Venezuelan opposition leader Juan Guaido has accepted the resignation of his Miami-based adviser Juan Rendon, his press team said on Monday, after Rendon acknowledged discussions with a U.S security firm to topple President Nicolas Maduro. Guaido thanked Rendon and another exiled lawmaker, Sergio Vergara, who also resigned from the opposition’s “crisis strategy commission,” for their “dedication and commitment to Venezuela,” without giving a reason for the decision. By Vivian Sequera, Sarah Kinosian, Angus Berwick. Full Text -> Reuters

By October, the plan had advanced to the point of a signed agreement, contingent on funding and other conditions. Rendón calls it a trial balloon, a test of what Goudreau could do that was never officially greenlighted. But the language of the agreement left no ambiguity on the objective: “An operation to capture/detain/remove Nicolás Maduro . . . remove the current Regime and install the recognized Venezuelan President Juan Guaidó.”By Anthony Faiola, Karen DeYoung and Ana Vanessa Herrero \. Full Text -> The Washington Post