The wife of a former US Special Forces soldier arrested after a botched Venezuelan coup attempt is pleading for his release.
Melanie Berry said her mercenary husband, Airan Berry, who was taken into custody May 3 after an ill-fated attempt to oust Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro, is needed at home.
“Our children, especially, are very upset and very sad,” she told the German news site t-online. “They want their dad back.”
“My husband Airan and I have been married for 19 years,” she said. “He means everything to me and our whole family, and he is my best friend.”
Berry, 41, and fellow former Special Forces soldier Luke Denman, 34, were arrested at gunpoint while leading a wild attempt to kidnap Maduro.
Both were taken into custody and later appeared on video on Venezuelan TV detailing their roles in the attempted raid.
Controversial ex-Green Beret Jordan Goudreau, has taken credit for the coup attempt. Authorities said Goudreau and former Gen. Cliver Alcala, a Venezuelan army defector, hatched the plot last year and began training a mercenary army in Colombia in January.
Goudreau, who now owns a Florida-based private security company, SilverCorp, was stationed in Germany with Berry and Denman in the Special Forces, the Daily Mail said.
Airan Berry left the military in 2013 and settled in Schweinfurt, Germany, with his wife and two children — until Goudreau reached out to him last year about the Venezuelan plan.
Melanie Berry told the outlet she did not know details of the failed plan.
“It was his first assignment for a private security firm,” she said.
Maduro has vowed to put Berry and Denman on trial and claims their involvement is proof that the US government was behind the assault.
The White House has vehemently denied any involvement.