US President for Life hopeful Donald Trump‘s excursion into Venezuelan drug trafficking comes at an interesting time. Venezuela has been experiencing political and social unrest against Venezuelan President for Life Nicolas Maduro‘s regime. Maduro is the successor of Venezuelan President for Life Hugo Chavez and his “Bolivaran Revolution.”
That Maduro has engaged in drug trafficking is no revelation. The Narcosobrinos Affair was the arrest of Efraín Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas, two of Maduro’s nephews, in Port au Prince Haiti by the US DEA on 10 November 2015. They were tried and convicted of attempting to smuggle 800 kg of cocaine into the US. The nephews were exchanged in 2022 for five Venezuelan-American directors of the oil refinery corporation CITGO held in Venezuelan prisons.
The Cartel of the Suns is a drug trafficking cartel run by ranking members of Maduro’s military and political apparatus. Cocaine is supplied by the Marx inspired FARC revolutionaries of Columbia through border checkpoints where guards accept bribes. The drugs are then funneled to military leaders and shipped internationally.
One Cartel of the Suns leader was Major General Cliver Alcalá Cordones, commander of the Integral Defense Region of South Eastern Venezuela (called Guyana). Cordones served under Chavez but defected from Maduro’s rule. He had reportedly gathered Venezuelan military defectors in Columbia and became famous for a disastrous 2020 attempt to overthrow Maduro called Operation Gideon. He had gotten support from a military contractor, Silvercorp USA.
Did you know? In 2002 there was a coup attempt to overthrow Hugo Chavez that resulted in him being ousted from office for two days.
So are the boats loaded with cocaine (AP News) from Maduro’s operation or from some revolutionary group opposed to his rule?
The answer is; it doesn’t matter.
Venezuelan opposition parties and leaders have been oppressed by Maduro’s regime and forces. The Venezuelan judiciary routinely subjects their parliament to “Interventions;” elected opposition representatives are ejected and replaced by politicians loyal to Maduro.
Since the highly controversial 28 July 2024 elections massive political demonstrations and unrest have continued unabated. Maduro’s police, military and loyal militias have been using violence, torture, extra judicial executions and forced disappearances of opposition leaders and group members on a large scale.
On January 8, Lucas Hunter, a 37-year-old French-American tourist, told his sister that Venezuelan security forces had stopped him near the Colombian border. In an audio message sent to his family that day, he said security forces questioned him for four hours and they would probably take him to Caracas. His family has not heard from him since and has been denied information about his whereabouts and the reason for his detention HRW.org
One of Maduro’s most dangerous and effective forces are the Collectivos; militias of loyalists that enforce Maduro’s will on the people, particularly the poor and indigenous. Called the “civic-military-police union” by Maduro, these gangs crack down on dissidents and protesters and intimidate voters in slums. They are involved in extortion, drug trafficking and smuggling. They keep the population in their territory under surveillance for the benefit of the Maduro regime.
As the Trump administration moves in to attack Venezuelan boats along with the usual bravado and political posturing; Maduro is now able to distract the populace from his own corrupt and despotic rule. Civilians are forgetting about Maduro and are focusing their attention on the US military. Diversion of anger to a perceived external threat has saved dictatorships from civil unrest in the past. It’s so effective that certain nations experiencing unrest (NCRI) will attempt to create external friction (BBC) to re-direct the anger, and fear, of their populace.
Trump’s attacks have mobilized segments of the Venezuelan population who feel they need to ready themselves for a war against the United States. Even old guys, the “Dad’s Army,” have acquired camouflage utilities for the occasion. In the meantime Trump is not doing much about the two decade long Cartel War in Mexico, nor are people more inclined to think about Jeffrey Epstein and the files.
Venezuela is an oil producing nation and member of OPEC. See Oil for the 4th Reich
- Venezuelan Opposition Wikipedia
- Venezuela: Brutal Crackdown Since Elections Human Rights Watch
- ‘Colectivos’: Maduro’s Paramilitary Groups Sowing Terror in Venezuela Columbia One
- Why Maduro is Mobilizing the Militia Caracas Chronicles
- Venezuela’s ‘Dad’s Army’ militia preparing for war with US The Telegraph
- WTF?? Supreme Court lets Trump end deportation protections for 300,000 Venezuelans CNN
- Mexico’s Long War: Drugs, Crime, and the Cartels Council on Foreign Relations
- Remember Cienfuegos? 4dforum