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New Leaks Tie Chávez to Drug Trafficking

https://www.whatsnextvenezuela.com/news/new-leaks-tie-chavez-to-drug-trafficking/

Giant portraits of the mothers of victims have highlighted the problem of violence in Caracas

With the October elections approaching, Hugo Chávez is no doubt hoping that Venezuelans’ faith in his government and its social programs will carry him to victory. But as we’ve reported before, former Venezuelan Supreme Court judge Eladio Aponte Aponte’s allegations of corruption and ties to drug traffickers are adding to what were already serious concerns about increasing violence and crime in Venezuela.

The former judge has been turning over proof of narco-trafficking to the DEA, some of which has leaked to the press. And while Aponte has implicated senior government leaders in the past, new evidence indicates that these actions were known by the highest levels of Venezuela’s government. According to Aponte, Chávez received weekly briefs on the drug operations carried out by Venezuela’s military. Aponte has revealed a letter to Chávez from a military leader requesting an investigation into the involvement of Henry Rangel Silva, now the Minister of Defense, in the transportation of 2.2 tons of cocaine by a military convoy. The cocaine was kept at an army barrack on the border of Colombia, an area rife with drug gangs. After hearing the allegations, Chávez chose not to launch the investigation, instead, according to Aponte, he did his best to keep the story under wraps.

Aponte has also said that he was told to “turn a blind eye” to members of the FARC, a guerilla group with ties to drug smuggling that the Colombian government has fought for decades. The problems along the porous Colombia-Venezuela border are well documented, which has allowed cocaine grown and produced in Colombia to pass to Venezuela, the main port of transit for the cocaine heading to the U.S. and Europe. Just last week, former Colombian president Álvaro Uribe criticized Chávez and his government for permitting Colombian terrorists and narco-traffickers to operate in Venezuela.

Previous reports said the operations were handled by Silva; General Cliver Alcalá, commander of the Fourth Armored Division of the Army; and Diosdado Cabello, president of the National Assembly and one of President Hugo Chávez’s closest allies, but these are the first allegations that Chávez himself was involved.

This comes on top of Aponte’s earlier claims that the Chávez administration controls the court system. Aponte has said Chávez and other government officials contacted judges with instructions on sensitive cases, while vice president Elias Jaua held weekly meetings with members of the judiciary. Chávez’s control over the Venezuelan courts is a concern that has been voiced by a number of human rights groups, such as Human Rights Watch, for many years.

Venezuelans have already identified crime and insecurity as a top issue in the upcoming elections. As the allegations continue to pour out, Chávez and the PSUV will have to do serious damage control to convince Venezuelans that they are part of the solution and not, as many are saying, part of the problem.