US ‘Night Stalkers’ seen in Caribbean as fears of regime change rise in Venezuela | US military

They call themselves the Night Stalkers, and their unofficial slogan refers to the group’s deadly nighttime modus operandi: “Death Waits in the Dark.”

“You may run, but they will find you,” warns a rare book about the U.S. military’s secretive 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment (SOAR).

Since the elite helicopter unit’s founding in 1981, its brave pilots have taken part in some of the most dangerous missions in recent U.S. military history: fighting the Islamic State during Operation Somali warlords during Operation Inherent Resolve and Gothic Serpent in Iraq and Syria; and sending Navy Seals to Pakistan to kill Al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden as part of Operation Neptune Lance.

“I honestly think these people are the best rotor wing pilots in the world. … “They are the Formula 1 pilots of aviation,” he said. A book about the unit’s top secret missionsIt almost always takes place under the cover of darkness.

Night Stalkers in recent weeks they found themselves in a different part of the world, they egg-shaped Little Bird attack helicopters and Black Hawks were spotted 90 miles (145km) off the coast of Venezuela, not in Idlib, Kandahar or Baghdad.

The group’s training mission in the Caribbean is also part of a major military deployment. B-52 bombers And F-35 fighter jets With Donald Trump increasing pressure on Venezuela’s authoritarian president Nicolás Maduro, many believe this is an attempt to remove him from power.

Last week, Trump publicly confirmed that CIA covert operations were authorized in Venezuela and boasted that Maduro “doesn’t want to deal with the United States.” Since September, at least 27 people have been killed in US missile attacks on ships allegedly carrying drugs in the Caribbean.

“If ‘possibility of US military intervention in Venezuela’ was on the radar, I would say at this stage it is definitely beyond the 75 percent probability (if not more) because things have never escalated to that level,” said Eva Golinger, an American lawyer who advised Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez. “I’m waiting for the text or the call in the middle of the night [there has been] …Some form of US attack or selective bombing on Venezuela.”

Trump “was willing to do this because he believed his power was unlimited,” Golinger said. “Venezuela is right before our eyes… and it’s pretty scary.”

Latin America expert Robert Evan Ellis, who advised Secretary of State Mike Pompeo during Trump’s first term, said the Caribbean exercises are one leg of the project. “Oh carefully calibrated military messaging” Campaign to put pressure on Maduro regime as part of “controlled negotiation”” It was designed to advance US interests.

Ellis sees three possible outcomes: Pressure could persuade Venezuelan military bosses oust Maduro and solve the problem without the United States; The Maduro regime could be “decapitated” by a major US operation, paving the way for a democratic transition; or Trump could reach “some kind of substantive agreement” This enabled Maduro to leave and gave US companies access to Venezuela’s abundant natural resources.

He thought that such an agreement could leave an undemocratic regime in place. This could also include building a Trump hotel “with a great golf course” in Venezuela’s capital.

““The thing that is very difficult for me to imagine happening is that Maduro stays in power and that situation continues as it was before,” added Ellis, who suspected that Trump’s failure to remove Maduro in his first term meant he wouldn’t want to fail again.

“I’m inclined to believe that… if we make it to the end of November [or] It’s early December and there is no good deal or solution with the military taking this matter into their own hands… [then] The president could very well pull the trigger and carry out the operation,” Ellis said.

The Venezuela mission would not be the first in Latin America and the Caribbean to be carried out by the Night Stalkers, whose pilots specialize in infiltrating and extracting special forces units called “clients” from hostile locations, almost always at night.

In 1983, the group played a key role in Operation Urgent Fury, the invasion of Grenada that Ronald Reagan ordered to halt the former British colony. to be What he calls “major” [Soviet-Cuban] In 1989, its pilots helped overthrow Panama’s dictator Manuel Noriega during George H. W. Bush’s Operation Just Cause. This campaign included a daring Night Stalker attack in which agents rescued a U.S. citizen from a Panama City prison while under intense fire.

“They basically deliver [special forces] “At night we take them to impossible places,” Hartov said. “When it comes to a mission…it seems impossible because of the location or location. [enemy’s] Whether it’s taking out a high-value target or taking down a specific dangerous target, Night Stalkers are the only ones who can perform the defense.

“If you look at the records of how many [members] Even if they are killed or seriously injured in training accidents alone, it is probably higher than other units because they travel fast and low in the dark.”

Many of the regiment’s grisly real-life operations also ended in tragedy. In 1993, two Night Stalker helicopters were shot down by rocket launchers during the Battle of Mogadishu, killing five helicopters; The two-day conflict was remembered in Ridley Scott’s Black Hawk Down. Hundreds of civilians are thought to have lost their lives.

““Mogadishu was a turning point for the Night Stalkers… They emerged with some painful wounds,” said Hartov, adding that this department taught its members a hard lesson: “Despite their incredible access to high-tech equipment, weapons, support, communication, a man in a T-shirt and jeans with an AK-47 can shoot down your helicopter.”

Former Chavez minister Andrés Izarra, who now lives in exile, predicted a Somalia-style fiasco if the US raided the Venezuelan capital Caracas.

“Venezuelan army [is] “They are not very well prepared… but they have at least 30,000 praetorian guards,” he said of Maduro’s security apparatus, which includes intelligence agencies DGCIM and SEBIN and police special forces.

Maduro also boasts 20,000 “hardcore” militia fighters armed with assault rifles, Izarra said. Igla portable surface-to-air missiles. “How do you run Black Hawk in Venezuela, where anyone can own an Igla and destroy it?” he wondered and added: “They will turn Caracas into Mogadishu.”

The prospect of a US attack frightened regional governments; Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva this week warned against outside intervention in “a continent free of weapons of mass destruction.”

“Foreign intervention can cause more damage than it tries to prevent,” said Lula, whose military commanders recently sent 10,000 troops for exercises along Brazil’s northern border with Venezuela.

Earlier this month, Venezuela’s UN Ambassador Samuel Moncada claimed that Washington was “walking towards a catastrophe that could destroy the entire region for generations.” Noting the presence of US helicopters near Trinidad, he said, “They are coming to invade… to take our country from us and turn us into a colony.”

Some doubt Trump will follow through, viewing his military maneuvers as a bluff designed to intimidate Maduro or his top commanders.

Hartov was also skeptical that Washington would launch a “major” snatch operation targeting Maduro or his ministers. “But they did it with Noriega – and the Night Stalkers were heavily involved in it. They did it with Saddam Hussein – the Night Stalkers were heavily involved in it. They did it with Osama bin Laden.

“I would be nervous [Maduro].”