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When attempting a coup d’état, to give it the full name, you want to make sure you have all the boxes checked.

Get things wrong, and you will be left in a seriously tricky predicament.

Take last year’s invasion of Venezuela led by US mercenaries and armed Venezuelan rebels, who attempted to overthrow the Nicolas Maduro regime, for example.

Right from the outset, things started going south, and the invasion ended in “disaster, deaths, and two ex-Green Berets in captivity in one of that year’s spiciest geopolitical quagmires”.

The basics, via VICE:

“Operation Gideon,” as it was dubbed by its mastermind and former special forces soldier Jordan Goudreau, drew in a bizarre cast of Trumpworld heavy hitters, the CIA, viral tweets, and a Kraft family heir and was supposed to somehow overthrow the Venezuelan government.

Instead, it became an internet laughingstock. But new interviews with mercenaries who were there reveal the backstory is even more complicated than previously thought.

At this stage, you can take your pick.

Either read this extensive write-up of where the coup went wrong (spoiler alert – everywhere) or watch the video below.

I’ll assume you’re going with the latter, meaning you’ll be 20 minutes closer to the end of the week once you’re done.

[source:vice]