GLOBAL,  TRAFFICKING,  U.S.

The War With COVID-19, Terrorists, and Drug Cartels

By The Sharp Edge

The war we are facing against drug cartels connected to the Maduro regime may be much more than it seems.  General Milley succinctly described it like this: “We’re at war with COVID-19, we’re at war with terrorists, and we are at war with the drug cartels as well.”  Deeply entrenched in drug trafficking and terrorism operations within Venezuela, Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, may have had plans to exploit the Coronavirus outbreak and carry out operations against the United States and our interests in the region.  The threat to US national security that the narco state and its allies poses, amidst the backdrop of the worldwide Coronavirus outbreak, has led the Trump Administration to announce enhanced counter narcotics operations in the Western hemisphere – targeting criminals, cartels and terrorists tied to the Maduro regime.  By halting drug trafficking through Venezuela, the United States will essentially strangle the supply line of money and weapons to terrorist organizations that seek to threaten our national security and thwart any plans to exploit the Coronavirus pandemic.

From Wealthy Democracy to Authoritarian Narco State, Maduro Regime Poses Threat to Its People and the World

Having the largest proven oil reserves in the world, Venezuela was once the richest country in South America.  Following the widespread corruption of military leaders who ran the country for the first half of the 20th century, the nation, rich in culture and natural resources, enjoyed a relatively peaceful time of prosperity beginning in 1958 when democracy was introduced to the people.  That is, of course, until the price of oil went into free fall in the mid-1980s.  Their oil-dependent economy collapsed, riots broke out across the country, and martial law was promptly enacted.  The conditions were ripe for Hugo Chavez to lead a coup.  Though two coup attempts led by Chavez in 1992 failed and Chavez was subsequently jailed, they did inspire the impeachment of Perez the following year.  It was after Hugo Chavez’s release from prison in 1993, that his alliance with Cuba’s Fidel Castro was forged.  Nicolas Maduro, who also had close ties with Castro, campaigned for the release of Hugo Chavez from prison and was instrumental in Chavez’s election in 1998.

With promises to lift the country from its economic decline due to depressed oil prices, Chavez won the 1998 election with strong support from the people who had hopes for reform.  Chavez took office in 1999 and surely did live up to his promises of changing the country.  However, the changes that Chavez made to this fledgling democracy meant consolidation of power, elimination of checks and balances, and nationalization of many industries within the country, under a new constitution that was adopted by the National Assembly in 1999.  Chavez began to transform Venezuela into the image of Cuba.  Nicolas Maduro was elected to the National Assembly shortly thereafter in 2000.  By 2006, Maduro attained the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs under Hugo Chavez and then was appointed to the position of Vice President under Chavez in 2012.  Maduro assumed the presidency following the death of Hugo Chavez in 2013. 

Nationalized industries under the socialist policies of Chavez drove expropriated farmlands to become wastelands.  The inefficient and corrupt government of Venezuela did not have the capacity to run thousands of private businesses, as they artificially controlled prices, driving those businesses to lose profits and close down.  Socialism, corruption, and mismanagement killed the economy of Venezuela and starved its people under the Chavez and Maduro regimes.  While tens of thousands of tons of rotten food were found in government owned warehouses during Chavez’s presidency, their people went without.  The Chief Prosecutor of Venezuela from 2007 to 2017 accused Maduro of actually profiting from the food supply shortage.  The food shortage in Venezuela led to a government food program known as “CLAP.”  The Venezuelan food program had contracts with a Mexican Company allegedly owned by Maduro, who profited off the supply of food to Venezuelans in need.  The food shortages and starving masses have led to riots, crime, a black market of food trafficking by the Venezuelan military, and refugees fleeing the country by the millions.

Thousands, many of whom are children as young as 10 years old, have been forced to work in the illegal gold mines of Venezuela’s Amazon under sub-human, slave labor conditions.  The illegal gold mines have been run by the Colombian guerrilla groups, FARC and ELN, under the direction of Maduro’s former Vice President, Tareck El Aissami.  Miners who are accused of theft are subjected to torture, amputations, and murder. Over 200,000 children have been subjected to exploitation by the criminal organizations operating in Venezuela, including human trafficking, commercial sexual exploitation, and slave labor.  More than 1 million children in Venezuela have been forced to work in the “informal sector,” including illegal gold mines, drug trafficking, and other criminal activities.

In order to quell protests by dissidents, between 2015 and 2017, police carried out extrajudicial executions of more than 8,000 people in poor communities that no longer supported Maduro.  In 2017, the United States imposed new sanctions on the Maduro regime for serious human rights violations and attempts to undermine democratic elections in the country.  The extremely unpopular president’s reelection in 2018 was riddled with massive anti-Maduro protests, as well as accusations of voter fraud and vote buying.  Starving Venezuelans were asked to scan their “fatherland cards” at voting cites in order to win a prize provided by Maduro.  The fatherland cards are used nationwide to provide food benefits and money transfers.

Seen as “the last vestige of democracy” in an authoritarian regime, a legislative body representing the people known as the National Assembly chose Juan Guiado to preside as its president in December of 2018.  The National Assembly has asserted that the May 2018 reelection of Maduro was rigged and labeled Maduro as a “usurper.”  The National Assembly refuses to recognize Maduro’s reelection as legitimate and, citing the Venezuelan constitution, asserts that the President of the National Assembly, Juan Guiado, should be deemed as the interim President, until the next election takes place.  In a statement released by the White House, Trump remarked, “In its role as the only legitimate branch of government duly elected by the Venezuelan people, the National Assembly invoked the country’s constitution to declare Nicolas Maduro illegitimate, and the office of the presidency therefore vacant.”  Guiado has received the support of: the US, the EU, Israel, Canada, Australia, and most Latin American nations.  In March of 2020, the US State Department released a proposal for a “peaceful democratic transition in Venezuela,” which proposes a framework for “the establishment of a broadly acceptable transitional government to administer free and fair presidential elections and a pathway to lifting Venezuela-related U.S. sanctions.”

Despite opposition by the National Assembly and the international community, Maduro and his cronies have clung to power with the solidarity of key allies including: Cuba, Iran, Russia, and China.  With Hezbollah operations deeply entrenched in Venezuela since Chavez took power, Iran’s leader, Rouhani, has publically backed the Maduro regime and opposed the US’ “interventionist” support of the National Assembly, calling it “very ugly.” China and Russia have sought to secure their investments tied to oil reserves in the country by continuing to prop up the Maduro regime, as it is unclear if repayment on their loans would occur should Maduro be removed from office. Venezuela’s relationships with China and Russia strengthened exponentially during the regimes of Chavez and Maduro.  Under Chavez and Maduro, China has lent nearly $55 billion to the economically volatile country, in exchange for oil supplies.  In addition to financial support, China has provided the Maduro regime with a massive surveillance system to spy on its citizens.  Together, China and Russia have had an enormous stake in Venezuelan oil reserves, lending the petro state tens of billions of dollars while propping up the Chavez and Maduro administrations.  However, amidst the US indictments against Maduro and members of his administration, leading to a proclamation of war against cartels connected to the Maduro regime, Russia’s state owned oil company, Rosneft, which owned more than 70% of Venezuelan oil exports, cut ties with Venezuela in April of 2020, signaling that Russia intends to step back from their support of the crippled administration.  China appears to have scaled back support for Maduro in recent months as well.

With the extreme economic crisis in Venezuela, the American embargo on Venezuelan oil, and cratering oil prices due to a massive oversupply of oil on the world market, Maduro has quietly departed from socialist policies of state-run oil fields in an attempt to salvage the economy and remain in power.  According to Rafael Ramirez, the former head of Venezuela’s state-owned oil industry (Pdvsa), who cut ties with Maduro in 2017, “Pdvsa doesn’t manage our oil industry, Venezuelans don’t manage it…In the middle of the chaos generated by the worst economic crisis suffered by the country in its history, Maduro is taking actions to cede, transfer and hand over oil operations to private capital.”  Consequently, Chevron has become the largest foreign producer of oil in Venezuela.

The Venezuelan people are suffering through the worst humanitarian crisis the country has ever faced in recent years, lacking food, water, electricity and basic medical care.  However, their worst days may loom ahead as the country, crippled by the failed socialist policies of a corrupt regime, faces the uncontrolled spread of Coronavirus throughout the nation.  While neighboring countries have sealed their borders to refugees who may be carriers of the virus, the potential for social unrest nationwide surges.  Venezuelans carrying Coronavirus may turn to cartels for aid in illegal passage beyond the country’s borders, spreading the virus to neighboring countries and beyond.

With little support from the international community, and millions of Venezuelans going without basic necessities amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, the Maduro regime faces mounting pressure from all sides to step down, allowing sanctions to be lifted and an interim government to take over.

Dangerous Allies Within Venezuela’s Narco State Threaten US National Security and Regional Partners

Photo Credit: Fernando Llano/AP

Amidst the Coronavirus outbreak, the importation of illegal drugs to the United States that are obviously not subjected to FDA or Border Patrol inspections, poses a new and immediate threat to national security.  Though the FDA states that, “There is no evidence to support transmission of COVID-19 associated with imported goods and there have not been any cases of COVID-19 in the United States associated with imported goods,” they admit that “this remains a dynamic situation” and are taking extreme precautions to evaluate all imported goods to the country. 

In an announcement by the Department of Justice regarding the indictments of Maduro and his co-conspirators in March of 2020, Attorney General Barr remarked, “We estimate that somewhere between 200 and 250 metric tons of cocaine are shipped out of Venezuela,” annually by air and maritime routes, adding, “Those 250 metric tons equate to 30 million lethal doses.”  US Attorney Geoffrey Berman explained, “As alleged, Maduro and the other defendants expressly intended to flood the United States with cocaine in order to undermine the health and well-being of our nation.  Maduro very deliberately deployed cocaine as a weapon.”

Under the Chavez and Maduro regimes, Venezuela has reached a diplomatic crisis with Columbia over providing safe haven for the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) as well as the Colombian rebel group known as the National Liberation Army (ELN).  The Colombian dissident groups use armed guerrilla combatants who conduct drug trafficking, kidnapping, extortion, and illegal mining throughout the region.  According to US Attorney Geoffrey Berman, Maduro has been accused of “running, together with his top lieutenants, a narco-terrorism partnership with the FARC for the past 20 years.”  The Justice Department announcement explained  “In his role as a leader of the Cartel de Los Soles,Maduro Moros negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine; directed that the Cartel de Los Soles provide military-grade weapons to the FARC; coordinated foreign affairs with Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking; and solicited assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cartel de Los Soles.” US Attorney Berman added, “In exchange for their contributions, the FARC leaders received caches of military grade weapons including machine guns, ammunition, rocket launchers, and explosives – equipment to help fuel their long campaign of terrorism.”

As far back as 1988, Venezuelan officials have been connected to drug trafficking operations.  The CIA commissioned the head of Venezuela’s anti-drug unit, General Guillen, to set up a supply route of cocaine using agents of the Venezuelan National Guard.  In 1996, Guillen was indicted for smuggling more than 22 tons of cocaine to the United States and Europe, which Guillen claimed were under the approval and supervision of the CIA.  Following the investigation of General Guillen, the name “Cartel of the Suns,” emerged, as the uniforms of high ranking Venezuelan officials, who have participated in drug trafficking operations, bear the insignia of a sun. 

Unsealed indictments against Maduro and 14 other Venezuelan officials allege that, “Since at least 1999, Maduro Moros, Cabello Rondón, Carvajal Barrios and Alcalá Cordones, acted as leaders and managers of the Cartel of the Suns,” while corrupting, “legitimate institutions of Venezuela—including parts of the military, intelligence apparatus, legislature, and the judiciary—to facilitate the importation of tons of cocaine into the United States.” In 2005, Chavez shut down all cooperation with the DEA, and aligned himself with the Colombian militant group, FARC, in a conspiracy to “flood” the United States with illicit drugs. Later in 2013 several National Guard members, including a Lieutenant Coronal, were arrested after transporting 1.3 tons of cocaine on board a commercial airliner to Paris. In 2015, two nephews of Nicolas Maduro’s wife were arrested and held in Haiti for conspiring to smuggle 800 kilograms of cocaine to the United States. Interestingly, it was the testimony of Maduro’s “narconephews” that may have led to the federal indictments of Maduro and other key Venezuelan officials.  According to court documents, following their capture in Haiti, one nephew remarked, “We need the money…Why? Because the Americans are hitting us hard with money.  Do you understand?”  The captured cousins confessed to the DEA that they were recruited by Maduro to traffic cocaine in order to raise money for the congressional campaign of Maduro’s wife, Cilia Flores.

“Venezuela has become probably the cocaine capital of the world,” remarked Joseph Humire, an expert on Iran’s strategic penetration of Latin America who has testified before Congress on drug trafficking operations connected to Hezbollah in the region.  “Anything that moves not just to the United States, to Brazil and Argentina, or to Europe or to Africa, pretty much Venezuela is a transshipment hub for those cocaine trafficking.  Every major cocaine trafficking cartel in the world has had a presence in Venezuela over the last 20 to 30 years.” Under the Chavez and Maduro regimes, Venezuela has provided Iran’s proxy, Hezbollah, safe harbor to conduct their trafficking and terrorism operations within the region. The mutual partnership has benefited Iran in the way of raising funds for terrorist operations through drug trafficking, providing passports for potential terrorists, and transporting material support to Iran’s weapons programs.  “Iran has used commercial flights to be able to shuttle people, products and minerals in and out of Latin America to benefit their strategic WMD programs…Including their ballistic missile program and potentially their nuclear program as well,” explained Joseph Humire.  A drug trafficking partnership between Iran and Venezuela, as Humire explained, allowed the rogue regimes to “operationalize drug trafficking as an intelligence network… And they teamed up to use drug trafficking as a way to infiltrate societies.”

In 2008, the DEA launched a campaign known as Project Cassandra, which compiled evidence of Hezbollah’s multi-billion dollar international drug and weapons trafficking operations.  Following the cocaine shipments and money flow, agents were able to tie transactions to members of the inner circle of Hezbollah as well as its state sponsor, Iran.  In desperation to make a nuclear deal with Iran, the Obama administration shut down Project Cassandra and members of the task force were reassigned.  The loss of key insights gathered from Project Cassandra, regarding Hezbollah’s international criminal syndicate involving high up officials, including Nicolas Maduro, undermined the US’ ability to track the amount of cocaine making its way from Venezuela and the growing threat Hezbollah poses in the Western hemisphere. 

According to the former Counter-Narcotics Chief in Venezuela, Johan Obdola, the former Vice President of Venezuela under Maduro, Tareck El Aissami, “is running the Hezbollah operation and providing full support” of Iran’s Hezbollah operations in Venezuela.  In July of 2019, ICE added the former Vice President, Tareck El Aissami, to the 10 most wanted fugitives list.  El Aissami was indicted earlier the same year due to violations of the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Act, for playing a major role in international drug trafficking operations. Johan Obdola explained, “In the case of Iran and Hezbollah… they control large areas for the exploitation of strategic minerals in the Venezuelan Amazon, together with the FARC, and the criminal groups of the Venezuelan regime. Of course, in addition to these actions, Hezbollah maintains an extensive drug trafficking and money laundering operation. It is important to mention that Tareck El Aissami is the leader of these groups, not only in Venezuela, but he controls and coordinates these operations in the hemisphere. In fact, he has several of his close relatives coordinating these actions in some countries of the region.”  Obdola estimates that there are a total of 18,000 members of Hezbollah, 3,000 members of Hamas, and 1,500 members of the Guard of the Iranian Revolution operating in compartmentalized tasks throughout Venezuela. 

Hezbollah and Hamas are known to have bases of operations on Margarita Island. A strategic location for drug and human trafficking as well as money laundering, Margarita Island is the largest Venezuelan island situated on its northeastern coast in the Caribbean. Established as a free-trade zone by the Venezuelan government, the island provides an ideal condition for front businesses to funnel money oversees to terrorist organizations. Also known as a popular tourist destination, the market for human and child trafficking as well as sex tourism to Margarita Island, has grown.  Venezuela is considered by the US State Department to be a Tier 3 country with regards to combating human trafficking, placing the country in the worst possible category of governments who do not comply with the most basic standards of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. In reference to the enhanced narcotics operations in the Western hemisphere, President Trump was asked during an April 7th 2020 press conference, “Is it beyond narcotics? Are there other illicit activities that US assets are targeting?”  The President responded, “Well, there are the activities of human trafficking, and especially with respect to women, and as you know, proportionally it’s mostly women, and it’s a horrible thing.  It’s a horrible thing and there’s never been a time like it, and it’s because of the internet, and this is all over the world.  But for the most part, they’re coming through, in this country, they’re coming through the Southern border, but we’re hitting them very hard.  They have tremendous illegal trafficking in women and children also, but mostly in women.  It’s illegal, and it’s horrible, and it’s disgraceful, and I’ve seen things that are an absolute disgrace, and we’re trying to knock them out and we’re knocking them hard.”

Networks of tunnels used to conduct drug trafficking and other operations throughout the region bear a striking resemblance to the known tunnel structures built by Hezbollah and Hamas in the Middle East.  According to the former Counter-Narcotics Chief in Venezuela, Johan Obdola, “We have identified since 2014 that the regime, with the support of members from Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas, built more than 17 kilometers of tunnels located at various points in Caracas. These tunnels serve as safe routes, storage of military-grade weapons, and also have special accommodation capacity for hundreds of armed members of the revolution and terrorist groups.”

Since the announcement of indictments against Maduro and his co-conspirators, the Venezuelan General, Cliver Alcala, turned himself in to US authorities in March of 2020.  As the first regime official to be detained, Alcala remains in custody in New York until he awaits trial.  Former Venezuelan spy chief, General Hugo Carvajal, was arrested in Spain in April of 2019, on drug trafficking charges by the US and later released.  Carvajal has been in hiding since Spain approved his extradition, but has reportedly been in talks with US authorities over a possible surrender.  Remaining members of the corrupt Venezuelan regime, who are charged with narco terrorism, drug trafficking and money laundering, remain at large.  Justice Department officials have issued a $15 million dollar bounty for Maduro, and $10 million dollar bounties for several of his co-conspirators.  Maduro has signaled that he will not surrender, stating, “From here they take me dead”.

In communication with former Venezuelan officials on the inside, Johan Obdola explained, “Regarding the recent decision of the United States Department of Justice to order the arrest of the leadership of the Venezuelan regime for their narco-terrorist actions that include offering rewards for the capture of these criminals and terrorists, I am telling you that they are already generating very fast movements by members of the Venezuelan regime, who are desperately looking to communicate with American authorities to negotiate their deliveries.”

The War With COVID-19, Terrorists, and Drug Cartels

Photo Credit: Reuters

In a 2015 written testimony presented to Congress on “Iran and Hezbollah in the Western Hemisphere,” global security expert, Joseph Humire wrote, “U.S. Southern Command (SOUTHCOM), the regional combatant command responsible for Latin America and the Caribbean, is already absorbing a 26 percent cut across a range of programs. Because of these asset shortfalls, SOUTHCOM is unable to pursue 74 percent of suspected maritime drug trafficking vessels, according to Commander Gen. John Kelly. Vessels that could very possibly contain more than drugs but WMD effects that aid or abet Iran’s illegal nuclear and ballistic missile program. Moreover, these cuts affect the Defense Department’s ability for military-to-military engagement that is critical to offset Iran’s influence in these particular sectors. Capacity-building activities, multinational exercises, and bilateral defense support in Latin America have 13 of 15 all reduced in the last few years creating a vacuum that Iran and Hezbollah have exploited.”

On April 1st  2020, President Trump announced that US Southern Command will begin to conduct enhanced counter narcotics operations against cartels and malign actors who intend to exploit the Coronavirus event, stating, “As governments and nations focus on the Coronavirus, there’s a growing threat that cartels, criminals, terrorists, and other malign actors will try to exploit this situation for their own gain and we must not let that happen.  We will never let that happen.  Today the United States is launching enhanced counter narcotics operations in the Western hemisphere to protect the American people from the deadly scourge of illegal narcotics.  We must not let the drug cartels exploit the pandemic to threaten American lives.  In cooperation with the 22 partner nations, US Southern Command will increase surveillance, disruption, and seizures of drug shipments and provide additional support for eradication efforts which are going on right now at a record pace.   We’re deploying additional Navy destroyers, combat ships, aircraft and helicopters, Coast Guard cutters, and Air Force surveillance aircraft, doubling our capabilities in the region.”

Tensions have risen in the months since the US killed Iran’s Quds Force commander, Qasem Soleimani.  Some analysts believe that Iran may exploit the US preoccupation with Coronavirus as an opportunity to attack using their proxies.  In fact, on the same day that the Trump administration announced enhanced counter narcotics operations in the Western hemisphere, President Trump also tweeted, “Upon information and belief, Iran or its proxies are planning a sneak attack on U.S. troops and/or assets in Iraq. If this happens, Iran will pay a very heavy price, indeed!” A reporter asked the President a follow up question regarding the tweet in the April 1st press conference and President Trump responded, “We just have information that they were planning something.  And it’s very good information.  It was led by Iran — not necessarily Iran, but by groups supported by Iran.  But that, to me, is Iran.  And we’re just saying, ‘Don’t do it.  Don’t do it.’  It would be a very bad thing for them if they did it.”

President Trump was asked to expand on the enhanced counter narcotics operations amidst the Coronavirus outbreak when a reporter inquired, “Mr. President, could you expand on that a little bit?  Because you tie it to COVID-19, saying that these drug cartels were taking advantage of the situation, of this pandemic.”  President Trump responded, “That’s right.  They were.”  In a warning to US adversaries, Ambassador O’Brien stated during the press conference, “This President has a clear-eyed focus on America’s national security interest.  And let me be clear, it would be a mistake — a mistake with terrible consequences — for any adversary to attempt to do us harm during this health crisis — or ever, for that matter.”  General Milley echoed the sentiments of the panel at the press conference with a stern notice, stating “We’re at war with COVID-19, we’re at war with terrorists, and we are at war with the drug cartels as well.  This is the United States military.  You will not penetrate this country.  You will not get past Jump Street.  You’re not going to come in here and kill additional Americans.  And we will marshal whatever assets are required to prevent your entry into this country to kill Americans.  The bottom line is: You’re not going to get through.”

According to former Venezuelan Counter Narcotics Chief, Johan Obdola, who now heads the Canada-based Global Organization for Intelligence, Iran and Hezbollah operators in Venezuela “have been working to coordinate and execute terrorist actions in several countries in the region, in addition to potential terrorist attacks within the United States of America.”

By cutting off drug trafficking through Venezuela, the United States will aid in the removal of the corrupt and brutally oppressive Maduro regime, prevent hundreds of tons of illegal and potentially contaminated drugs from entering the US, and simultaneously strangle financial and weapons support to Iran and its proxies, thereby thwarting any potential plans to harm the United States and our allies. 

The Sharp Edge is an independent journalist.

14 Comments

  • PAUL MUGAR

    SHARP EDGE:
    YOU ARE: ANOTHER ‘RANDOM GUY JUAN’ GUIADO ASSET OF THE C.I.A. JEWISH ‘RULER OF THE WORLD’ +
    ‘RANDOM GUY DON’ TRUMP IS: THE KING CYRUS-BIBI-KUSHNER ISRAELI DICTATOR OF THE GREAT SATAN JEW~AMERIKA +
    YOU DON’T IDENTIFY YOURSELF BY NAME ~ COWARD ! +
    THE GREAT SATAN AMERIKA IS: ALL ABOUT C.I.A. REGIME CHANGE OF THE NAZI BUSH JEWISH SANHEDRIN OF THE NEW WORLD ORDER [NWO] FOR THE GREATER ISRAEL DICTATORSHIP +
    THE PROJECT FOR A NEW AMERICAN CENTURY [PNAC] WAS: THE NAZI AMERIKA’S FOURTH NAZI REICH TO ERECT THE ANTI-CHRIST OF LUCIFER BY DESTROYING PEOPLES AND NATIONS FOR THE GREATER ISRAEL +
    THE NUREMBERG WAR-CRIMINAL WEST STEALS THE OIL AND NATURAL RESOURCES OF NATION & PEOPLES TO DESTROY THEM +
    THIS IS THE METHOD OF OPERATION [MO] OF BOLSHEVIK ISRAEL MERGED WITH NAZI AMERICA TO ENSLAVE THE wHOLE WORLD IN THE NAME OF THE ANTI-CHRIST: THE MASONIC LUCIFER +
    YOU SHOULD BE ASHAMED TO BE AN ANONYMOUS LYING MOUTH-PIECE FOR THE C.I.A. GREAT SATAN ~ EMENY OF GOD AND MAN +
    ALL NATIONS HAVE THE DIVINE & NATURAL RIGHT TO CHOOSE THEIR OWN LEADERS BY THEIR SOVEREIGN CITIZENRY +
    WHO THE HELL IS: ‘THE GREAT SATAN AMERIKA’ TO DESTROY GOD’S ORDER OF THE FAMILY OF NATIONS INTO THE CHAOS OF THE DEI-CIDE & GENO-CIDE MASONIC [JEW ~ GOLGOTHA 1.0 + PROTESTANT ~ GOLGOTHA 2.0]
    In Mary’s Lanced Immaculate Heart [FATIMA~MAHDI] of Incurable Love and Truth.
    paulus

  • CAF

    Thank you for this elucidating article. The history of the enfolding of evil intent and the demise of Venezuela, a once prosperous nation, reads like a fictional thriller, but is sadly true. I pray many will read this and understand more of the complexity of what we’re fighting against and what we’re fighting for in these perilous times. #WWG1WGA

  • JCMR

    Drug lord he is, but it is not a Venezuelan “thing” nor is it a “commie” thing. It is a elite thing. if the writer or whomever at Corey Digs would like to show they are not repeating neocon platitudes, then I urge them to talk about Trump’s operations against a “capitalist” (I am using the lame and fake right/left paradigm) Presidente in Honduras, Juan Hernandez. This man and his whole mafia were installed by the Clinton/Obama Globalists in 2009 after a coup against another puppet they had who went rogue on them. Once Honduras was back under their control, the party currently in power did EVERYTHING the Deep State and Globalists wanted. Bill Clinton loved the place for “business” that he came TWICE to look around. Hernandez and his gangsters plunged the nation into IMF debt slavery and became one of Bill Gate’s most ardent cheerleaders and promoted Obama style “Green business, and Agenda 21 policies,, so much so it launched it forced vaccine government campaign on Hondurans (with complicity of the Medical Establishment). List goes on and on. Not to mention neo fascist type police state measures. It robbed two elections which Obama AND TRUMP turned the other way (Trump I let it slide because it was more a Tillerson thing. The government in Honduras under these bad actors PERMITTED the child migration to leave the country in 2015. not one child was kept back. The same government that did nothing when the Caravans popped up in 2018, knew about it, and only did something until Trump outed them on twitter. Pariah organizations like Dyncorp were Lords over millions.

    This is just the background. Oh but “commie” Venezuela (another Cabal/Deep State op) is the story

    During all this time in Honduras, hernandez’s brother TONY was pursuing his “El Chapo” drug ops and SMUGGLING arms into the USA (Why?). He was arrested after Trump had enough of the Honduran President’s duplicity. The trial was held in August/Sept 2019 and Trump’s legal team exposed all the dirty secrets on the Clinton installed Hernandez mafia. it was learned that there were “co-conspirators” that helped and colluded with TONY – military, public official from the party in power, and it was learned that “El Chapo” had friendly relations with those people and had communications with the current president, also named as CO-CONSPIRATOR.

    TONY was found guilty unanimously, a victory for Trump’s DOJ. The sentencing has been set back due to “COVID-19” and it is unsure what Trump may do to the Co-conspirators.

    Oh, but venezuela and Maduro is the story and only place Deep State dark ops, drug running and corruption exists

    I would be very surprised that Corey Digs even does a follow up to the Juan and Tony Hernandez and honduras crimes and complicities

  • Dave Butler

    Very confusing…
    The trustworthy, CIA is going to save America from traficed narcotics?
    Oh! They want a monopoly on their own import operations… Got it!

    So all of Venezuela’s problems could be solved if they just embraced the free market…

    But North America’s apitite for illegal drugs which is the demand end of free market forces, must be choked off! (to maintain and artificial shortage and keep the price high).

    Make up your mind please!

    Threats to national security my arse… Cartel interests backed by US military as usual.

    Refresh your memory with Smedley Butler’s “war is a racket”

  • Lizabeth Wiinamaki

    Thank you Corey for another thoughtfully researched article. Your written explanation makes the situation so much clearer. I love citizen journalists and you are the most thorough one I found. Can you do a dig on the New World Order connection to Luciferians, Nazis and Aryan groups that went underground who are really tools of the cabal?

  • Rodney

    I must admit this sounds a very propaganda piece to me considering ZioAmerika is determined to steal Venezuela’s oil fields for themselves ,as in all the ME along with its boss ISRAEL, especially now their useless poisoning Fracking wells are proven useless for gas or oil,only good for the Zionist Banksters fat pockets.

    Isn’t Amerika pushing a false President called Guido, THEY picked out of thin air for his true allegiance to the ZioBanksters, and the people don’t even get a say …
    All seems very REGIME CHANGE as USUAL to me..same old game over and over..

  • Irena

    Dave Butler, you got it. I applaud you! This article is such a pos that it was not worth reading through.
    How dare Maduro with Venezuelans and Iranian’ rulers to question America’s right on having their oil, gold and other resources?

  • Mark A Wilczek

    “SHARP EDGE” has got to be either Elliot Abrams or Pompeo; at the very least someone on their payroll. Must be Abrams. I doubt very much that Pompeo can use his words that well. On the other hand, he is the most prominent self-confessed liar I know of, though so many of the deep state people are. Bald faced lies. Sample the “on the ground” reporting of Abby Martin, Max Blumenthal, et al. US media is 100% fake news.

    Signed, A libertarian. Not a Trump hater, but not a fan, mostly because I think so many are much more qualified for the job, but will never get past the deep state machine. Trump did because they thought, and were right, he can be manipulated. If the deep state didn’t have such a stranglehold on government, Trump could be easily manipulated into doing good things.

    “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” is how I see Trump.

  • Mark A Wilczek

    Slight edit to my previous comment. I meant to say, please sample Abby Martin. I did not mean to imply she and her compatriots are US Media. They are genuine reporters, uncensored, who risk their lives to report truth. They are giants among journalists. Add Chris Hedges. For concise analysis, add James Corbett; he referred me to Corey’s Digs. I’m glad he did, but in reading the above article, I kept expecting to get to the end, and see a large font APRIL FOOLS!, or NOT! Corey, how does such a piece get on here? Does this site have no discrimination? Not that that’s a bad thing, I guess, but very confusing.

  • Anthony Hildebrand

    Great article shedding some light on what is happening in just this part of the world. As we know, it appears to be happening everywhere. Thanks for the work

  • Mike Robinson

    Wow! Reading the comments…
    Not sure if anyone here is qualified to pontificate…perhaps.
    However, it appears that we have three options:
    1. All events another elaborate Deep State / CIA scam to perform another country take-down and steal resources. Trump either puppet or co-conspirator. His ‘associates’ are CIA criminal liars. (If so, why all the trouble? Just do what you want and tell us later.)
    2. The communist & jihadist dictators are ACTUALLY the good guys!
    3. Q

  • Jefe Maracaibo

    Corey, Sharp Edge, Paul Mugar & others: The article entitled “The War With COVID-19, Terrorists, and Drug Cartels” in my mind over promises and under delivers on the situation in Venezuela regarding Coronavirus, terrorist and drug cartels. The article has a lot on information but misses the real tragedy of the ongoing story of the State of Venezuela and Venezolanos. The Venezuelan people are the real victims here. Chavez, and his hand-picked successor Maduro have enslaved the people of Venezuela, stolen the wealth from the Country, and get away with it by stealing the elections and handing out free chicken, flour, corn flour, sugar, and cooking oil to the impoverished poor which is a majority since the first thing Socialism does is eliminate the middle class by taking over media, and businesses, therefore stealing the wealth of the middle class. When the oil cash flow stopped, Chavez turned to Narco Trafficking with Cartels of Colombia. His successor, the “bus driver” whose only skill-set is pointing to pictures where Chavez pointed to Maduro. They strong arm people, kill those who make too much noise, and the great Venezuelan people are made to suffer. This has to stop!

    I am a second generation American engineer in Oil & Gas extraction who has lived and worked in Venezuela to improve their oil & gas production. I lived in Venezuela as a child when my father who worked a Mini Grane at El Tigre. Later in life, I lived in Maracaibo and supported the oil & gas infrastructure and production all over Venezuela. Hugo Chavez was in power during my 3-4 years working there.
    First, the victims in this saga are the Venezuelan people. Venezuela has a wealth of young, well educated, intelligent and hard working people. The problems stems from the Socialismo experiment introduced by Chavez.

    Let me explain, rather than improving the infrastructure needs of the Country, Chavez only spent the minimum to repair or patch up the broken roads, bridges, water systems, electrical grids, etc. Zero master planning for future generations. The vast wealth generated from the oil and gas fields was squandered by Chavez supporting Cuba, Bolivia, and some others who Chavez wanted to grow the Socializmo throughout the region. Also, vast sums of Venezuelano wealth were stolen in hidden bank accounts by Chavez in both dollars and gold.

    I worked closely with many senior PDVSA engineers and executives who routinely complained they did not receive an adequate budget to perform preventative maintenance in both Upstream and Downstream assets. They were forced to run a crater maintenance program of “Run, Fail, Fix” whereby they had to scavenge parts from other equipment to the point of production losses including refinery shut-downs. WHY? Because Chavez did other things with the money as previously described. He certainly did not build new roads and utility systems.
    Years ago, many of the Major Oil & Gas Companies were invited to Venezuela for their expertise and Capital to build the oil and gas infrastructure. Once things grew and the money flowed the Venezuelan Government decided to takeover the Oil & Gas Assets and run the Oil Companies out. That worked for a short while until their lack of technical expertise needed to efficiently maintain and operate efficiently Upstream and Downstream facilities along with crater maintenance practices failed. Once again, Venezuela had to entice American Oil & Gas Companies to repair the broken production systems and improve production capacity and therefore cash flow to the Venezuelan Government (aka Seized by Chavez). Once production ramped back up and things improved, Chavez continued squandering the Capital by supporting Cuba and tried to buy influence with other SA countries. He again failed to reinvest in the infrastructure of Venezuela as shown by part-time availability of water and electricity across the country. He forced “Empresa Mixtas” combining PDVSA personal to run the oil field rebuilt by American Oil Companies. As a manager in one of those who managed the transition to mixed companies I could see the handwriting on the wall of another total collapse pending down the road. I transferred as many of my Venezuelan engineers to better jobs around the world as I could. But the others going to work for the new empresa mixtas were facing a 50-70 % paycut in the new companies. Simply to give Chavez more money to squander. After Chavez died, The “Bus Driver” ramped up the drug and human trafficking cash flow for his personal gains while the great people of Venezuela are forced to dig in garbage to find food.

    So as Venezuela and its people continue to suffer from the invasion of parasites like Chavez, and now his hand-picked successor other countries around the world were not exempt from infiltration. Actually, I discovered a Triad of Evil has run most of the worlds money and power for over a century. Truly a case where “Truth is Stranger than Fiction”

    It turns out that America too had been invaded by parasitic regimes who use “silent weapons for silent wars” to enslave mankind around the globe. This has gone on for centuries. So, when Paul Mugar calls America “The Great Satan” I forgive him because he does so not knowing of the evil parasites who have controlled America’s Military actions before 2016. He also fails to understand that there is a significant paradigm shift taking place in America and around the globe to take down this Triad of Evil. The Triad consists of three Nation States: City of London; The Vatican; & Washington D.C. There are all three Nation States that exist within Nations each claiming their own Sovereignty. The City of London controls world Finance (Financial Power) is a small area in England; The Vatican (Spiritual Power)is in Rome, Italy. Washington D.C. (Military Power) is within USA.

    Like a three legged stool if you remove a leg the stool will fall. Trump took over the US Military after becoming President. Actually, the Military revolted under Obama during his second term. So, without Military Power, the two remaining legs of the Evil Triad (Financial Power) and (Spiritual Power) are ineffective and being taken down by the good guys. This is being done to free mankind. This is a fight between “Good” Vs “Evil”; “God” Vs “Satan” and the good news is “God WIns”

    There are untold millions of Horrific crimes done by Evil doers beyond what many can comprehend and as the Truth is shared during #TheGreatAwakeningWorldWide people will be shocked to learn the truth. So, let us pray that God continues to Protect President Trump and His Team who are working to end the evil in this world.

    I am looking forward to the freedom of mankind and especially for my many Venezolano Amigos

    God Bless Mankind

  • David Bryson

    Hi Corey- Have you been able to make any valid connections between the arrested Harvard Jewish Chemist, Charles M. Lieber, who set up a lab at Wuhan U. and the COVID19, epidemic? He was very close to colleagues at Harvard who were taking money from Jeffrey Epstein.

  • Paul Barbara

    This ‘Sharp Edge’ is simply a pro-‘Regime Change’ propagandist for the Great Satan.
    Anybody who is not aware that the CIA is the world’s premier drug trafficker, and worse, should read ‘Compromised: Clinton, Bush and the CIA’
    by Terry Reed and John Cummings (notice, this is not a Demoprat/Repugnant thing, they are both pawns of the Shadow Government, the Banksters and the Corporatists): ‘Dark Alliance: The CIA, the Contras and the Crack Cocaine Explosion’ by Gary Webb (who following the publication of his book was ‘suicided’); and ‘Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies, and the CIA in Central America’ by Peter Dale Scott.
    The CIA were even smuggling heroin into the US in bodies and body bags during the Vietnam War (itself massively ramped up after LBJ’s ‘Gulf of Tonkin LIE’).
    Panama’s Noriega, an American accomplice kidnapped, and thousands Panamanians murdered in the process, because he was getting too independent and could no longer be told what to do by his US ‘Allies’.
    Hugo Chavez is loved by most Venezuelans, and his successor (after the suspicious death of Chavez after (like many other Left-Wing leaders in Latin America) he ‘contracted’ cancer was also widely accepted by the Venezuelan people. The collapse of the oil price, US sabotage, 5th Column Traitors in league with the Great Satan to the north, and deadly US-instigated insurgencies combined to create extremely difficult circumstances in Venezuela, so Maduro lost some support, but still has much, including the loyalty of the police and military.
    The US is ramping up provocations against Venezuela under cover of the (US-produced and introduced) Covid 19 Pandemic.
    See ”WUHAN OUTBREAK: CHINA DEMANDS AN HONEST ACCOUNTING’ on Aletho News.
    Corey’s article on the Clinton’s and child trafficking was good, but the Repugnants were also up to their neck in Child Abuse – see ‘Trance Formation of America’ and ‘Access Denied: For Reasons of National Security’ by Cathy O’Brien and Mark Philips.
    Hands Off Venezuela!

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