Blackwater founder probed by Venezuela over anti-Maduro campaign

Venezuelan authorities launched an investigation Tuesday into a mysterious online fundraiser fronted by the founder of infamous US security contractor Blackwater, who claims to have raised over $1 million towards ousting President Nicolas Maduro.

The "Ya Casi Venezuela" (We're Nearly There Venezuela) campaign site was launched in early September, in response to the country's July 28 disputed presidential election.

Incumbent Socialist strongman Maduro claimed victory in the election, which the opposition says he stole.

Much of the international community has refused to recognize Maduro's win, demanding to see detailed election results to back his claim.

Launched earlier this month on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube and X, "Ya Casi Venezuela" promises that Venezuelans will be "witnesses and protagonists in the fall of the regime" of Maduro, but stops short of saying how it will achieve that end.

The campaign first featured a countdown in days, hours and minutes until September 16, which it said would mark the start of a movement to "fulfill the will of the Venezuelan people."

When the countdown ended, the campaign turned into a fundraiser led by Blackwater founder Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL with links to US ex-president Donald Trump.

"Venezuela, you voted on July 28 for freedom. Now, it's time to vote with your dollars. Democracy will prevail, we are almost there," Prince said in a video posted on social media that has been viewed 5.9 million times.

Three days later, he posted a new video claiming the campaign had already raised over $1 million.

Venezuela's opposition has distanced itself from the campaign and did not respond to AFP's requests for comment.

AFP also tried to contact "Ya Casi Venezuela" about its plans but received no response.

- 'Clean our rifles' -

Prince, a pioneer of private military operations, gained infamy as the founder of Blackwater -- since renamed Academi -- whose contractors were accused of massacring 17 unarmed Iraqi civilians in Baghdad in 2007.

Four Blackwater security guards who were convicted in connection with the killings were pardoned by Trump in 2020.

Prince's sister Betsy DeVos was Trump's education secretary at the time.

Maduro has linked the "Ya Casi Venezuela" campaign to his claims that Western intelligence services are plotting to overthrow him.

"Faced with countdown clocks, we have to clean our rifles," he told a recent public gathering in Caracas, in an apparent reference to the site.

Last week, Venezuela announced it had arrested four Americans, two Spanish nationals and a Czech national on suspicion of plotting to assassinate the president.

Washington, Madrid and Prague have denied involvement in any such plot.

In a telephone call Friday with UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Maduro warned about the "hiring of mercenaries to invade the country."

Guterres, for his part, expressed concern about human rights abuses in Venezuela, where 27 people were killed and over 2,000 arrested in the post-election unrest.