A 15-page official document to which The Associated Press has had access reveals that the DEA, the United States anti-drug agency, sent three undercover agents to Venezuela in 2018 to collect alleged evidence that would help link Nicolás Maduro's entourage. with drug trafficking. The mission, which crosses the line of international law, was part of the so-called Operation Money Badger (in reference to a type of bait), launched at a time of maximum tension between Washington and Caracas. In May of that year, Maduro won presidential elections held without real competition and questioned by the vast majority of the international community, and Donald Trump increased the pressure against the Venezuelan government exponentially.
The report indicates that one of the objectives of the DEA spies was to investigate the military man José Vielma Mora, current deputy in the National Assembly of the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV). Since the time of Hugo Chávez, this Chavista leader held important positions in the Government as head of tax collection and customs control and governor of the border state of Táchira. According to the thesis of the United States anti-drug agency, Vielma had an alleged accomplice in illicit activities: Luis Motta Dominguez, also with a military career behind him and former Minister of Electrical Energy. The bait was a professional money launderer, investigated for money laundering and who ended up collaborating with the DEA from Miami.
“It is necessary to carry out this operation unilaterally and without notifying the Venezuelan authorities,” the memo indicates. The Associated Press indicates that, because the plan was carried out outside Venezuelan and international law, it required approval from the Sensitive Activities Review Committee (SARC), a cabinet of senior officials from the State Department and of Justice that deals with delicate cases due to their ethical, legal implications or their impact on foreign policy.
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. Accused of being Maduro's front man by the US authorities, Saab was finally released at the end of 2023 through an exchange for prisoners as part of direct negotiations between Washington and Caracas.
Almost two decades ago, Venezuela closed its cooperation program in the fight against drugs with the DEA. In fact, in 2005 Hugo Chávez expelled some officials from the country under accusation of espionage. One more episode of hostilities between the Bolivarian regime and the United States. On this occasion, the Maduro Government has not yet commented on this operation. However, the report, which shows the interference of the United States anti-drug agency in a foreign country, is also known at a very delicate moment for relations between the United States and Venezuela. Negotiations between both countries to relax sanctions in exchange for guarantees for democratic elections scheduled for this year are about to founder due to Chavismo's decision to block the participation of María Corina Machado, the main candidate of the opposition bloc, chosen in primaries. .
Days ago, the Venezuelan president had accused the DEA and the CIA of planning conspiracies to destabilize the country. “I don't believe that the president [Joe] Biden is involved,” Maduro said in a recent television appearance. “But the CIA and the DEA are independent, imperialist, criminal organizations.”
The State Department has already warned that licenses granted at a time of detente last November will expire in April, after the Barbados agreements were signed between Chavismo and the opposition. If the Maduro Government does not allow the participation of Machado and all the disqualified candidates in the elections, which for the moment is ruled out without any qualification, the White House will once again impose on the Caribbean country the economic sanctions that in recent years contributed to aggravate the already deep economic crisis. Washington also asks Maduro to open the electoral registry, the participation of independent electoral observation missions and the formal announcement of a schedule to hold the presidential elections in the second half of 2024. The Venezuelan conflict, which had taken some steps after the recovery of the dialogue with the United States, seems to be stagnant again.
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