Versión Español
Spanish – Diosdado Cabello, the second most powerful man in Chavismo, reportedly earns at least half a million dollars a month by running his illegal businesses from Venezuela.
A report by Spain’s ABC newspaper revealed that Cabello, who is reportedly under investigation in the United States for drug trafficking, is running a gold, gasoline, and drug smuggling business of which he is the main beneficiary.
Hoy el diario @abc_es saca una exclusiva importantísima:
Por el narcotráfico, Cabello se mete alrededor de medio millón de dólares al mes. https://t.co/irQAzfrX3h
— Orlando Avendaño (@OrlvndoA) March 1, 2020
“The military not only participates in drug trafficking, but also handles fuel smuggling on the Colombia-Venezuela border, illegal gold mining in the south, of the country, and arms and human trafficking along the coast,” says the ABC report on Cabello’s “dirty business.”
Drug trafficking
According to ABC, Venezuela’s National Anti-Drug Office (ONA), which is supposed to “combat drug trafficking,” is actually in charge of managing the drug business in the South American country.
“Each commander collects black money through “bribes,” which they take to Caracas personally every 15 days. These can be amounts between 10,000 and 15,000 dollars that vary according to the productivity of each state and are delivered personally by hand to Diosdado Cabello,” said a military source.
According to ABC, Diosdado Cabello receives half a million dollars a month from the drug trade alone.
Gold business
Venezuela, the country with the largest oil reserves in the world, also has a natural source of mineral and precious resources. Thanks to the illegal sale of gold, the Venezuelan military and the regime of Nicolás Maduro have managed to stay in power and evade international sanctions.
According to ABC, “several experts believe that gold smuggling has already displaced drug trafficking as the main source of illicit financing for the regime. In 2018, it represented 2.71 billion dollars, according to the consulting firm Ecoanalítica. That would be about 80 tons of gold diverted each year.”
The fact is that the Venezuelan armed forces are controlling the entire illegal economy of the country. Last week, the first United Nations report denouncing the role of the military in the drug trafficking business was released. It states that the military has been involved in the drug trafficking business.
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB), an independent agency of the United Nations, is studying and denouncing how Venezuela’s security forces have been infiltrated by criminal groups that facilitate the entry and exit of illegal drugs in the South American country.
“In recent years, organized criminal groups have transported large quantities of illicit drugs to Europe and the United States from Colombia via Venezuela,” the document states.
Narco-state
Reports from the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reveal that former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez had ordered the U.S. to be “flooded” with cocaine from the FARC. They also point out that the former leader was the head and the coordinator of the Cartel of the Suns.
In 2015, William Brownfield, deputy secretary of state for counter-narcotics, said that Venezuela became Colombia’s primary drug exit route: “More than half of Colombia’s illicit product passes through the territory of its neighboring country (Venezuela).”
An over three-year investigation by the InSight Crime also concluded that Venezuela has become a haven for Colombian drug trafficking and smuggling. “The guerrillas were among the first to develop cocaine trafficking through Venezuela to markets in the United States and Europe, while Venezuela’s contraband fuel has gushed in the other direction,” the report said.
According to InSight Crime, the term “Cartel of the Suns” is used to describe shadowy groups inside Venezuela’s military that traffic cocaine. The organization states that the cartel is made up primarily of military officials, that sets the price of cocaine inside the country
In January 2015, according to El Nuevo Herald, the former security chief of late president Hugo Chávez identified Diosdado Cabello, the second most important man in Chavismo, as the supposed “Chief of the Cartel of the Suns.”
In April 2018, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) issued statements directly linking Cabello to drug trafficking in northern South America.
Marlon Marín, nephew of “Iván Márquez” and head of the Colombian guerrilla group FARC revealed that the second most powerful man in Chavismo is “neck-deep” in drug trafficking through the Cartel of the Suns.
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