Today marks one year since the then “plenipotentiary” Chavista minister, Tareck El Aissamileft the government leadership and disappeared from the public spectrum. “No one” has seen him, he no longer used his social networks and the hierarchs do not talk about him, at least not that is known.
All those close to El Aissami were imprisoned last year, including Álvaro Pulido, a Colombian and collaborator of Álex Saab, released in December by the United States and now head of investments in Venezuela. They were accused of being part of a Petróleos de Venezuela corruption scheme in which at least $21 billion disappeared.
The question is: where is El Aissami?
A source told EL TIEMPO that El Aissami is confined in the Fuerte Tiuna military complex, in Caracas, in a kind of “jail house” in which he is not allowed to leave the assigned and heavily guarded perimeter.
Apparently he's just working out and keeping his athletic body as usual. “He has no communication equipment and just stands there,” said the anonymous source.
Venezuela is a country of rumors. It is almost impossible to obtain official information. Regarding the corruption case, called “Pdvsa Cripto”, because the transactions of the 21,000 million were carried out in crypto currencies, no further information was known.
The State only limited itself to showing the detainees, who numbered about 40 and were part of El Aissami's inner circle. Even the Attorney General of the Republic, Tarek William Saab, never emphasized the name of the former oil minister.
There are those who believe that El Aissami's “disappearance” is not about corruption issues, or at least not completely, but rather that it began to be uncomfortable for Nicolás Maduro and a “conspiracy” of which he was the head would have even been discovered. But, nothing confirmed.
For political scientist Nicmer Evans, who also runs a media outlet in Caracas, half a year ago he received information that the original leader was at that time in a 2×2 cell in Fuerte Tiuna, in “not very comfortable conditions.” ”.
Evans also assured that the source insisted that the disappearance “not only revolves around the economic issue and corruption, but also about political zeal, and even some movements by El Aissami that became suspicious for the stability of the government.”
The fall of the giant
El Aissami was a boy who lived in the Andean state of Mérida. His name began to be heard due to his closeness to the ideals of Hugo Chávez, whom he once waited for at an event in that state to denounce acts of corruption. It is said that since then he began his career towards the top.
For the United States he is a person of care. The Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) classified him as a “specially designated drug trafficker.” He is also accused of having ties to the Iranian group Hezbollah.
He is a lawyer and criminologist, but when he headed the Ministry of the Interior, crime was unleashed in the country. Even when he was governor of the central state of Aragua, gangs proliferated, including the “Tren de Aragua.”
He became a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela. She was in charge of Petróleos de Venezuela and the Ministry of Energy.
The last thing he wrote in X was: “Due to the investigations that have been initiated into serious acts of corruption in PDVSA; I have made the decision to present my resignation as Minister of Petroleum, with the purpose of fully supporting, accompanying and endorsing this process”, that was on March 20, 2023.
Maduro said on national television: “I have decided to accept the resignation (…) to facilitate all the investigations that must result in the establishment of the truth, the punishment of the guilty and justice.” And never again will appointed the minister.
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