A former officer of the Venezuelan army said that Cuban intelligence convinced the Maduro regime that the U.S. would never attack the South American country, a notion that played a significant role in the operation that led to the capture of the authoritarian president, according to a new report.
AFP also quoted Fulton Armstrong, a former CIA agent, who highlighted the failures of Venezuelan and Cuban forces in different instances of the operation. "Even a five or ten minute warning would have made a big difference for Maduro," Fulton said.
He added that U.S. forces benefited from an "incredible" amount of "real time information thanks to stealthy drones" that tracked the authoritarian leader.
Once the operation already began, different factors contributed to its success. The New York Times detailed that the country's advanced air defense systems bought from Russia were not connected to the radar when U.S. forces descended in Caracas.
The outlet claimed that the military's "incompetence" played a large role in the success of the operation, as its antiaircraft systems were practically disconnected during the operation.
Moreover, it's possible they have not worked for years, according to analysts and former officials cited by the NYT. Videos and satellite imagery reviewed by the outlet determined that some components were still in storage at the time of the attack.
On the ground, it seems like ground troops were also unprepared to deal with U.S. counterparts. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt shared during the weekend a social media publication that included a claim that U.S. military used a weapon that led Venezuelan forces to vomit blood during the raid.
"Stop what you are doing and read this," said Leavitt in a social media publication along with several flags of the U.S. The message in question is an alleged account from a person who claimed to witness the raid that took place in early January.
According to the post, Venezuelan forces' "radar systems shut down without any explanation." "The next thing we saw were drones, a lot of drones, flying over our positions," he added.
The guard went on to say that only a "small number" of ground forces arrived in the premises, but they were "technologically very advanced" and "didn't look like anything we've fought against before."
The guard then noted that Venezuelan forces attempted to fight, but the confrontation was a "massacre." "We were hundreds, but we had no chance. They were shooting with such precision and speed... it seemed like each soldier was firing 300 rounds per minute. We couldn't do anything," he added. Overall, some 100 Venezuelan forces were killed in the January 3 attack, according to Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello. I
Asked if their weapons had chances to pose some kind of counter-attack to U.S. forces, the guard said no because "it wasn't just the weapons." "At one point, they launched something—I don't know how to describe it... it was like a very intense sound wave. Suddenly I felt like my head was exploding from the inside. We all started bleeding from the nose. Some were vomiting blood. We fell to the ground, unable to move," the guard noted,
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