White House held talks with rebel officers from Venezuela on coup plans

In this Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 photo, David David points at a photo of his brother Franklin David, during an interview in his office in Santa Teresa Del Tuy, Venezuela. Franklin David was arrested in this town outside Caracas for doing what he has done almost every day for the past 25 years: selling car parts. In a surprise raid, armed police officers showed up at Franklin David�s warehouse and hauled him away for allegedly raising prices too much. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano) less In this Wednesday, Sept. 5, 2018 photo, David David points at a photo of his brother Franklin David, during an interview in his office in Santa Teresa Del Tuy, Venezuela. Franklin David was arrested in this ... more Photo: Fernando Llano / Associated Press Photo: Fernando Llano / Associated Press Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close White House held talks with rebel officers from Venezuela on coup plans 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

The Trump administration held secret meetings with rebellious military officers from Venezuela over the last year to discuss their plans to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro, according to U.S. officials and a former Venezuelan military commander who participated in the talks.

Establishing a clandestine channel with coup plotters in Venezuela was a big gamble for Washington, given its long history of covert intervention across Latin America. Many in the region still deeply resent the United States for backing previous rebellions, coups and plots in countries like Cuba, Nicaragua, Brazil and Chile.

The White House, which declined to answer detailed questions about the talks, said in a statement that it was important to engage in “dialogue with all Venezuelans who demonstrate a desire for democracy.”

But one of the Venezuelan military commanders involved in the secret talks was hardly an ideal figure to help restore democracy: He is on the U.S. government’s own sanctions list of corrupt officials in Venezuela. He asked not to be identified out of fear of reprisals by the Venezuelan government.

He and other members of the Venezuelan security apparatus have been accused by Washington of a wide range of serious crimes, including torturing critics, jailing hundreds of political prisoners, wounding thousands of civilians, trafficking drugs and collaborating with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, which is considered a terrorist organization by the U.S.

U.S. officials eventually decided not to help the plotters, and the coup plans stalled. But the Trump administration’s willingness to meet several times with mutinous officers intent on toppling a president in the hemisphere could backfire politically.

Most Latin American leaders agree that Venezuela’s president, Maduro, is an increasingly authoritarian ruler who has effectively ruined his country’s economy, leading to extreme shortages of food and medicine.

Even so, Maduro has long justified his grip on Venezuela by claiming that Washington imperialists are actively trying to depose him, and the secret talks could provide him with ammunition to chip away at the region’s nearly united stance against him.

“This is going to land like a bomb” in the region, said Mari Carmen Aponte, who served as the top diplomat overseeing Latin American affairs in the final months of the Obama administration.

Ernesto Londono and Nicholas Casey are New York Times writers.