The latest and greatest from the incursion into Venezuela feature pictures of the mercenary team and their confiscated ID’s.
I don’t know much about this sort of thing, but I highly doubt legitimate “professional adventurers” attempt to start a revolution while toting their real identification. TWIC cards and passports? Seems odd.
Venezuela!! I thought we were supposed to get Greenland?
I am not sure Greenland can be developed into prime golf properties. 
Although, being a Danish territory, we may have an angle on cornering 1st release Lego kits.
To the contrary, that’s entirely on brand. How else would they successfully demand to be released on the basis that “we’re Americans!” if unsuccessful?
Valid point. I was thinking along the lines of “plausible denial” if they had no ID. “Citizenship? Oh, you know…we, uh, work for Bob…yeah, Bob. He never gave his last name.”
That being said, I gave up trying to tie faces/names/accents to nationalities years ago. When I was a Federal Great Lakes Pilot I once boarded a boat in Thunder Bay, ON for a move to Duluth, MN. She was a Wagenborg line general cargo ship, Dutch flag. Normally, the officers were a mixture of Dutch and eastern European with the unlicensed crew from the Phillipines (pre-9/11 they were Indonesian). When I came up to the pilothouse the Old Man, appearing to be a Phillipino was conducting pre-departure tests. He turned and greeted me, “Ah, Guten tag Herr Lotse. Wilkommen.”
Taken aback, I must have had a puzzled look on my face when I replied, “Guten tag, Kapitan. Sprechen Sie Deutsch?” He laughed and replied in English, “Pilot, I am German.” His dad was a sailor and met his mom in Germany…you just never know! My German was rusty, at best so, “Sprechen Sie langsam, bitte” was repeated often when he would launch into the typical banter between two, supposed, German mariners. (I am 1/2 German on my mom’s side but can get by…barely…in simple conversation. )
If you can get by in conversation you’re doing better than me. Lost most of what I learned in high school but similar to your encounter I once had occasion to greet a German automation tech with a Grüß Gott only to be met with a neutral reply and suspicious look. Later he had occasion to note my pronunciation was so on target accent wise he was trying to see past the ‘American’ and wondering if I was German mysef. I just had a demanding teacher with a good ear. Wish I had kept it up.
This doesn’t surprise me. I’ve worked with a lot of ex-military guy on anti-piracy teams. Most of them are very good but I’ve seen some of them do some very goofy stuff.
I think it has to do with the military being so highly structured. In the military an individual can’t stray too far off course without a correction from someone. However once outside that structure, for a few at least, they will not have their shit together.
EDIT: On the other hand maybe there is a legit reason to carry that ID.
After reading Legacy of Ashes very little surprises me when it comes to CIA stupidity and arrogance.
“Professional adventurers” might not but I think that’s not the phrase these guys should use:
https://mobile.twitter.com/bellingcat/status/1257720329931194368
Rather like Uncle Duke from Doonesbury…
“I paid my way through college in the Congo.”
Love Doonesbury. Uncle Duke might have done better, since Honey was a competent assistant.
Just keep Zonker on the tanning circuit and all should be well!
Well, now…seems to be a regular S.O.F. mag expose from the late 70s. This won’t end well for certain individuals.
The mercenaries may have thought their operation was secret but it looks like the only thing missing from the welcoming committee was the Venezuelan palace marching band.
Grim comedy: Look closely at the photos. One of the captured men is wearing a surgical mask. I don’t think COVID is his biggest worry right now. Or, he is a cock-eyed optimist, and thinks this little misunderstanding will soon be over.
A Bay of Pigs-style fiasco:
Both operations resulted in failure but they don’t compare in terms of scale and preparation. In the Bay of Pigs invasion, 8 CIA supplied B-26 bombers attacked Cuban airfields prior to the invasion by over 1,400 paramilitary troops divided into five infantry battalions and one paratrooper battalion.