The US would have sent DEA agents to Venezuela to spy on officials, according to AP

The news agency The Associated Press (AP) published a report this Thursday in which it reveals a secret report to which he had access which, he says, details “a multi-year covert operation by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)” in Venezuela.

(Also: Maduro calls on the Armed Forces to remain 'alert and prepared for whatever comes out')

According to that agency, the DEA “infiltrated operatives in Venezuela to secretly record and set up drug trafficking cases against the country's government,” headed by Nicolás Maduro, which would demonstrate the interference of the US anti-drug agency in a foreign country.

(You can read: Why does the United States recognize that the sanctions against Venezuela have not worked?)

It is, according to AP, “a 15-page memo from 2018” about an operation called Money Badger, an investigation that, according to US authorities, “it targeted dozens of people, including the country's president, Nicolás Maduro”.

“It is necessary to carry out this operation unilaterally and without notifying the Venezuelan authorities,” says the memo, to which the AP had access.

(Also read: International pressure increases on Venezuela due to the disqualification of María C. Machado)

According to the report, the investigation, of which it is still not entirely clear whether it had legally questionable tactics, involved close allies of Maduro such as Colombian businessman Alex Saabwho was released by the United States in December in a prisoner exchange as part of direct negotiations between Washington and Caracas.

The AP explains that The memo was written in 2018, in the “maximum pressure” campaign to remove the Venezuelan president from power, during the government of then-Republican President Donald Trump.. By that time, Maduro had won his re-election, a process questioned by the US administration and much of the international community.

(You can read: 'It is firm': Maduro reiterates the Supreme Court's decision on Machado's disqualification)

“In the following weeks, DEA officials planned to send at least three clandestine informants to record senior officials suspected of turning Venezuela into a narco-state,” the AP report reveals.

The news agency continues: “But because it seemed like an outrage against Venezuelan and international law, the plan required approval from the so-called Confidential Activities Review Committee (SARC), a stealth panel of senior officials. positions in the departments of State and Justice who study the most delicate DEA cases, which involve exceptionally complex ethical, legal or foreign policy issues.

The document, which authorized the secret recording of Chavista leaders in covert meetings, was accidentally uploaded to the website of the Manhattan Attorney General's Office. along with dozens of evidence from the case against two former DEA agents, Manny Recio and John Constanzo Jr, convicted of leaking confidential information through bribes to the defense of cases related to Venezuela, such as that of businessman Alex Saab.

(Keep reading: The United States announces that it will reactivate sanctions on Venezuelan oil and gas)

The AP warns that “although there is no clear mechanism to hold the United States legally responsible, The revelation threatens to further agitate already tense relations with the Maduro government. and aggravate resentment towards the United States throughout Latin America due to the perception of interference.

Venezuela closed its cooperation program in the fight against drugs with the DEA almost two decades ago. Regarding this revelation, however, the government of Nicolás Maduro has not commented. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration and the Justice Department also did not respond to questions from the AP about the report.

The truth is This revelation comes at a time of maximum tension between the United States and Venezuela due to negotiations to relax sanctions against Caracas in exchange for guarantees for democratic elections scheduled for this year.especially after the decision of the Supreme Court of Justice of Venezuela, of Chavista line, to block the participation of María Corina Machado, the opposition candidate chosen in last October's primaries.

(You can read: Venezuela is the most corrupt American country, according to Transparency International)

The Venezuelan Foreign Minister, Yván Gil, assured this Wednesday that “American interference” will fail, after the White House reaffirmed to the Maduro Government the ultimatum to allow Machado to compete in the presidential elections or it will resume its sanctions against Venezuelan oil.

Gil's message was a response to the statements offered hours before by the spokesman for the White House Security Council, John Kirby, who reaffirmed that the Maduro Government has until April to fulfill its “commitments” for free elections. .

The US official said this Wednesday that The United States will be watching the situation “closely,” but did not want to go into detail about the economic retaliation that Washington will take in case of disagreement..

After Chavismo and the opposition agreed last October in Barbados on a roadmap for the 2024 presidential elections, Washington lifted a series of economic sanctions that weighed on Venezuela for six months.

(Also: US responds to Machado's disqualification and reverses sanctions relief for Minerven)

But, last week, after the Supreme Court's decision on the Machado case, the United States announced the reimposition, within two weeks, of sanctions on the Venezuelan gold sector and threatened to do the same in April with the oil and gas sector. gas.

Venezuelan Vice President Delcy Rodríguez responded that if Joe Biden's administration restores sanctions, Caracas will suspend as of February 13 the repatriation flights for Venezuelan migrants that have been carried out since the end of last year to relieve migratory pressure on the United States. Joined.

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