U.S. agents arrest members of Venezuelan President's family in Haiti

U.S. agents arrest members of Venezuelan President's family in Haiti

By Kay Guerrero and Claudia Dominguez, CNN

Two members of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's family are arrested

A DEA source says they were arrested in Haiti as they prepared to finalize drug deal

One of the men was raised by Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores; the other one is her nephew (CNN)

U.S. federal agents have detained two members of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's family in Haiti, according to a Drug Enforcement Administration source who participated in the arrest.

The two men, identified as Efrain Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores Freites, were arrested Tuesday night in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince as they were preparing to finalize a deal that would have allowed them to transport 800 kilograms of drugs to the United States, the source said.

One of the men was raised by Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores; the other is her nephew.

Information about the arrest was corroborated by Mike Vigil, a former chief of international operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration who has contacts that are high-level federal law enforcement officials.

During the arrest, both men had Venezuelan diplomatic passports and openly identified themselves as the son and nephew of Flores, maintaining that they had diplomatic immunity, Vigil said.

CNN contacted Haitian authorities to ask about the arrest, but officials there said they were not involved in the raid. The Venezuelan government has not responded to requests for comment.

Maduro and Flores married in July 2013, several months after he was sworn in as Venezuela's President on the heels of the death of longtime leader Hugo Chavez.

But they'd been a couple for years, and both of them were members of Chavez' inner circle. During Chavez' final years in office, Maduro was vice president and foreign minister; Flores was the attorney general.

Now, rather than going by the title of first lady, Flores uses the term "first fighter" to describe her role.

CNN's Catherine E. Shoichet contributed to this report.

Latin America’s shameful silence on Venezuela

Maybe to be latinoamerican means supporting dictators, tyrants and drug traffickers ... if so, I am not latinoamerican anymore... I feel more like an American.
vdebate reporter

BY ANDRES OPPENHEIMER
AOPPENHEIMER@MIAMIHERALD.COM
02/21/2015
MEXICO CITY
Judging from the shamefully weak response from Latin America’s regional organizations such as the OAS and UNASUR to the arbitrary arrest of Caracas Mayor Antonio Ledezma and other opposition leaders in Venezuela, it’s hard not to conclude that they have become mutual protection societies for repressive regimes.
Instead of immediately requesting the unconditional release of Ledezma, as well as that of opposition leader Leopoldo Lopez and other political prisoners who according to the United Nations have been victims of “arbitrary arrests,” the biggest regional organizations and virtually all Latin American leaders have largely looked the other way.
What’s the point of having these regional organizations, if they don’t even raise a finger to enforce their own charters calling for the respect and defense of democracy? And how to justify the absence of strong responses from Brazil and Mexico, the region’s biggest countries, whose presidents want to be seen as leaders of modern democracies?
Decades ago, when a Latin American country blatantly infringed democratic freedoms, such as Venezuela is doing now, the region’s most important democratic leaders condemned such events, and asked for urgent meetings of the Organization of American States (OAS) to press for corrective actions.
When former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori shut down his country’s Congress in 1992, the then pro-democracy government of Venezuela broke diplomatic relations with Peru, Argentina withdrew its ambassador, and Chile and several other countries officially requested that Peru be suspended from the OAS. And the OAS protested Fujimori’s action, forcing him to eventually call early elections for a new Congress a few months later.
Nothing even close to that happened after Thursday’s arrest of Ledezma, one of Venezuela’s top elected officials and leading opposition figure. At the time of this writing, no Latin American government had issued a strong condemnation of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro’s arbitrary arrest of Ledezma, nor requested an urgent OAS foreign ministers’ meeting to address the issue.
Maduro, who only earlier this month led official celebrations to honor a 1992 coup attempt by late President Hugo Chávez, has accused Ledezma and other opposition leaders of “conspiring and organizing” violent anti-government actions, which they categorically deny.
On Friday, outgoing OAS Secretary General Jose Miguel Insulza expressed his “alarm” over the latest events in Venezuela. But in the absence of any member country request to hold an extraordinary meeting, the group is basically watching Venezuelan events from afar.
The Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) announced Friday it will send a delegation of foreign ministers from Brazil, Ecuador and Colombia to Venezuela at a yet to be determined date to observe the situation on the ground.
That may be good news for Maduro, since UNASUR is the regional group most sympathetic to his government. Last year, UNASUR dispatched the same three countries’ foreign ministers to Venezuela for an alleged mediation effort after student protests in Caracas left at least 43 dead.
But the UNASUR mediators not only failed to broker an agreement between Maduro and the opposition, but helped Maduro win precious time to diffuse the protests. The three countries’ foreign ministers did not get the release of all students arrested during the protests, nor a commitment from Maduro to meet some basic demands, such as the appointment of independent electoral authorities for this year’s legislative elections.
Earlier, in 2013, UNASUR had rushed to bless Maduro’s dubious election victory, after a pro-government electoral tribunal had proclaimed him winner by 1 percent of the vote despite opposition charges of massive fraud.
UNASUR President Ernesto Samper called Friday for “dialogue” in Venezuela, and criticized U.S. sanctions against about five dozen Venezuelan officials suspected of human rights abuses and corruption.
Jose Miguel Vivanco, head of the Americas department of Human Rights Watch, called Samper’s statements “highly unfortunate, because there’s absolutely no connection between the rightful U.S. cancelation of visas and freezing of assets of Venezuelan officials involved in human rights abuses and corruption, and the arbitrary detentions in Venezuela.”
Vivanco added that “we are seeing a daily deterioration of fundamental freedoms in Venezuela. The government is not accountable to any independent democratic institution there. The only thing left to stop this escalade of abuses is the regional community.”
My opinion: I agree. Trouble is, the regional community is leaderless. It’s no surprise that Venezuela’s closest allies — the populist demagogues ruling in Bolivia, Ecuador, Nicaragua and Argentina –— have remained silent.
What’s more difficult to understand is Mexico and Brazil’s failure to ask regional organizations to meet their duty and demand the respect for democratic institutions in all member countries.
Because of that, the OAS, UNASUR and other regional groups are increasingly looking as protectors of government abuses, rather than of democratic freedoms.
Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/news-columns-blogs/andres-oppenheimer/article10886603.html#storylink=cpy

Letter to the American Congress, related to Venezuela - VEPPEX

I agree 100% with this letter... Let me know if you also do.

vdebate reporter

Miami, 9 de Febrero 2015

Honorables:

Congresswoman Ileana Ros Letinen

Congressman Mario Diaz Balart

Congressman Carlos Curbelo

Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Shultz

Congresswoman Federica Wilson

And your office.

It is an honor to address you with the opportunity to greet you all and ask the possibility of creating a hearing in the United States congress. This hearing would serve the purpose of assisting organizations, activists and Venezuelan leaders who can aid in exposing the human rights violations in Venezuela. We want to expose the persecution and use of torture to end the opposition resistance, the encarceration of young students and opposition leaders. We would like to get a chance to show the U.S congress the participation of senior and military officials of the Maduro regime in illicit activities such as drug trafficking and international terrorism.  Currently, in Venezuela there are various violations to the democracy charter of the Organization of American States (OAS) in which it is reiterated of the dictatorship that exist. Such dictatorship has placed Venezuela outside of the international realm and has left the citizens within in a state of dangerous helplessness and vulnerability.

It is most important that, in addition to the sanctions that have been placed on Venezuelan officials for violations of human rights, it is known in great detail the participation of other functionaries in illegal activities that destabilize the country and the region.

We are hoping you strongly consider this petition and we await with high anticipation your response, while welcoming any additional ideas you may have.  We thank you for your solidarity with the Venezuelan people. 

With utmost respect, 

Jose Antonio Colina President of the organization of Politically Persecuted Venezuelan’s in Exile (VEPPEX)

Janette González  Director of VEPPEX-USA

In God We Trust

Diosdado Cabello's head of security defects to the U.S. and accuses him of narcotrafficking

http://www.abc.es/internacional/20150127/abci-venezuela-cabello-eeuu-201501262129.html
By Emili J. Blasco
ABC.es
January 27, 2015 

With the arrival yesterday in Washington, DC, of protected witness, [Venezuelan Navy] Captain Leamsy Salazar, who until December was the head of security for Diosdado Cabello, a U.S. federal prosecutor has accelerated the preparation of a formal indictment against the number two in the Venezuelan regime. 

Salazar is the highest-ranking military officer to break ranks with chavismo and make formal accusations in the United States against senior government officials for their involvement in narcotrafficking. 

For almost 10 years, Salazar served as chief of security and as personal assistant to Hugo Chávez. After Chávez's death, Salazar went on to work for Cabello as his chief of security. 

Cartel of the Suns

According to sources close to the investigation, opened by the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Salazar claims that [Cabello], the president of the National Assembly, is the head of the Cártel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) and therefore the leader of the narcostate that Venezuela became under Chávez. 

The Cartel of the Suns, primarily composed of members of the military (its name comes from the insignia worn on the uniform of Venezuelan generals), has a drug trafficking monopoly in Venezuela. The drugs are produced by the Colombian FARC [Fuerzas Revolucionarias de Colombia guerrillas] and taken to their destinations in the U.S. and Europe by Mexican cartels. Recent international figures indicate that Venezuela ships five tons of narcotics on a weekly basis. Ninety percent of the drugs produced by Colombia transits Venezuela. 

As an aide who constantly accompanied Cabello, Salazar witnessed events and conversations that incriminate the National Assembly president. Specifically, he saw Cabello giving direct orders for the departure of boats loaded with tons of cocaine; he has also provided photographs of places where mountains of dollars (sic) from narcotrafficking are stored, according to sources close to the investigation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). 

On December 11, 2014, a shipment loaded with $10 million in cash was detained at Puerto Cabello, which is Venezuela's most important seaport. The shipment came from the United States and it is speculated that it could be a payment for drugs. A mistake within the organization probably led to its discovery and confiscation. 

Days later, in his weekly television program, rather than fueling suspicions that the money was related to drugs, Diosdado Cabello specifically accused the political opposition of being the recipient of this money, although he failed to provide any evidence. 

Cabello, who served in the military, cultivated a leadership role among members of the Armed Forces; but given Salazar's testimony and his respected record of military service, Cabello's support in the barracks may be significantly reduced. A navy captain, comparable to the army rank of colonel, Salazar has not been involved in any criminal activities, a fact that reinforces the value of his testimony. 

In his revelations, Salazar also implicates the governor of Aragua state, Tarek el Aissami, who also has links with Islamic networks, and José David Cabello, brother of the National Assembly president, who for several years served as director of SENIAT [tax agency] and minister of industry. José David Cabello is allegedly responsible for the finances of the Cartel of the Suns. Salazar mentions that [the state-run oil company Petróleos de Venezuela] PDVSA is a money-laundering machine (sic). PDVSA's former president from 2004 to 2014, Rafael Ramirez, was appointed in December as Venezuela's ambassador before the U.N. Security Council. 

Salazar's testimony, according to the sources cited, has ratified many of the facts already provided by Eladio Aponte to the DEA. Aponte was chief of the Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Venezuela; in 2012, Aponte fled to the United States as a protected witness. 

The case against Diosdado Cabello is closely linked to the indictment announced last year by federal prosecutors in New York and Miami against the [retired] Venezuelan General Hugo Carvajal, who headed the Directorate of Military Intelligence for many years. 

The announcement came as Carvajal, alias "El Pollo," was arrested in July [2014] on the Dutch island of Aruba, neighboring Venezuela, at the request of U.S. authorities, who demanded his extradition. However, Aruba gave in to pressure from the government of [Nicolás] Maduro and allowed Carvajal to return to Venezuela. Carvajal was considered to be the head of the Cartel of the Suns. Salazar's information, on the other hand, places Carvajal under Cabello. 

Regarding the links with Havana, Salazar mentioned the regular use of PDVSA aircraft to transport drugs. A son of Chávez's and a son of former Cuban ambassador in Caracas, Germán Sánchez Otero, organized these shipments. Other Cuban officials are mentioned as part of the scheme. The final destination of these shipments was the United States. 

The sources related with this investigation speculate that Sánchez Otero, closely associated with Chávez, was removed from the post of ambassador following the discovery of a briefcase on one of these flights, which proved embarrassing for the Castro regime. The ambassador's son was arrested on one occasion when we traveled alone, while Chávez's son underwent treatment for substance abuse.