I leave La Chinita airport, relieved that my cargo – two suitcases filled with toilet paper, shampoo, diapers, and other essentials – went undetected through customs, as if covered by Harry Potter’s Invisibility Cloak. We are on our way. It’s 1 am, and the scene is what I expected – unlit streets, few cars out,…
I’ll tell you what I do find significant about the revelation that the U.S. now has a long and fast-growing list of witnesses explaining how Diosdado Cabello’s sprawling drug-running operation works in minute detail: The Briefing. Just imagine the kinds of intelligence briefings Thomas Shannon must be giving to cancillerías all up and down the…
As per usual, Quico and I see the unfolding scandal that is Diosdado Cabello way differently. While Quico thinks this whole charade is only of interest to historians, I think the unraveling of the Suns Cartel has tremendous implications for the power balance within chavismo. First off, I want to highlight my favorite parts from José…
Diosdado Cabello is suing El Nacional, Tal Cual, and LaPatilla.com for writing pieces claiming he is a drug smuggler. Of course, these news sites were not claiming such things, but simply repeating what is being said abroad about Cabello. The real reason behind Cabello’s lawsuit has a first and a last name, as well as…
How close was Leamsy Salazar to President Chávez? Well, why don’t we let the eternal commander himself answer that question, in this Aló, Presidente clip from just after the 2002 coup attempt: “Salazar, which one are you in this picture?” asks Hugo Chávez, holding up a photo of a group of soldiers waving a flagon top…
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,…
Of all the disasters Venezuelans currently face, crime is by far the most pressing. Yet for all its seriousness, how well do we understand the nature of the problem? If we are honest, are we ready to make the sacrifices necessary to defeat this threat? I’ve spent the past few days holed up in a…
(Apologies for the Spanish post. Hace unos días, la misteriosa plana mayor de El Universal le comunicó a varios de sus columnistas de opinión que ya no publicarían sus columnas. Esto hace pensar que la venta del diario más longevo de Venezuela va a implicar un sesgo hacia el gobierno. Uno de los columnistas afectados…
As we try to make sense of the bizarre happenings of the past weekend regarding the jailing and subsequent release of Hugo Carvajal, it is worth revisiting a crazy theory I put out back in March. It goes something like this: the US sees Maduro as the lesser of two evils, because Petrocaribe ensures a certain…
Remember the tale of Tokio discotheque, located inside Tocorón Prison in Aragua? Well, the prison night-club has returned to the headlines: an 18-year old girl died of a possible overdose of drugs and alcohol after a weekend-long party in that club. Can I just repeat that this nightclub is… inside a prison?! Back in 2012,…
As you know, an enormous haul of cocaine made its way into an Air France 777 A340 that flew from Caracas to Paris last week. While a few low-ranking National Guardsmen have supposedly been detained, I await with short breath to hear which Cubans will fall on their sword for this one. It has long…
The French Interior Minister announced today that 1,300 kilos of high purity cocaine were discovered in Paris on an Air France flight from Caracas on September 11th. The telling detail? The drugs were discovered in bags that were not assigned to any passenger registered on that flight. The drugs were stashed into 30 suitcases, at a back-straining…
I ask ’cause if the dire predictions come true, that’s what we’re gonna have to do. In the Transitions blog, I wonder if we’re on the road to becoming a failed state. My money quote: Venezuela has so far avoided the fate of its neighbor Colombia, a country still deep in a long civil war…
Guess which country handles in transit 24% of the cocaine that passes through South America? Anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Anyone?
People’s Ombudsman (and former PSUV deputy) Gabriela Ramírez has taken the initiative for once and stop her usual routine of blaming everything on the IV Republic. She asked a court to stop two companies of keep selling what she considers to be a danger to children and teenagers. No, it’s not guns. They’re already banned…
Caracas Chronicles 