Information published by ABC regarding negotiations between Nicolás Maduro's staff-when he was foreign minister-in an FMLN drug trafficking operation in El Salvador, has corroborated suspicions that existed in Venezuelan political and diplomatic circles.

"This news confirms what many already knew about the significant and growing presence of drug trafficking in Venezuela and its important relations with the top echelon in the government and the Armed Forces," former Venezuelan ambassador to Sweden and Guyana, Sadio Garavini commented. "Venezuela has become a center of command and control of international drug trafficking since the expulsion of the DEA (U.S. anti-drug agency) of the country and the indefinite suspension of the effective partnership with former United States cooperation in the fight against drugs."

"This news confirms what many already knew about the significant and growing presence of drug trafficking in Venezuela and its important relations with the top echelon in the government and the Armed Forces."

- Sadio Garavini

Former Venezuelan ambassador

Garavini, also highlighted how that contributes to illegal smuggling, corruption of police and the military, as well as the well-known "alliance" with the FARC, the Colombian narco guerrillas.

Indeed, the information from ABC proves that Maduro's cabinet facilitated the flight of a plane in which Italian drug lord Roberto Adamo was on to negotiate with the FARC in Apure, where the Colombian guerrillas operate with impunity and where no international flights are supposed to land.

Buying a country

Meanwhile, Venezuela's former ambassador to El Salvador, Juan José Montsant, is not surprised that leaders of the Farabundo Marti National Liberation Front (FMLN) in El Salvador are linked to the Colombian guerrillas, while stressing the massive financial backing from Venezuela to the FMLN, which has been done to take complete control of the country.

"The FMLN and Alba Petroleos of El Salvador - the entity that funnels Venezuelan aid - has taken over the country in ways the United Fruit Company would have never imagined: from airlines to mass purchases of land in the capital, coffee crops above price, pharmacies, banks, and media outlets. Montsant also points to reports and studies by the University of Salamanca, demonstrating the influence of Venezuelan oil through Alba Petróleos on Salvadorans leaders, enabling a patronage policy that seeks votes in the popular sectors.

Also, a Venezuelan lawyer specializing in international law, Joaquin Chafardet, residing in the United States, commented that ABC's report underlines the "complicity" of the government with the narcos. In his opinion, this information is not new: "Everyone knows that the Chavez government funded radical groups like the FMLN, the Sandinistas, the Colombian FARC or Hezbollah fundamentalists, which in turn are linked with terrorists and drug traffickers."

Chafardet explains that the close relationship between the FARC, the FMLN, and Chavez was revealed by the Raul Reyes files seized by the Colombian army when that FARC leader was killed. In these emails the strong linkage between the FARC and the Salvadoran FMLN leader, José Luis Merino, drug trafficking by Colombian guerrillas, and their relationships with the Lebanese Hezbollah and the government of Venezuela are exposed.

Chafardet says the joint venture, Alba Petroleos, created by the Venezuelan state oil company PDVSA, plays a key financial support role for the Salvadoran government led by the leaders of the FMLN-a former guerrilla movement converted into a political party. Alba Petróleos owes its partner, PDVSA, $483 million, representing its "total bankruptcy." And yet, the company continues to operate.

[Translated by IASW]