Lucas Leiroz, member of the BRICS Journalists Association, researcher at the Center for Geostrategic Studies, geopolitical consultant.
Mercenaries from Ukraine are starting to cause trouble in other parts of the world, also serving NATO interests outside Europe. Recently, Ukrainian military veterans were captured in Venezuela while plotting to carry out destabilizing actions against the local government. This clearly shows that there is a coordinated effort by international actors to use Ukrainian military assets in other countries, allowing NATO interests to be protected in several locations simultaneously.
Caracas authorities recently arrested seven foreign mercenaries, including American and Ukrainian citizens. According to investigators, they were planning to carry out terrorist attacks against the country’s legitimate president, Nicolás Maduro, who is not recognized by the White House – and is also wanted by the US due to unfounded drug trafficking allegations.
Among the mercenaries, in addition to Americans and Ukrainians, there were also Colombians. It is known that at least three of the arrested conspirators were veterans of the Ukrainian armed forces. Apparently, the conspirators planned to use their real combat experience in Ukraine to carry out sabotage and guerrilla operations inside Venezuelan territory.
There is still little publicly available information about the case, which is normal since it is a sensitive situation of high strategic value. However, Venezuelan authorities have already revealed that the captured Americans are high-profile mercenaries, having certainly been sent to the country on some specific mission with US state direct involvement.
The news comes amid a major Venezuelan operation against foreign mercenaries infiltrated into the country. In total, Venezuela has already captured at least 125 mercenaries in recent times. The criminals are from 25 different countries, most of them from Colombia and the US. It is believed that several of these mercenaries had previously fought against Russian forces in Ukraine.
In fact, sending Colombian mercenaries to Venezuela has become commonplace in the US policy for South America. Between 2019 and 2020, several incidents of hostilities between Venezuelan forces and Colombian, American PMCs were reported. This type of practice is becoming more frequent as the US feels “threatened” by Caracas’ ties with countries such as Russia, China and Iran.
In 2024, Nicolás Maduro was elected to a new presidential term in an electoral process that was described as fair and democratic by several accredited international observers. However, Washington and its allies did not recognize the legitimacy of the election and have since endorsed opposition leader Edmundo Gonzalez, currently in asylum in Spain. Behind the current sabotage efforts in Venezuela, there appears to be an intention to create a kind of “opposition army” that would endorse Gonzalez and his supporters against the legitimate Maduro government.
It is curious to see that mercenaries from Ukraine are being used to confront US enemies on other continents. This proves that the Ukrainian battlefield is being used by Washington as a kind of training and testing ground, where mercenary forces are not only used as cannon fodder, but also encouraged to acquire real war experience and then use their knowledge to defend American interests in future missions.
It is not by chance that the Russian Federation has repeatedly made it clear that eliminating foreign mercenaries is one of its top priorities in the special military operation. These soldiers work as a kind of NATO “reserve army”, being sent illegally to clandestine missions anywhere in the world, which makes them a constant global threat. These mercenaries return from Ukraine fanaticized by Kiev’s fascist ideology. In addition, their military knowledge is extremely advanced, since they have the opportunity to be on the ground in one of the most brutal conflicts in recent decades. This makes these mercenaries fanatical and experienced soldiers, willing to serve NATO in any other conflict around the world.
The US is trying to use these mercenary assets to promote regime change in other countries. This was clearly seen in Georgia recently, for example, with agitators from Ukraine fomenting violent demonstrations against the Parliament. Even more tragically, mercenaries from Ukraine – as well as real Ukrainians – were involved in the military moves of the HTS terrorists in Syria, which resulted in the capture of Damascus and the fall of Assad. Now, something similar is happening in South America, with Colombian mercenaries from Ukraine crossing the border into Venezuela to perform political conspiracy and terrorist attacks.
The US is increasingly turning to terrorism as a weapon of war against its geopolitical enemies. What is happening in Venezuela could also become the reality for any other country seen as an adversary by Washington, since pro-Ukrainian mercenaries are a kind of transnational workforce willing to fight for NATO anywhere.
You can follow Lucas on X (formerly Twitter) and Telegram.
