![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stateofthenation.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/05\/im-186676-1024x683.jpg\")
The Venezuelan government released this photo of what it said are the identification documents of Luke Denman, who was captured along with another American.
PHOTO: MARCELO GARCIA\/AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE\/GETTY IMAGES<\/p><\/div>\n
By Jessica Donati
\nThe Wall Street Journal<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON\u2014Luke Denman, a former Green Beret, was searching for meaning after serving in places including Iraq when a former teammate in the U.S. Army Special Forces offered what sounded like a job to help Venezuelans.<\/p>\n
The 34-year-old Mr. Denman signed up after nearly a decade away from the front lines. The mission, however, ended in disaster as the small force he was part of sought to slip into Venezuela to overthrow its authoritarian ruler, President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro, but got no farther than the beach,\u00a0where he was captured along with another American<\/a>.<\/p>\n Since then, his family and friends have been seeking to understand what drew him to the task and have been trying to get U.S. government help to extricate him from a Venezuelan prison.<\/p>\n They claim Mr. Denman was misled by the force\u2019s organizers into believing that the mission had the direct backing of President Trump and the U.S. government. Mr. Trump and other U.S. officials have said the U.S. had no direct involvement.<\/p>\n Mr. Denman\u2019s friends and family also expressed frustration that the State Department hasn\u2019t done more to help him after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged\u00a0to work to bring home the Americans involved<\/a>\u00a0in the exercise, once their nationalities are confirmed. The U.S. closed its embassy in Caracas last year and moved the operation to Bogot\u00e1, Colombia.<\/p>\n Mr. Denman\u2019s relatives say they have contacted the State Department Bureau of Consular Affairs, which is responsible for the safety of citizens overseas, as well as the U.S. Embassy in Bogot\u00e1 and the Swiss Embassy in Caracas, but no one has returned their calls.<\/p>\n The State Department said in a statement that it was aware of reports about the matter and is making the safety of Americans abroad a priority. \u201cOur team continues working to get to the bottom of recent events,\u201d a spokeswoman said.<\/p>\n One of Mr. Denman\u2019s former teammates, Jordan Goudreau, has said in interviews he was working with a retired Venezuelan general to raise a force of fighters who would try to slip into the country and lead a rebellion against President Maduro. Despite the improbability of the plot, it seemed like the type of work that Mr. Denman and an associate, Airan Berry, were trained to do in the Special Forces, said those who knew Mr. Denman.<\/p>\n Daniel Dochen, a childhood friend who last spoke to Mr. Denman a week or two before the start of the mission in May, said Mr. Denman said he had been told the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration would send a helicopter to whisk Mr. Maduro away to the U.S. once he was overthrown.<\/p>\n \u201cHe messaged at one point or another, they had gotten the green light from Trump,\u201d Mr. Dochen said in an interview.<\/p>\n Mr. Denman was working as an underwater welder and had recently confided to another friend, Braxton Smith, that it didn\u2019t match up to his expectations. Mr. Smith said the former Green Beret was wondering, \u201c\u2018Am I doing anything useful for the world?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n They first talked about the Venezuela mission in the fall, after Mr. Denman had finished a welding contract. They met, rode around on motorcycles and caught up on their lives after some time apart. Mr. Smith, an attorney, said Mr. Denman assured him that the mission was fully sanctioned by the U.S. government and that he even had a set of rules of engagement.<\/p>\n \u201cI had asked him one time to shoot me the contract so I could look it over to make sure he wasn\u2019t getting into something crazy,\u201d he said. But the contract never arrived.<\/p>\n Mark Denman, a brother of Mr. Denman, said he was always getting job offers for military-type work and said he warned him to be wary and ensure he had official support.<\/p>\n \u201cI told him, when you\u2019re going somewhere wearing the uniform of a U.S. soldier, there\u2019s a certain amount of responsibility that, in the public light, they have,\u201d Mark Denman said. \u201cWhen you\u2019re operating under these contracts, God knows.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>
President Nicol\u00e1s Maduro during an online news conference May 6.\u00a0 PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS<\/span><\/h4>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n