing its political and social life.
Source: Red Radio VE, translation Orinoco Tribune