[Joga Bonito]

This type of coup plot is certainly not uncommon especially when it comes to Africa. A few years ago, there was a high-profile case, called the Wonga Coup, involving a cabal of mercenaries and high-level businessmen including Margaret Thatcher's son, Mark, Severo Moto, a disssident from Equatorial Guinea and exiled in Spain, and a British mercernary named Simon Mann among others. Initially, they went in under the auspice of overthrowing an evil dictator in Equatorial Guinea, but it was later revealed that they stood to gain incredible riches from the newly installed puppet they were trying to put in place. The story goes as follows and reads like something straight out of a book called Dogs of War by Frederik Forrsyth(awesome film by the way headlined by Christopher Walken on Netflix), which they conceivably could have used as inspiration for such an audacious plan:

Quote:

On 7 March 2004 Zimbabwean police in Harare airport impounded a plane which flew in from South Africa.[4] The alleged plot leader, ex-Special Air Service (SAS) officer Simon Mann,[5] was arrested with two colleagues near the runway while waiting for arms to be loaded on a Boeing 727(N4610), carrying three crew and 64 former soldiers recruited in South Africa.[6] The majority of those alleged to have been the mercenaries planning to carry out the coup are based in South Africa and ex-members of the 32 Buffalo Battalion, a special force unit that fought for the South African apartheid regime.[7]

On 9 March 2004 Nick du Toit and 14 other South African and Armenian men were arrested in Equatorial Guinea on suspicion of being the mercenaries' vanguard.[5][6]

The marketing manager of Zimbabwe Defense Industries, Hope Mutize, said in court that Simon Mann had paid him a deposit on weapons worth $180,000 (£100,000) in February 2004 and indirectly linked Mr Mann to the alleged plot by saying he was accompanied by a South African, Nick du Toit, the leader of the 14 men arrested in Equatorial Guinea.[6] "They insisted they did not want any paperwork," Mr Mutize added. Legal sources said Mr Mann had cleared the deal with ZDI's managing director, Tshinga Dube. But news of the deal apparently leaked to the South African authorities, who tipped off Zimbabwean intelligence. Their arms requisition included 20 machine guns, 61 AK-47 assault rifles, 150 hand grenades, 10 rocket-propelled grenade launchers (and 100 RPG shells), and 75,000 rounds of ammunition.[8][9][10] Mr Mann, 51, said he wanted the rifles, mortars and ammunition to guard JFPI Corporation-owned diamond mines in volatile parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo.[6]

It was alleged that those arrested in Zimbabwe made a stopover in Harare city to buy weapons and expected to join a team in Equatorial Guinea to overthrow President Obiang.[11][12][13][14] Nick du Toit, the leader of the group of arrested in Equatorial Guinea, said at his trial in Equatorial Guinea that he was recruited by Simon Mann and that he was helping with recruitment, acquiring weapons and logistics. He says he was told they were trying to install an exiled opposition politician, Severo Moto, as the new president.[14]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2004_Equato...at_attempt

Regarding Thatchers involvement

Quote:

Margaret Thatcher approved of a failed attempt to use an army of mercenaries to overthrow the president of Equatorial Guinea, according to the unpublished memoirs of the chief protagonist of the bid, former SAS officer Simon Mann.

The former prime minister, whose son, Sir Mark, was convicted in a South African court of involvement in the attempted 2004 coup, allegedly told Mann at a meeting at her Belgravia home: "I'm sure it's going to work".

It is claimed that Thatcher likened the need for radical change in the oil-rich Equatorial Guinea to the way London's Docklands had been redeveloped during the 1980s.

She is also alleged to have encouraged Mann to talk to a group seeking to overthrow the then president of Venezuela, Hugo Chávez, with the words: "We must always look after our friends, Simon … as I'm sure you know."

In an affair known as the Wonga coup, Mann and 69 mercenaries attempted to replace Equatorial Guinea's dictator Teodoro Obiang with an exiled opposition politician, Severo Moto, in March 2004. The escapade went dramatically wrong and led to Mann being convicted and imprisoned.

http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013...up-attempt

The mercernaries would eventually get released, but not before they languished in one of the most notorious prisons in the world for awhile, known as Black Beach prison.

   

Below are some more in-depth videos on the coup.

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episod...sode/5496/

and