On Monday afternoon, rumors started building on a story that would headline the Spanish newspaper, ABC, on Tuesday: “Security Chief of Chavista number 2 flees to the US and acuses him of drug smuggling.” By Chavista number 2 —you may not agree— the reporter, ABC’s Washington correspondent Emili J. Blasco, meant the President of the National Assembly, Diosdado Cabello.
Venezuelan journo Luz Mely Reyes, who recently launched her news platform Efecto Cocuyo with Laura Weffer, started feeding Twitter with whatever background information she could gather on the scandal.
The story involves one Leamsy Salazar, a young Captain who spent twelve years beside President Chávez as his chief of security and personal assistant. After Chávez’s death, he was assigned to work under Diosdado Cabello.
According to Reyes, Salazar recently got married in Margarita and was thought to be spending his honey moon in Spain. But apparently he was contacted weeks ago by the US Department of State, and the trip was an excuse to leave Caracas and jump to Washington DC from Madrid. The last tip by Reyes is that the State Department wants him because Salazar witnessed a particular exchange of money in Cojedes.
Thanks to the time difference with Spain, however, the speculation was cut short. Emili J. Blasco’s story feeds several conspiracy theories regarding Cartel de los Soles, the alleged military drug ring that supposedly runs the country.
According to Blasco, Salazar would be the key witness to an investigation led by the New York DA’s office and the DEA, and his testimony would point to Diosdado Cabello as being the leader of the cartel. The piece ties several well known events, like the one with the truck stuffed with US$10 million found in Puerto Cabello, with other less known stories like the one with Huguito Chávez (Hugo the III, obviously), the son of Cuba’s Ambassador to Venezuela, and PDVSA planes stuffed with coke.
All the bad guys seem to appear in this one. Hugo Carvajal and the Aruba scandal, Aragua Governor Tareck el Aissami and his connections with Islamist radicals, Minister José David Cabello (brother of Diosdado) as the numbers guy of the cartel, and Ambassador to the UN and former PDVSA President Rafael Ramírez reprising his role as main money launderer.
Blasco claims that sources “with knowledge” of the investigation say that Leamsy Salazar will testify on having witnessed how Cabello imparted instructions to his associates at the cartel:
As an assistant always beside Cabello, Salazar witnessed situations and conversations that incriminate the President of the National Assembly. In concrete, he saw when the man gave direct orders to get under way several boats loaded with tons of cocaine, and also has provided evidence as to locations where mountains of Dollars in cash -from ilegal activities- are stored.
It is also expected that he will shed some light on Cuba’s involvement with the cartel, and other details of the operation such as the use of PDVSA planes to smuggle drugs.
Sadly, the piece delivers few hard facts. There is an important effort in tying together the story with the characters, but just a small taste of what Salazar is bringing to the table. Of course, it makes sense that the public doesn’t know his testimony before it is delivered to the DEA (or ever). After all, it is a drug smuggling case. But engorging the conspiracy theory narrative has been quite unproductive in the past.
What many fear, yours truly included, is that this will blow over like the testimony of other infamous witnesses of the likes of Isea, Aponte Aponte, and Antonini Wilson and his gang. The best case scenario is that this case is like the one of Carvajal, though – at least with him we were able to see a little shit sprinkling from the fan.
Below you will find the complete article in Spanish.
without checking with my sources in DC, I see problem starting with the author Blasco who has zero credibility. How does something like this get out. The gringos are not that amateur to have this leak by Blasco. This just does not make sense.
LikeLike
Blasco has tons of credibility. He continuously reported on Hugo Chávez’s illness, quite accurately I might add.
I always wonder about readers who come in from the cold to blast a journalist, out of the blue.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Which also reminds me of those commenters- Chris Carlson perhaps being one of them – who during the CC reporting on Hugo Chávez’s illness, made disparaging comments about the accuracy of CC’s reporting on his illness. Unfortunately for those sputtering commenters, the CC reports tended towards the accurate side of the dial. After all, he did die. The undoubted fact of his death was ultimately rather hard to put down as yellow press escualido journalism.
LikeLike
If Salazar returns to his duties right after his honeymoon, we’ll know this is crap. But if he disappears….
LikeLike
No entiendo, State Dept (on behalf of DEA we assume), contacts Salazar and offers deal? How did they know about Salazar? How could they be sure when they offered the deal he would decline and expose them? It does not work this way.
LikeLike
Salazar may be in DC but the story and events is not how it happend. Blasco is making that up.
LikeLike
… and how would you know? You seem overly eager on burying this story underground.
LikeLike
JJ French must have his own intelligence agency. Or may be a little bird told him :-)
LikeLike
Whenever I see something juicy come out in ABC I tend to dismiss it until a more serious source picks it up…
LikeLike
I am no fan of ABC but they were right about Chávez’s illness all along…
LikeLike
ABC reported Chavez died in Havana in late December. Nothing that happened since that date has convinced me otherwise. The farce of his arrival and transport to the military hospital was just that. Farce.
LikeLike
I have a very good friend that works as the NSA liaison to VP Biden. He is on the team that prepares his daily intelligence brief.
That December, last week of, he said to me: ” Well I guess you have a reason to celebrate in Venezuela”
I said to him: “Celebrate what?”
He then caught himself up and said: “Please disregard what I just said!”
When I dug further he asked me to just ignore what he said, and please don’t mention it to anyone.
Over the years I have spent time with this person, had him over to the house for dinner, family activities, etc.
Not once in all that time has he ever even hinted about anything regarding his job. Believe me, I’ve asked, and cajoled, and downright begged him for anything about Venezuela and I always get the “don’t ask, please” look.
I truly believe that Chavez died in December of that year, and that the Obama administration knows the exact time and place where it happened.
LikeLike
Dude, you can get your friend in trouble by posting this
LikeLike
My common sense tells me that the guy never reached Venezuela alive (with all the lies about how “he worked five hours straight, he was seen walking in the hospital” and the fact that he had a pulmonary infection of severity, which disqualifies him for a flight; also, a showman like himself would have never missed the chance for a “triumphal return”) and your words, hmmm.
Quite an interesting story.
LikeLike
Iguana, you’re turning your friend in, man…!! With the details you disclosed he can be easily identified. Don’t be so naive!
LikeLike
Dear CC crew. Please zap the comment above. It could get someone in trouble.
LikeLike
ABC has been going down in quality from years. From stuffy, right-wing but serious newspaper, to cutthroat competition with right-wing tabloid-quality newspapers.
Doesnt mean they cant say something that is true now and then, specially against such rich targets as the chavistas, but I agree: lets see how this is reported in several other places with a better record.
LikeLike
Others are reporting this, but it’s all still pretty sketchy:
http://www.elnuevoherald.com/noticias/mundo/america-latina/venezuela-es/article8206548.html
http://www.el-carabobeno.com/portada/articulo/97610/presunto-escolta-acusa-a-cabello-como-jefe-del-cartel-de-los-soles
LikeLike
Hair, the personification of political integrity working for the benefit of the poor or Hair the narcotraficante ?
LikeLike
Al salami is one of the heavywheight drug lords on this country, he was basically the owner of one of the infamous planes stuffed with one and half ton of drugs found recently.
I know that since one of my customers works in the customs house, the first person to arrive to that place when the plane was detained was al salami.
Not one of these clowns has any redeeming aspect about them, it’s like the the worst criminals in Venezuela’s history have gathered to ruin and destroy the country.
LikeLike
The sad thing is US reticence to date to publicly denounce all the Venezuelan officials involved in massive drug trafficking, in spite of ample evidence gathered (Aponte Aponte/Makled/et. al.), presumably due to still-substantial imports of Venezuelan oil. Venezuela is a rogue state from the standpoint of drug trafficking/human rights violations, and should be denounced/ostracized as such.
LikeLike
I think they’re mostly trying to avoid the “injerencist” bullshit that everybody loves to accuse them for, and also to avoid giving chaburros more tinder for their stupid “empire” hate-speech, because that’s what happened in Cuba with the so-called embargo.
Once the bastard dictatorship crumbles down and the rats try to escape, they’ll fall inmediately in a cell as soon as they get within US’s reach.
LikeLike
While much of this is speculation, it does seem certain that Salazar is in Washington and he is talking to the DEA. Since he has been close to both Chavez and Cabello, it is certain that he can provide valuable intelligence and insights.
However, it doesn’t mean that any of this will ever be published. So don’t start salivating about juicy revelations being broadcast anytime soon. The U.S., is not bad at the intelligence game (often better than they are given credit for), but they are remarkably reticent to use their intelligence take in a public manner. In my experience, by the time the U.S. releases intelligence, it is often stale news.
LikeLike
Agreed 100% with your opinion.
LikeLike
Luz Mely Reyes is on board with the story:
“Fuentes directas de Efecto Cocuyo informaron que Salazar temía por su vida y por eso huyó del país. Su segunda esposa es una abogada. El oficial se ganó la confianza del presidente Hugo Chávez quien lo veía como un hijo. Manifestaba a algunos allegados su preocupación por su carrera debido a la cercanía con los altos dirigentes políticos. También revelaría que otros oficiales han sido contactados por EEUU.
Blasco asegura que Salazar era jefe de seguridad de Cabello, no obstante fuentes directas del alto gobierno lo desmintieron, aunque el diputado Pedro Carreño, del Psuv aseguró que la CIA compró a ex escolta de Cabello.”
LikeLike
Tanto cuestionar a Blasco y a ABC. Veamos:
http://www.lasegunda.com/Noticias/Internacional/2012/01/715790/la-enfermedad-se-va-agravando-la-estimacion-de-vida-se-concreta-en-un-periodo-de-9-a-12-meses
http://spanish.latinospost.com/articles/178/20130210/reporte-del-abc-sobre-salud-de-hugo-chavez.htm
(Blasco, by the way, no alegó que Chávez hubiese muerto en diciembre. Fíjense en esa nota – en febrero decían que seguía vivo. Personalmente, no me creo lo de que haya muerto en diciembre)
http://www.wradio.com.co/noticias/internacional/hugo-chavez-podria-ser-desconectado-dice-emili-blasco-periodista-espanol-del-diario-abc/20130102/nota/1818371.aspx
Incluso a Blasco le dieron un premio por su cobertura
http://www.martinoticias.com/content/premian-al-periodista-que-revel%C3%B3-detalles-de-la-enfermedad-de-ch%C3%A1vez/33752.html
Claro, Blasco y ABC no tienen credibilidad para algunos. ¿Por qué? PORQUE ES UN MEDIO DE CENTRO DERECHA. Algunos aquí tienen el chip izquierdista metido en la médula, porque hasta que no lo diga The Guardian o El País, no lo creen. Patético.
Yo no sé qué tanto de lo de Leamsy sea verdad o no. Lo que sé es que viene de una fuente confiable, y hasta ahora no han aparecido a desmentirlo.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Es un m***n mental de que ninguna fuente es lo suficientemente buena para ellos. Asumen que los medios de comunicacion y las instituciones de otros paises funcionan igual que en Venezuela. #sadButTrue
LikeLike
Just like the venezuelan government, some journalists can publish without fear of being held accountable, as long as they attract readers. It doesn’t mean Blasco is not good, it doesn’t mean this story is not true. But I’m still more likely to believe it if I see it in the WSJ.
LikeLike
Principalmente, no tiene credibilidad para mi, porque me levanto todos los dias desde hace unos años en España y cuando veo las portadas del ABC dan ganas de vomitar. Mas o menos desde que decidieron que la portada tenia que ser una gran foto con una sola noticia y un titular, normalmente, tendencioso y totalmente parcial.
Ahora, de nuevo, eso no quiere decir que el ABC sólo publique tonterias, y yo al señor Blasco este no lo conozco de nada.
Hace años atrás, el ABC era de derechas (centro, y una mierda, derecha), pero respetable. Con cierto rigor. Hoy, ya no tanto, y eso no es mas que una realidad comprobable. Igual que si VTV me dice que el sol sale por el Este pido una segunda opinión…
Por eso, preferiria ver la información contrastada con otras fuentes, para asegurarme que, en medio de una serie de informaciones, me estan colando algo. Y lo siento por el señor Blasco si es que hace bien su trabajo; no será el primer periodista que sufre por las decisiones de los jefes de su medio.
LikeLike
Puedes tener problemas con su estilo. Pero al publicar una informacion como esta el que esta arriesgando su credibilidad es Emili Blasco. A menos que asumas que el solo publica lo que le ordene el periodico, lo cual suena ya a propaganda.
LikeLike
Repito, yo no conozco ni a este señor, ni a su trayectoria, ni nada. Lo que si conozco es al ABC, y no se trata del estilo, sino de la manipulación torticera que tiene para con las noticias. Como poner fotos de disturbios y echarle la culpa al PSOE asi, por la cara, por ejemplo. Por lo tanto, y dado que no conozco al señor Blasco, tan sólo indico que quiero ver la noticia en varias otras fuentes. Que, vamos, tampoco es que sea un concepto tan raro.
La prensa, en España, deja mucho que desear. Hay momentos en que no sabes si es que cada partido tiene un periódico, cada periódico tiene un partido, o que.
Y vamos, lo dicho. Que yo lo único que he dicho, no se los demas, es que a ver si vemos la noticia en mas sitios y asi, al menos, podemos contrastar y examinar. No que esto sea una conspiración de la CIA con Aznar pagándole a Blasco para destruir a Venezuela. Que yo no estoy tan loco.
LikeLike
Bueno, yo no tengo manera de corroborar lo que ABC publica en términos de política española ni cosas por el estilo. Lo único que sé de política española es que hay que sacar las cotufas al ver cómo el chavismo desembarca en la madre patria. Sin embargo, Blasco es un tipo que a mi modo de ver se ha ganado una dosis de credibilidad, por tener fuentes dentro de los servicios de inteligencia norteamericanos.
De todas maneras, ya pronto se verá si esta historia es cierta o no. El tipo se está jugando su credibilidad con este cuento, dudo mucho que sea un invento y que Leansy aparezca en Valle de la Pascua sentado en su “porche.”
LikeLike
No, si yo estoy seguro que inventarlo todo no se lo inventa. Ahora, a que detalles se le da relevancia, a cuales menos, o que, eso no lo se. Si tu confias en Blasco, por que le conozcas (le has seguido, vamos, no de tomarse una cerveza), genial, pero entre que no le conozco y el ABC y su deriva hacia la propaganda, entenderas que me cure en salud antes de salir a ponerlo en Facebook y me salga algo estilo las fotos de Chávez de El País, aunque sea en detalles.
LikeLike
“…Algunos aquí tienen el chip izquierdista metido en la médula, porque hasta que no lo diga The Guardian o El País, no lo creen. Patético.”
Eso es el efecto de la campaña embrutecedora que los miserables castristas han usado para horadarle el cerebro al resto de América Latina desde los años 60.
Por eso mismo es que la gente le tiene “asquito” a cosas como privatizar una empresa que hoy sea manejada por el gobierno (Por ejemplo que yo sepa Cadafe era privada y no habían apagones cada tres días en esa vaina) o a la mera mención del “modelo capitalista” (Aún cuando capitalismo significa que la gente trabaje para MEJORAR SU CALIDAD DE VIDA Y PROGRESAR), y por eso es que todos los políticos de este país tienen que endulzarle a los electores todo lo que dicen con un glaseado nauseabundo de populismo regalador o de alguna otra estupidez izquierdista (Incluso MCM, a la que acusan de ser disque neoliberal hasta los tuétanos, que muchos ni sabrán que coño es un neoliberal, tuvo que llamar a su propuesta “capitalismo SOCIAL”, porque hasta ella sabe que si no le metes el remoquete populista la gente no te compra la cosa)
LikeLike
Other papers are echoing the ABC story but add nothing:
http://www.el-nacional.com/politica/Leamsy-Salazar-escolta-Diosdado-Cabello_0_563943648.html
When the rats start deserting the ship …
LikeLike
Y por cierto, si lo dice El País… tampoco me lo creo mucho.
LikeLike
El País se echó un tremendo pelón cuando publicó unas fotos de Chávez en el quirófano. Tuvieron que retraerse.
LikeLike
With all honesty, if that guy doesn’t have recordings or videos of what he’s saying this will amount to nothing.
LikeLike
It may amount to nothing. It doesn’t mean it’s untrue. Two separate things here.
LikeLike
I guess US authorities heard that Mr Salazar had a very nice singing voice and brought him to washington to hear his singing . No, that cant be it !! there must be something else that has attracted their attention , maybe things he saw and heard the many years he worked as chief bodyguard for Chavez and DDC and which he is willing to reveal . Do we know for certain what that includes ? well not us and maybe neither the ABC journalist thats reporting on the subject , one thing for sure, they are bound to be interesting enough for US authorities to take an interest in the fellow. Well learn what they are in due course.!!
Something else , iff there is an investigation going on, from what i understand of US law , the testimony of this gentleman and other former members of the regimes inner circle can serve as evidence . Its happened hundred of times before , there is no need for recordings or videos , their statements before a court of law will do .
LikeLike
Can you say “Noriega”?
LikeLike
Well, nobody told them to poke their noses into drug trafficking, so they dug their own graves.
LikeLike
El tiempo de Dios (dado) es perfecto?
So what, we are governed by thugs, our american and neighbours intelligence knows about it, international diplomacy continues with a drive to take as much as possible form this failed states ( Qualified immigrants, markets, land grabs, Natural Gas (T&T), etc.)
The state department and others will use their information to broker deals with the thugs, in their interest!
meanwhile, the Venezuelan population in the country will become cheap labour as the cuban one has.
The diaspora, will grow the nostalgia in blogs like this one.
Triste.
LikeLike
Whatever the speculation might be, three things are fact:
1) This Salazar does exist, he is a soldier quite close to the government higher ups.
2) The man disappeared from his friends and circles and, apparently, he’s at the U.S.
3) Pedro Carreño came out with some words that give some credibility to the previous two points.
The rest is sketchy.
To be honest with y’all, the whole issue looks tabloid-like to me, which doesn’t make it false. We need more sources.
I remember that up to the very week in which Chavez officially died, there was people with “good sources” saying that it was all a ploy and Hugo was perfect, waiting for a masterful strike. And with this, I illustrate that we, Venezuelans, have been lied to so many times that our instinctive reaction to everything is doubt. Which is probably healthy anyway.
More sources, let’s hope this doesn’t get buried and amanecerá y veremos.
LikeLike
http://www.aporrea.org/tiburon/n264226.html
LikeLike
Well now ITS GOT to be true, aporrea does not lie !! Gotta love it…
LikeLike
*Laughs maniacally*
LikeLike
The first thing that callled my attention last night when I read the news in ABC’s web site was the completeness of the report. Maybe there is not much depth but it does cover great extension as far as the ring goes. But it does seem odd that so much info “leaked” from a single source close to the case… This is rather unusual. Now I know that the first to reveal this event here in Venezuela, quoting ABC’s report, was Luz Melly Reyes. I have great respect for her as a journalist in the political arena since her work in Últimas Noticias, which she resigned to for reasons publicly revealed. I doubt she would have published this case without first checking to confirm the basics, at least. It could also be a case of spreading the news through an important known journalist/journal so as to get the gang members on the go, some in desperation to try to get out of the US authorities radars. This technique is widespreadly used to see which suspects feel the sting and what they do… Carreño’s stupid comment (aren’t they all?) is a classic reaction well ilustrated with the famous saying “No aclares que oscureces”… On the other hand, let’s not forget the difference between hard evidence and circumstancial evidence. Whatever lirics these singers expose will have to be turned into hard evidence before it can be revealed in a courtroom. And finally, no matter what the crimes commited by these thugs are, to prosecute the DA will have to tie them with crimes commited within the US territories or crimes-without-borders such as money laundering, drug trafficking or crimes against human rights. If successful, the next step would be to order INTERPOL to capture the individals found guilty wherever they are and hold them until an extradition process is completed. The crimes commited within Venezuela against our laws cannot be judged abroad. Stay tuned, this could get better !
LikeLike
agree. the wheels of US justice grind slowly, as well they should, during the collection of a mountain of evidence gathered along prescribed lines. And that normally takes years. In the process, the vacuum provides benefits — both to the US in reaping benefits and to the thugs who can continue operating in their netherworld. But at one point, it all comes together and the fat lady canary sings.
LikeLike
Diosdado y Carreño por lo menos están corroborando (por Twitter) de que hay una “traición” en marcha.
LikeLike
Si la llamada de “rodilla en tierra”, de parte de Louis Vuitton Carreño, fuese tomada tal cual, ninguno de estos gordos (el patiquín, Diosdi, y mucho menos el Burro Obeso) pudieran ponerse de pie.
LikeLike
The Castros have facilitated drug smuggling for decades and they are Obama’s best buddies today. Cabello has nothing to worry about.
LikeLike
A mi lo que me hace más sospechoso el artículo es que toma todos los chismes o lugares comunes respecto al gobierno y los coloca todos juntos en un sólo caso. Eso puede ser porque el artículo está errado, o porque el tal Salazar así se inventó su historia para que lo ayudarán a salir ileso de Vzla.
Me refiero a la historia del cartel de los soles, con la obviedad de que la finanzas las maneja el hermano de Cabello, con que en PDVSA se lava la plata y se prestan aviones, con que El Aissami tiene vínculos islamistas, y que el hijo de Chávez es un adicto en rehabilitación. 6 u 8 años de hechos aislados o chismes todos coincidiendo en una misma hisotira… cuidado no es un nuevo big pote de humo para dispersar la atención del cataclismo en desarrollo…
LikeLike
Estoy de acuerdo con Josetxu. No quiere decir que Diosdado no sea un criminal y esté implicado en esto de la droga y mucho más, pero parece raro que venga una narrativa con todas las historias del chavismo unidas.
LikeLike
William Brownfield “neither confirms, nor denies” the report by ABC… (smirk) — but says the details are “consistent” with Washington’s analysis.
Uh… Yeah, it’s all true.
LikeLike
This leaves me wondering if the U.S. decided that, since Chavismo is perched precariously on the edge of a precipice, it wouldn’t hurt to give them a little nudge…
LikeLike
That’s a possibility. They say that Venezuela is the second most dangerous country in the work by murder rate. But its worse than that. Venezuela has ruined and no doubt cost lives around the world.
And that makes me think what came first. Was it really all about a social revolution with Chavez and Cuba leading the country to a better place or was the revolution no more than a narcotraficante`s wet dream ?
LikeLike
Perhaps it’s a strong “disincentive”, a message to Diosdado should he feel tempted to shove Maduro off the cliff: “hands off the prize”…
LikeLike
Look at this picture and try to predict for how long this shit will keep going on.
LikeLike
Very likely the ABC report is correct in its basic story line but embroidered with a lot of fantasized details to make it more journalistically juicy . That Carreño and others are already jumping to defend themselves with savage insults is a sign that its hitting them where it hurts , i.e that there is an undeniable element of truth in what it uncovers . I have a hunch that the US govt has much more information than it has so far revealed as to the extent of drug trafficking acitvities among regime bigwigs , specially those with military background but that its holding its hand until such time as it sees its disclosure as maximally damaging .
LikeLike
“…the US govt has much more information than it has so far revealed…”
Guaranteed. The U.S. Government always knows more than it says.
LikeLike
The possibility that the Venezolano Military Brass has some involvement with both the introduction of Mr Salazar to the DEA, and leaking any details of investigations must be seriously considered. There have been much louder rumblings in the Bunkers of late, and this would be a very clever set-up and presentation of a government no longer “worthy” of the military’s support. Probably more than likely there is some quid pro quo here with the Generals “giving up” Diosdado Cabello/God-given Hairbrain to the DEA while possibly saving someone in their own circus tent from prosecution. The US AG’s people from the Miami and NY(Southern District) are still completely fried over Aruba allowing Carvajal to return to Vz instead of being extradited; their teeth are sunk in deep in this mess, and they aren’t letting go anytime soon.
LikeLike
This is why Washington won’t give up the war on drugs even though it causes unbounded harm and costs the earth. By keeping the trade in the shadows Washington can blackmail just about anybody for being within 5,000 miles of a drug deal. A side benefit is that it allows Washington to jail young minority males who meet the demands of wealthy American addicts. In sum, Washington is far more corrupt than the great unwashed think, if only because the system is well organised and wears a mask of moral superiority. No other power center matches Washington in using hypocrisy in order to advance its interests. As to Venezuela, Washington has less access to information nowadays and thus is glad to welcome any insiders who flee. Meanwhile the deal with Cuba has left Venezuela pressing its nose against the shop window. It’s just possible that all those Cubans stationed in Venezuela will be competing to see who helps Washington the most.
LikeLike
Cuba necesita Los EE.UU. mucho mas que necesita Los EE.UU. a Cuba. President Obama is about the only person in Wash DC who really gives a fig about the Cubanitos right now. If they have been messing around with the Vz Narcos( duh), it is only going to make what little concessions they get from this Congress take longer and come harder. Just because Señor Gross is home doesn’t mean all is forgiven or forgotten.
LikeLike
Well, may be chavismo will end the same way as Manuel Noriega. Interesting.
LikeLike
That was my thought exactly
LikeLike
Yeah, it’s starting to smell this way. I also see fosforito’s comment above. Clearly a common thought.
Dunno if it will really end up this way. But, at least, if it makes for a few sleepless nights in Caracas…
LikeLike
The thing about Manuel Noriega, as I understand it, is the drug trafficking only became a problem for the USA when he ceased to be a reliable ally in other respects.
The Venezuelan regime is, from a rhetorical perspective, a miserable antagonist, but talk is cheap as they say, and it is consistently a reliable trading partner in the one area that matters to the USA.
If Maduro himself showed up in La Guardia with a giant bag of coke in his hand, I am sure it would make for some interesting press and some talking back and forth, and not a whit difference in underlying US-Venezuelan relations. So I wonder, if all these revelations are true, and I don’t think many really would be surprised if they were, does it make a difference?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Fifi,
Somehow, I just don’t see that scenario taking place. As long as Venezuela’s economy is imploding, why go to all that trouble? I wonder to which country Diosdado will go to hide in?
LikeLike
The problem is not so much the drugs, all the more as VZ is mostly exporting to Europe rather than the US, as far as I understand. If the and props
The real problem is the laundering. It’s quite different from El Comandante Eternal pissing off VZ’s money in every corner of the western hemisphere. At least, there was a phone number one could call if things got really out of hand. But drug money is an other matter. It messes with the financial system and it creates a lot of uncontrolled, out-of-system corruption. USians really, really hate that. So, even if VZ is in chaos all of its own and even if this is just what the northern neighbor wants, God Given Hair’s paraprofessional activities may still earn him a courtesy visit and a quick knock-knock joke from the US Marines, one of those days.
As I said above, I’m not convinced it will end this way, but it’s becoming a possibility, while until now, I never thought there was be a single chance in freezing Hell the US would ever intervene militarily in VZ (as quite a few Venezuelans wish they would or had).
Now, if US LEAs get serious about that drug running funny business to the point of exfiltrating Diosdado’s very own chief of security, well, it means some itches are being scratched in DC. So, who knows where it will end…
LikeLike
I doubt that they deliberately turned Salazar. I suspect that his wife convinced him that their future would be more tenable in U.S. Witness Protection, than in Post-Apocalyptic Venezuela. It is nearly certain that initial contact was made through her and probable that she made the first approach.
LikeLike
Plus, they didn’t have to ex filtrate him from Venezuela. The couple were on their honeymoon in Spain, when they “disappeared”.
LikeLike
May be.
I really doubt they just happened to walk on Paseo de la Castellana and suddenly decided the US FWPP could offer them new and exciting opportunities and it was time to give it a try.
I don’t know.
LikeLike
Is it not true that a US government official said that the accusations on Diosdado cabello are serious and sustainable?
LikeLike
For those who were waiting for the WSJ to report on this: http://www.wsj.com/articles/top-venezuelan-bodyguard-defects-to-u-s-1422406536
Unfortunately, I can’t read the article…Not subscribed…
LikeLike
If you google Venezuelan News… the WSJ story comes up about the third one down. You can read the entire story through that link. Or at least I could.
LikeLike
Another example of the news hitting the English language press: Miami Herald:
‘Here is Reuters on the job.
LikeLike
That sounds like he is the Pope and has just excommunicated the guy.
LikeLike
Colombia throwing an unexpected punch here with the ” Libertad para Leopoldo ” campaign. The wave begins. As much as i would like to hope, i can’t believe all of this is a delicately coordinated operation between those parties in US and abroad who would like to see regime change . Much of US Foreign Policy in the Western Hemisphere looks like State has Georgetown undergrad interns staffing the LA desks.
Regardless, this is the perfect storm of probable growing mutiny(military realizing they are on a sinking ship), disgust( some semi-decent souls who have up to now genuinely believed in Chavismo like Salazar), and the greedy chickens coming home to roost- (all the Narco activity that has been “intocable ” until now) may be popular playing card for everybody who wants to still be sitting on the sand after this wave hits the crowded beach.
The US Justice Dept is playing the role of croupier here at “SOLSAHFUS Casino” (Sooner Or Later Mierda Always Hits the Fan at Uncle Sammy’s Casino) and the table is starting to get crowded.
LikeLike
Indeed, no coordination needed nor even plausible.
It’s simply the stench is now getting too strong to ignore any longer.
LikeLike
You would think that with all that narco payola that maburbumbo and la’ hairless could find a couple of suits that fit. Is there a JC Penny’s just across the street from Miraflores?
LikeLike