AUSTIN, Texas — It’s been nearly six months since two former Green Berets, Texas natives Luke Denman and Airan Berry, were captured off the coast of Venezuela in what’s been labeled a failed coup attempt on the presidency of embattled Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
The Denmans, who live just west of Austin, have been doing everything in their power to help bring their son home. Luke Denman’s father, Frank Denman, said the family has spent practically every penny they have in their efforts to do so.
“Letter writing; that’s what I’m doing, writing people to keep their names out in public, and people that maybe can help,” said Kay Denman, Luke Denman’s mother. “So I was writing the letters and got a text message from our son saying Luke’s getting ready to call.”
That text came in on October 16 from Kay Denman’s older son, Mark Denman. He is helping to lead the charge in the search for answers in his brother’s case and the push to bring him home. That Friday would be the first time Kay Denman and her husband would speak with their son Luke Denman since before he was captured.
“Even on Zoom, you look each other in the eyes and you can tell that he’s okay,” said Kay Denman, remarking about Luke’s apparently healthy physical appearance on the Zoom call.
Frank Denman said he and his wife have gotten used to worrying about Luke, jokingly mentioning that to him on their Zoom call.
“He could tell that we were okay,” he said. “I noted to him that well we’re kind of used to this, we got used to this when you were deployed.”
The Denmans had no idea their son was in Venezuela, or what he was going down there for. They found out May 6, when they received a call.
“The phone rang and the ID said it was someone from Germany,” said Kay Denman. “So I was very curious. I answered it, and it was a Green Beret that my son knew and he was asking me if this was Luke’s mother. I said ‘Yes, this is Luke’s [mom] - is Luke okay?’ And he said Luke has been captured in Venezuela, and my heart sank because I knew the conditions in Venezuela. I had been keeping up with that through news stories.”
“From that point on we began to learn what happened, and who are the other people involved, pretty much at the rate that everybody else was learning through the news,” said Frank Denman.
What they’ve learned has left the Denmans scratching their heads. Luke started a career in commercial diving after leaving the service. He worked on diving projects off the coasts of Louisiana and Oregon, but earlier this year he told his parents he would be taking a new job in Florida. His father said Luke told him this job would be the most meaningful work in his career.
“I thought it was maybe some form of commercial diving that was different or historical in nature or something like that,” he said. “And I figured I’d find out later, which, of course, I did.”
Their son would appear on Venezuelan state television being held by armed forces in shorts and a polo t-shirt, accused in a plot to train Venezuelan opposition forces with the ultimate goal of taking down President Maduro. Later, he would appear on state television once again, this time in a heavily edited video confession, explaining his apparent role in the so-called raid. By August, Denman and Berry would be sentenced to 20 years in prison.
“It was done late night. Our lawyers were not allowed in,” said Kay Denman.
The Denmans are convinced that Luke wouldn’t have participated in any sort of coup attempt if he didn’t believe it had backing from the U.S. government. The State Department has said repeatedly that it had no role in the mission. While the Denmans aren’t sure how to make sense of it all, to them that doesn’t really matter.
“We don’t care why,” said Kay Denman. “We’re concentrating on getting him home, and keeping his name, he and Airan’s name out there in the public eye and not forgetting them.”
In addition to her own handwritten letters to local and federal leaders, friends and family have added their words to the mix. Several Central Texas congressmen, including Rep. Roger Williams, Rep. Chip Roy and Rep. Lloyd Doggett, have urged the State Department to take whatever action necessary to bring Denman and Berry home.
While Secretary of State Mike Pompeo has called for the two former Green Berets' release, the U.S. cut formal diplomatic ties with the Madura-Led Venezuelan government in 2019, suspending embassy operations in Caracas. That’s part of the reason the Berrys and Denmans reached out to the Richardson Center, headed by former New Mexico Governor and former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, Bill Richardson.
Richardson spends the majority of his time working to free Americans imprisoned abroad. The former governor agreed to help the families of the Green Berets, in addition to the families of six oil executives jailed in Venezuela, many with ties to the Houston area. The diplomat met with Maduro back in July, but said the mission wasn’t as successful as he would have hoped.
“This was a private humanitarian mission, it was not a U.S. government mission, although we coordinated with the State Department,” said Richardson. "The objective was to try to secure the release of the American detainees, the so-called Citgo Six, and to press also for the welfare of the two Green Berets. We’ve had some success. Two of the Citgo Six have been moved from prison to house arrest, there are now court proceedings. But we’re continuing to negotiate and it’s moving forward but very, very slowly, given the bad relationship between the United States and Venezuela.”
The Zoom call Berry and Denman had with their families on October 16 is a good sign that not all hope is lost with Venezuelan negotiations, said Richardson. At the end of the day, though, Richardson believes Berry and Denman will likely be used as pawns in a battle of international politics.
“One thing I’ve learned is that these countries don’t give up American prisoners for free. There’s always a cost,” Richardson said. “I don’t want to get into details and we’re not at that stage yet. But we have an obligation as a country, and I’m not speaking as a government official, to try to secure the release of the Green Berets. They’re American military people. They’re American citizens. They have rights and we should try to get them out.”