Journalist Angus Berwick in his August 22, 2019 Reuters article, “Special Report: How Cuba taught Venezuela to quash military dissent” reported that the governments of Cuba and Venezuela signed two agreements in May 2008, documents reviewed by the news agency, that gave Cuba’s armed forces and intelligence services wide latitude in the South American country to:
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Train soldiers in Venezuela
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Review and restructure parts of the Venezuelan military, [ including the Bolivarian National Guard (GNB) ]
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Train Venezuelan intelligence agents in Havana
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And change the intelligence service’s mission from spying on foreign rivals to surveilling the country’s own soldiers, officers, and even senior commanders.
General Augusto Pinochet and President Nicolas Maduro
The New York Times, January 5, 2026
Cuban Deaths in U.S. Venezuela Strikes Confirm Ties Between Countries
The Maduro regime was long propped up by Cuba’s armed forces and intelligence agencies. Many Cubans were reported killed in the American military action.
The military assault was staged in Venezuela, knocking out President Nicolas Maduro’s security detail, but one of the biggest blows was felt in an unlikely place: Cuba.
According to official reports from the Cuban government, at least 32 of the 80 people killed in U.S. strikes on Venezuela over the weekend were members of Cuba’s armed forces or its interior ministry. The sheer loss of Cuban life illustrates how heavily Mr. Maduro had come to rely on agents from another country to protect him.
Uncertain of who at home he could rely on as the United States built up a military presence in the Caribbean, Mr. Maduro increasingly turned to a country known for its highly trained and efficient security apparatus, though its forces ultimately were no match for the United States military.
Cuba’s role in Venezuelan security dates back more than two decades.
When Venezuela’s socialist firebrand president, Hugo Chávez, was briefly toppled in a coup in 2002, he turned to Cuba for help. Cuba stepped in, sending military intelligence officers and other types of assistance. The goal: to help keep a fellow socialist regime in power.
And if there was one thing the Cuban government was good at, it was staying in power.
The revolutionary government there, which took power in 1959, had long defeated repeated attempts by the U.S. government, including the Central Intelligence Agency, to take down its leader, Fidel Castro. Cuba developed a keen specialty in all matters of security, particularly intelligence gathering and repressing dissent.
“This went from a personal love affair to a state-to-state institutional relationship, in which Cubans, among other things, provided critical support in all things related to the military and to the security apparatus system of Venezuela,” said Frank O. Mora, a former senior U.S. Defense Department official who is now a professor at Florida International University. “At that point after the coup is when Chávez really begins to consolidate his power.”
The Cuban government started sending tens of thousands of doctors, nurses, sports figures and other advisers to Venezuela in exchange for oil discounts. Experts who have studied the agreements say it has never been clear whether the personal presidential bodyguards — essentially a Venezuelan version of the Secret Service — were part of the deal.
As Venezuelan oil production dropped, so did the number of Cuban doctors working in the South American country.
“Venezuela is the most important ally Cuba has had in Latin America because of the trade of oil for medical services,” said William LeoGrande, a Cuba scholar at American University. “The fact that they would provide internal security at Venezuela’s request makes perfect sense.”
Cuba had played such a role before: Its forces helped protect Angola’s first president, Agostinho Neto, in the 1970s. They also helped train and equip the personal guards of Salvador Allende, the leftist Chilean president who died during an American-backed coup.
Mr. Maduro, who took office in 2013 after Mr. Chávez’s death, actually had stronger ties to Cuba than his predecessor did.
As a young bus driver in Venezuela, he traveled to Cuba for training as a labor leader, attending a Communist Party training institute known as the Ñico López School.
Maria C. Werlau, a Cuba researcher who wrote a book on the relationship between the two countries, said that Cubans were posted in most Venezuelan ministries and in the national oil company. “Cuba trained a lot of people in Venezuela’s military counterintelligence, in the National Guard, the police and armed forces,” Ms. Werlau said.
There are believed to have been 140 Cubans in Mr. Maduro’s personal guard. But Ms. Werlau cautioned against taking the Cuban government at its word on the number of dead, noting that the president of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, posted on social media that 85 Cubans had died in the blasts.
During the first Trump administration, the national security adviser, John R. Bolton, accused Cuba of having “20,000 thugs” in Venezuela to prop up the Maduro regime. Cuba’s foreign minister, Bruno Rodríguez, called him a “pathological liar.”
Experts say Mr. Bolton was probably wrong about the numbers. While there was no question about the presence of members of Cuba’s interior ministry — who are intelligence agents — there was no evidence of large numbers of Cuban troops in Venezuela.
In announcing the deaths of the 32 people Sunday night, the Cuban government said that they had worked for both the interior ministry and the armed forces.
“Our compatriots fulfilled their duty with dignity and heroism and fell, after fierce resistance, in direct combat against the attackers or as a result of the bombings,” said Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel.
Ms. Werlau offered another assessment.
“They failed miserably,” she said. “They could have hidden Maduro properly. Obviously, they paid a very high price.”
[ Full article ]
The Banker, January 5, 2026
No real change in Caracas will delight Beijing
Trump’s removal of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro has not removed the regime he led
The author is an international policy expert and senior associate with the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington
The surgical extraction of Nicolás Maduro from Venezuela in the early morning of January 3 was not just the first major US action of the new year. It was also the first US action under the Trump administration’s new National Security Strategy which prioritises the Americas as a core national interest. The NSS asserts a Trump “corollary” to the 200 year old Monroe Doctrine, projecting a more aggressive approach to narcotics trafficking, irregular migration, and the influence of “malign” outsider nations, particularly China. But a lack of emphasis on supporting a democratic transition in Venezuela, as part of this strategy, would potentially delight those very adversaries.
In fact, Beijing as well as Moscow and Havana may have begun to view Maduro as a liability and be secretly pleased with his departure. He had begun to draw too much attention from Washington and his replacement by a more pragmatic regime leader acceptable to the US administration could potentially shore up the footing under their own strategic interests.
The curtain raiser is removing Maduro and bringing him to trial in the US for drug trafficking. The question is: what comes next?
No surprise
Despite its disputed legal grounding, the action should not have been a surprise — although it apparently was for many observers who maintained that the White House was bluffing. Both President Trump himself and his senior officials have been previewing action for months, bolstering military and intelligence assets in the region, and systematically ratcheting up pressure against the regime.
But the removal of the dictator has not removed the regime he led. Indeed, Trump suggested in his press conference after the attack that Maduro’s number two, Delcy Rodriguez, would be the new leader and that henceforth she would be amenable to US direction including a broad reopening of the oil sector.
Rodriguez dispelled that idea shortly after, calling for Maduro’s return and working to present a unified public front with other leading regime members. Observers were left wondering whether that means the actual president-elect, Edumundo Gonzalez, and opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Corina Machado, would be sidelined, but subsequent signals from the administration seemed designed to soften the earlier remarks.
The reality is that unless the regime itself falls, not just its erstwhile leader, Venezuelans will be no better off and could even be left in a worse position. Rodriguez enjoys no greater legitimacy than Maduro, and she is widely reviled within Venezuela despite recent efforts to revamp her image as a moderate. She is also deeply implicated in some of the worst regime abuses including human rights violations and has been under US Treasury sanctions since 2018. Leaving her in place for long as the de facto leader of Venezuela could undercut much of what the Trump administration is attempting to do across the region under the NSS.
Moving forward under the same “chavista” leadership would be a disheartening development for the opposition and those seeking to restore the country’s democratic path. It could restart and supercharge the same migration flows of remaining Venezuelans that the administration is attempting to reverse.
Time for a change
Much remains to be sorted out. But it is critically important that the stunning tactical success of grabbing and exfiltrating Maduro not be overwhelmed by a strategic defeat of leaving the regime and its criminal networks in place. Democratic restoration requires transition away from the Maduro regime rather than transitioning away from Maduro while leaving his regime essentially intact. Working closely and intentionally with the opposition to gain the support of the military and other remaining security forces within Venezuela must now be the overwhelming priority.
As 2026 begins, Maduro is gone and Venezuela has the opportunity for a national reboot. But only if the remaining regime leaders are themselves quickly booted out. China, Russia, Cuba and others are watching closely.
https://www.thebanker.com/content/07ab6c5d-ed8c-434c-b5af-7f39682767ba
Providence, January 5, 2026
The Capture of Maduro Could Lead to a Great Triumph for Venezuela—Or a Tragedy
January 3 is a day our adversaries should fear.
On January 3, 1990, Manuel Noriega, the de facto ruler of Panama from 1983 to 1989, surrendered to face U.S. drug trafficking charges. On January 3, 2020, IRGC commander Qassem Soleimani was killed in an American drone strike. And on January 3, 2026, Nicolás Maduro of Venezuela is finally preparing to face justice in the United States after years of crimes against humanity, stolen elections, extrajudicial killings, and drug trafficking. While it is likely more coincidental than contrived, January 3 is quickly coming to signify American leadership, peace through strength, and justice.
The operation itself seems to have been conducted flawlessly—a massive credit to the military planners, intelligence officers, diplomats, law enforcement officers, and most especially, service members who pulled it off. Forcing Maduro to face justice in an American court is an important victory not just for our Venezuela policy but our foreign policy more broadly. As after Operation Midnight Hammer, our allies and adversaries now understand the capability, superiority, and precision of the U.S. military. No longer is the fall of Kabul the symbol of American power. Instead, it is that of the B-2 bomber and a blindfolded Maduro, weak and handcuffed on an amphibious assault ship. The world has been reminded that when we say something, we mean it—a message likely welcomed by Kyiv as it considers the offer of long-term U.S. security guarantees.
The partners to our adversaries like Russia and China are also getting the message. The once-feared air defenses Russia provided to Venezuela proved useless against American technology. Even the presence of a Chinese diplomatic envoy was no deterrent. Faced with American might, Russia and China opted for condemnatory statements instead of tangible support for their supposed partner, recalling the aftermath of Midnight Hammer when the “Axis of Resistance” evaporated just as quickly as Iran’s nuclear facilities.
But as with all significant operations—particularly those involving someone who has illegally held power for so long—what comes next is critical. Those predicting chaos like what we saw in Libya and Iraq are missing a major distinction: We are not introducing democracy to Venezuela, only helping return it. Unlike post-Saddam Iraq, Venezuela already has a democratically-elected leader in Edmundo González, who won nearly 70% of the vote in the 2024 presidential election despite significant regime interference. And that support has only grown under his and Nobel-Prize winning María Corina Machado’s leadership.
It was María Corina Machado who single-handedly united the Venezuelan opposition into one movement, but she didn’t just influence the opposition. Unlike opposition movements in other countries that often lack influence, the Venezuelan opposition has been infiltrating the regime for years. Just as America could not have taken out Iran’s nuclear facilities without the Israelis disabling its air defenses, so too America could not have gotten Maduro without the opposition’s efforts to build popular support and turn regime insiders into partners.
Despite all this success, President Trump now runs the risk of losing the two great advantages we have in stabilizing a pro-U.S. regime in Caracas: namely, Venezuela’s democracy and Maria Corina herself. After rightly touting the operation’s success, President raised more questions than answers in his remarks to the press later that morning. His allusion to the possibility that Delcy Rodriguez, Maduro’s handpicked vice president, could serve as president and that the United States might assume a governing role inside the country stand to increase the risk of chaos which we’ve so far managed to avoid.
There can be no option where Delcy Rodriguez leads Venezuela in the long-term. She lacks both the qualifications and legitimacy to run a country, has long-standing ties with America’s adversaries, and has been implicated in crimes against humanity. Leaving her in power would allow the Maduro regime to continue its malign activities, only without the man at the top, incentivizing others to do the same. What if, seeing an opportunity, Diosdado Cabello—whom Chilean prosecutors allege has command and control over Tren de Aragua—decides he would like to lead Venezuela and offers Trump a better deal than Rodriguez? What if disgraced former oil minister Tarek el Aissami, who allegedly created passports for Hezbollah to use Venezuela as a base of operations, offers an even better one?
Allowing Rodriguez to run Venezuela will encourage the very infighting and power struggles that will bedevil our efforts and destabilize the country. Instead, we should capitalize on the regime’s current weakness by announcing that its remaining officials can negotiate a peaceful exit or go the way of Maduro. This would be a smart use of American strength and the best way to ensure our victory does not turn into a quagmire.
The same fears for stability are also there if the United States were to “run the country,” as President Trump suggests. Fortunately, Secretary Rubio clarified these remarks in a statement on January 4, explaining that certain American individuals would “run Venezuela policy,” not “run Venezuela.” This is a key distinction. The United States should provide support to Venezuela with an eye toward advancing its own interests, but refrain from heavy-handed involvement that would sow confusion and require the ongoing presence of U.S. forces. In any event, there is no need. The Venezuelan opposition has been preparing for this moment for years. María Corina and her movement have the contacts, know-how, and legitimacy to get the job done.
The United States saw a major victory this weekend that brings us closer to what seemed impossible just days earlier: a democratic future for Venezuela, and justice for her past. These achievements were historic, brave, and just. But if our goals are to stop weaponized immigration, fight drug trafficking, push our adversaries out of the hemisphere, and secure a prosperous future, the best choice is to support María Corina Machado and the opposition as it stabilizes the country. Otherwise, January 3 may prove to be not a symbol of triumph, but of tragedy.
Palm Beach Post, January 5, 2026
Trump says Cuba ‘something we’ll be talking about’ after Maduro ouster
Trump is the only U.S. presidential candidate ever endorsed by the Bay of Pigs veterans organization, the Brigade 2506 Association
By Antonio Fins, Palm Beach Post
PALM BEACH — With Nicolás Maduro in U.S. custody and American authorities running Venezuela, which is next? Cuba? Colombia? The Panama Canal?
The Havana regime is in his sights, President Donald Trump said Jan. 3.
“Cuba is going to be something we’ll end up talking about, because Cuba is a failing nation right now, very badly failing nation, and we want to help the people,” the president said during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago a day after a U.S. military operation removed Maduro from Venezuela.
“It’s very similar in the sense that we want to help the people in Cuba, but we want to also help the people that were forced out of Cuba and living in this country.”
The president also reiterated aggressive comments toward Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, who in December denigrated the Trump administration as a “clan of pedophiles,” citing investigatory files from sex abuser and trafficker Jeffrey Epstein.
Trump said Petro also is presiding over a state interwoven with the narcotics trade. He then said he stood by assertions he made in late December that the South American leader needs to “watch his ass.”
The globally strategic passageway in the Panama isthmus did not come up during the press gathering in the Winter White House, but Trump has cajoled the Panamanian government about alleged Chinese domination of the canal.
However, the Central American country’s president, José Raúl Mulino, said on Jan. 2 said that the brewing break with Washington was over and his government was actively cooperating with the U.S. to address grievances.
So it was Cuba that Trump was most interested in addressing in Palm Beach in discussing Operation Absolute Resolve to remove Maduro from the Venezuelan seat of power in Caracas.
“We want to surround ourselves with good neighbors,” Trump said. “We want to surround ourselves with stability.”
The communist regime in Havana, now being led by Miguel Díaz-Canel, has been in power for 67 years. It celebrated another anniversary of the Fidel Castro-led revolution on New Year’s Day.
“Cuba is, you know, not doing very well right now,” Trump said. “That system has not been a very good one for Cuba. The people there have suffered for many, many years.”
Now that the United States is “running” Venezuela, as Trump described it, the administration is in position to shut off all Venezuelan oil shipments to Cuba. The petroleum subsidies the Maduro regime has supplied Havana with were one of the few remaining sources of foreign aid the Cuban government has been able to count on.
That much was cheered by advocates for the end of communist rule on the island.
“The return of Venezuela to the rule of law and respect for human rights has international implications. The Cuban regime will no longer be able to benefit from Venezuelan oil,” said Frank Calzon of the Center for a Free Cuba, based in Washington, D.C.
“Iran, Russia, China Nicaragua and Cuba have lost a strategic ally in the Americas. And hopefully, with its huge oil resources properly managed, Venezuela great again.”
The president’s tough talk did not impress U.S. Rep. Lois Frankel, a West Palm Beach Democrat who represents Florida’s congressional District 22, which includes Trump’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
“There is no way to predict what this president will do,” Frankel said. “That kind of rhetoric is dangerous and raises the risk of escalation across the hemisphere. The United States should lead with diplomacy and stability, not threats that make the region — and us — less safe.”
Rubio: Cuba is in ‘total collapse’
Asked by Trump to speak about the situation in the Caribbean island 90 miles from U.S. shores, Secretary of State Marco Rubio added that Cuba is a “disaster.”
“It’s run by incompetent, senile men, but incompetent, nonetheless,” he said. “It has no economy. It’s in total collapse.”
Earlier, Rubio had said the administration “will talk with anybody” but warned adversaries against gamesmanship.
“Don’t play games with this president because it’s not going to turn out well,” the former U.S. senator from Florida and son of Cuban exiles said. “I guess that lesson was learned last night, and we hope it’ll be instructive going forward.”
Trump has long been engaged in Cuba foreign policy, and domestic U.S. politics. He is the only presidential candidate ever endorsed by the Bay of Pigs veterans organization, the Brigade 2506 Association, first in 2016 and then in 2020 and 2024.
During his first term, Trump traveled to the Little Havana neighborhood in Miami to give a speech to announce he was rolling back the Obama administration’s engagement policies and reopening of tourism and trade ties with the Cuban regime led at the time by Raúl Castro, Fidel’s younger brother.
“The previous administration’s easing of restrictions on travel and trade does not help the Cuban people — they only enrich the Cuban regime,” Trump said during a June 16, 2017, speech at the Manuel Artime Theater. “The outcome of the last administration’s executive action has been only more repression and a move to crush the peaceful, democratic movement.”
The then-45th president added: “Therefore, effective immediately, I am canceling the last administration’s completely one-sided deal with Cuba.”
During the 2024 presidential campaign, Trump claimed at a rally held on the grounds of his Doral golf resort that he would have struck a “deal” with Cuba had he remained in power after 2020. The then-presumptive Republican presidential nominee did not elaborate.
Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network.
[ Original Source ]
Small Wars Journal, November 20. 2025
Third Generation Gangs Strategic Note No. 60: Distributed Tren de Aragua (TdA) Cell Dismantled in Spain by the Policía Nacional
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On 7 November 2025, after a yearlong plus investigation, the Policia Nacional (Spanish National Police) engaged in five simultaneous raids against a distributed Tren de Aragua (TdA) cell producing and distributing illicit narcotics in various Spanish cities. This is the first known TdA cell to have been established in Europe, with thirteen of its members arrested in the investigation. TdA has now followed the well-known migration (penetration) pattern upon which other Latin American gangs and cartels have established themselves in Spain and other regions of Europe.
Key Information: Pau Mosquera, Anabella González, and Sol Amaya, “Spain dismantles its first suspected cell of Tren de Aragua, Venezuelan gang targeted by Trump.” CNN. 7 November 2025, https://www.cnn.com/world/americas/tren-de-aragua-spain-police-latam-intl:
Spanish police say they have arrested 13 people suspected of belonging to the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua, in what would be the first time one of its cells has been dismantled in the country.
Most of the arrests during the operation last week took place in Barcelona, although authorities are still investigating whether there are other people linked to the network.
Tren de Aragua is one of Latin America’s most notorious criminal gangs and has long been targeted by US President Donald Trump, who accuses the group of drug trafficking, murder and other acts of violence in the Western Hemisphere…
… Among the suspects arrested in Spain were various nationalities, but “most were of Venezuelan origin,” a chief inspector at the National Police’s General Information Office told CNN.
The operation comes after authorities arrested the brother of the organization’s top worldwide leader, known as “Niño Guerrero,” in March 2024 for his alleged participation in terrorism, human trafficking, arms trafficking, extortion, money laundering and criminal association.
Key Information: Óscar López-Fonseca, “La Policía frustra el intento de la peligrosa banda Tren de Aragua de establecerse en España.” El País. 7 November 2025, https://elpais.com/espana/2025-11-07/la-policia-desmantela-la-primera-celula-asentada-en-espana-de-la-banda-del-tren-de-aragua.html:
Golpe policial a la peligrosa banda de origen venezolano Tren de Aragua. La Policía Nacional ha detenido a 13 personas como presuntos integrantes de la primera célula asentada en España de esta estructura criminal que en los últimos años se ha expandido por ocho países de América hasta convertirse en una amenaza trasnacional. Los arrestos frustran el intento de esta organización ―a la que se le atribuye en los Estados que opera desde hace años todo tipo de delitos, desde la trata de personas con fines de explotación sexual al narcotráfico, pasando por el tráfico de armas, la extorsión, el secuestro o los asesinatos por encargo― de establecerse en Madrid y Barcelona, donde ya había montado sendas infraestructuras con las que había comenzado a cocinar (termino utilizado en la jerga policial para referirse a la elaboración clandestina de droga) y traficar con esta sustancia, principalmente la llamada cocaína rosa o tusi, principal vía de financiación del grupo. Cuatro de los detenidos han ingresado en prisión por orden del juez de la Audiencia Nacional Antonio Pina.[1]
Key Information: “Police raids target first Spanish cell of ‘Tren de Aragua’ crime ring.” Reuters. 7 November 2025, https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/police-raids-target-first-spanish-cell-tren-de-aragua-crime-ring-2025-11-07/:
Police said the arrests took place in Barcelona, Madrid, Girona, A Coruna and Valencia in an investigation into the group’s alleged efforts to expand its operations into Spain, where Venezuelans make up one of the largest immigrant communities.
Officers seized synthetic drugs, cocaine, a marijuana plantation and two laboratories producing “tusi”, also known as pink cocaine, a substance the gang is known to traffic.
Key Information: “Spanish police arrest 13 suspected members of Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua gang.” AP News. 8 November 2025, https://apnews.com/article/venezuela-drugs-gang-trafficking-spain-b1ee090d631c551fc4fbbfa12eaa7924:
As part of the operation, Spanish police said they dismantled two laboratories used to make tusi — a mixture of cocaine, MDMA and ketamine.
The arrests followed an investigation Spanish police opened last year after the brother of “Niño Guerrero,” the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang, was arrested in Barcelona under an international arrest warrant issued by Venezuelan authorities, police said.
Key Information: Chris Dalby, “How Spain Dismantled Tren de Aragua’s First Cell in Europe.” World of Crime Newsletter. 8 November 2025, https://www.seasonsofcrime.com/p/how-spain-dismantled-tren-de-araguas:
The raids unfolded simultaneously across five cities: eight arrests in Barcelona, two in Madrid, and one each in Girona, Valencia. One man was arrested in Porto do Son last week.
Thirteen Venezuelans and Colombians were arrested in total. Four were remanded into custody by the judge, who noted they were the leader and lieutenants of the outfit. The roles and current status of the other nine has not been clarified.
According to police, this was not a scattered effort but a highly organised network. Barcelona was its command post, with members moving between short-term rentals and nightclubs that doubled as micro-distribution hubs.
Key Information: Héctor Ríos Morales, “Multi-City Raids in Spain Uncover First European Cell of Venezuelan Gang Tren de Aragua.” Latin Times. 10 November 2025, https://www.latintimes.com/multi-city-raids-spain-uncover-first-european-cell-venezuelan-gang-tren-de-aragua-591394:
The operation was carried out with help from Colombia’s National Police and the AMERIPOL–EL PACTO 2.0 initiative, a program that strengthens cooperation between the European Union and countries in Latin America and the Caribbean…
… That arrest prompted Spanish authorities to investigate whether additional Tren de Aragua cells were operating in the country. In the statement, the National Police said further investigations uncovered “a network of individuals, located in different parts of the country, who formed a criminal organization financed mainly through drug trafficking, particularly tusi and cocaine.”
Authorities told CNN that the cell was dismantled while it was still in its early stages, before it could expand further. They also said they suspect the group had been active since at least 2023, operating in neighborhoods in Barcelona and Madrid.
Officials have not yet determined who supplied the cocaine to the Tren de Aragua cell, though they suspect it came from other European countries.
Third Generation Gang Analysis
The dismantling of the Tren de Aragua (TdA) narcotics production and distribution cell, the first of its kind in Europe for the violent transnational gang, by the Policia Nacional (Spanish National Police) represents a significant event on multiple levels.
The raids taking place in five Spanish cities—Barcelona, Madrid, Girona, A Coruña and Valencia—were prompted by the arrest of a major TdA member’s brother, “Niño Guerrero,” by Spanish authorities in Barcelona on 14 March 2024.[2] This resulted in a year plus investigation into TdA’s narcotics trafficking activities in Spain:
The Policía Nacional is currently investigating the possibility that the detained individual, who had been residing in Spain, was attempting to establish and expand his network in our country, following a similar model to his operations in countries across the Americas.[3]
The investigation was provided support by Colombia’s National Police and the AMERIPOL–EL PACTO 2.0 initiative (a cooperative Latin American/Caribbean and European Union policing program). It has been designated as the second phase of Operation Interciti (the first phase was the initial arrest of “Niño Guerrero”).[4]
Seized in the raids were numerous marijuana plants—found in a small plantation (assumed to be an indoor grow)—along with synthetic drugs, cocaine, and two ‘tusi’ (pink cocaine) production labs.[5] The latter is said to be composed of “a mixture of cocaine, MDMA and ketamine,” with red food dye added for coloring. However, many times, cocaine (given its expense) is left out from the formulation to maximize trafficker profits. A number of mobile phones, various documents, and at least one prohibited weapon were also recovered from the raids.[6]
This operation highlights TdA’s first penetrative attempt into Spain (and Europe) to directly profit from its lucrative illicit narcotics market. It follows a similar pattern witnessed earlier with other Latin American gang and cartel organizations such as Cartel de Sinaloa (CDS), Cártel Jalisco Nueva Generación (CJNG), Mara Salvatrucha 13 (MS-13), and Barrio 18 who had set up their own trafficking cells in Spain as a beachhead into Europe.[7]
[ Full article ]
Miami Herald, August 21, 2024
As Venezuelans face political upheaval, Havana should stop interfering in Venezuela’s internal affairs*
By John Suarez
Eleven days before the election, Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro predicted a blood bath and a fratricidal civil war if he lost last month’s presidential elections.
On July 28, 2024, opposition candidate Edmundo González defeated Maduro by more than two to one, despite multiple irregularities committed by Maduro regime operatives. González won 67% of the vote, beating Maduro, who garnered 30%.
Now, Maduro is attempting to make his prediction a reality. Thousands of Venezuelans have been arbitrarily detained, and so far 24 have been killed with witnesses identifying government agents in 11 of the extrajudicial deaths, according to Provea, the Venezuela based human rights NGO.
This week, Amnesty International denounced the Maduro government for enacting an “anti-NGO law that punishes efforts to assist victims and defend human rights.” Genocide Watch is reporting that in poor neighborhoods the letter “X” is being painted on people’s homes to show they do not support Maduro, exposing them to possible retaliation.
Things can get a lot worse, especially if Cuba continues to interfere in Venezuela’s internal affairs.
In 2017, Maduro ordered the formation of the FAES – the Spanish acronym for the Bolivarian National Police’s Special Action Forces.” According to Caracas Chronicles, “they are police death squads in all but name.”
That same year, the Miami Herald reported that it had a secret recording of a Venezuelan general advocating for the use of snipers against street demonstrators.
A 2019 report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights found that 6,856 Venezuelans were extrajudicially executed between January 2018 and May 2019 by Maduro’s “security forces, particularly the special forces (FAES).”
Andrés Oppenheimer, syndicated foreign affairs columnist for the Miami Herald and El Nuevo Herald, wants to know what is holding up the order of arrest for Maduro in his Aug. 17, column, “Human rights leaders demand action: Why is the ICC delaying Maduro’s arrest warrant?”
The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has been looking into Maduro’s possible crimes against humanity for the past six years.
The ICC also looked into Vladimir Putin’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine and in 2023 issued an arrest warrant for the Russian leader in less than a year.
And, after a seven-month inquiry, the ICC prosecutor declared in mid-May that he will seek arrest warrants for Israel’s prime minister and the leader of the terrorist organization Hamas for crimes committed during the Israel-Hamas war that broke out after the October attack on Israel.
Will the ICC finally do the same for Maduro?
The role that Havana is playing during this crucial political crisis inside Venezuela should not be underestimated.
This week, in an interview, Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado discussed Havana’s ongoing involvement inside Venezuela. “There are serious complaints from national and international human rights organizations…Several of the Venezuelan opposition victims have reported abuses committed [by Cuban oppressors]. We have known for a long time that Cuba has had a terrible impact in multiple areas: in methods of repression, persecution, espionage, and torture. And we have seen truly heartless things in recent days.”
Others have previously noted Havana’s significant presence in Venezuela. Beginning with guerilla expeditions in the 1960s and culminating in the recruitment of Nicolas Maduro as a Cuban mole, Cuban Communist officials recognized that if Venezuela, with all of its natural resources, fell, the rest of Latin America would soon follow.
Back in 2018, Secretary General Luis Almagro of the Organization of American States warned that “there are an estimated 46,000 Cubans living in Venezuela, part of an occupation force that is trained in repression, intelligence work and tracking the activities of civilians.”
Havana’s intelligence and security apparatus “has created a permissive environment for international terrorists to live and thrive within Venezuela,” reported the U.S. State Department in 2021.
Venezuelan torture victims have testified how their sessions were overseen by the political police at Venezuela’s national intelligence agency, with assistance from Cuban intelligence officers.
As Venezuelans fight for democracy and a fair presidential election in their country, now is the time for the world’s democracies to send a clear and unambiguous message to Havana: Hands off Venezuela! It is long past the time for the Cuban repressive apparatus to leave.
John Suarez is the Executive Director of the Center for a Free Cuba. Suarez was a program officer for Latin America Programs at Freedom House. http://www.cubacenter.org/
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*This was the original suggested title
The Washington Times, August 20, 2024
Free world must impose sanctions on Maduro regime
Countries siding with Venezuelan dictator should also face consequences
By John Suarez
OPINION:
Since Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro launched his attempt to steal the election that he lost in a landslide on July 28, thousands have been detained, 24 Venezuelans have been killed by government agents, and threats are made daily by the regime that it will go against Venezuelan opposition leaders Edmundo Gonzalez or Maria Corina Machado.
Many underestimate the role of Cuba in the present crisis. The Castro regime assisted Hugo Chavez in his rise to power in Venezuela in 1999, and oversaw the succession of Mr. Maduro, who took over when Chavez died of cancer in 2013.
“It is estimated that the Cuban presence in Venezuela is 46,000 people, an occupation force that teaches to torture, to repress, to do intelligence tasks, civil documentation, migration,” said Luis Almagro, Secretary General of the Organization of American States, on Dec. 7, 2018.
“Venezuela has turned into an ally in the region of Russia, Iran, China, Cuba,” Ms. Machado said in her Aug. 11 interview on CNN with Fareed Zakaria. In the interview, she also observed that “Venezuela is a safe haven for irregular activities of criminal networks that are spreading in the region, not only narco trafficking, but illegal mining, traffic of human beings.”
The Cuban military dictatorship facilitated these relationships between Venezuela, Iran, China, Russia, and criminal networks involved in drug trafficking, as well as the creation of new ones such as the Soles Cartel, which is linked to the Venezuelan military . Havana served as a middle-man building alliances with regimes hostile to the United States and seeking to expand their influence in the Western Hemisphere to counter U.S. power.
In May, the Casla Institute, an organization that promotes democracy and the rule of law based in the Czech Republic, documented in its annual report how Cuban officials oversee, with Mr. Maduro’s approval, the repressive apparatus in Venezuela. Cuban officials are “the ‘experts’ who direct the torture to make the detainees say what the regime needs,” the report said.
“We have the largest torture center in Latin America,” Ms. Corina Machado said in her February 7, 2024, appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s Subcommittee on the Western Hemisphere.
The Venezuelan opposition leader added, “Cuban agents have been involved in torture cases in our country.”
The crisis stems from the Biden administration’s gambit of promising sanctions relief and normalized ties in exchange for free and fair elections. The more unified and well-organized democratic opposition in Venezuela is exposing the dictatorship’s falsehood, while simultaneously maintaining nonviolent discipline in the face of repeated acts of violence and repression by regime agents and their sympathizers.
What is happening in Venezuela is part of a disturbing pattern.
The Biden Administration loosened sanctions on both Russia, and Iran providing the hostile nations with more resources. The results have been disastrous. In the case of Moscow, as troops amassed on the border of Ukraine, the United States threatened new sanctions if the invasion materialized, but did not apply them before Vladimir Putin invaded in February 2022.
Iran was provided with more resources while cracking down on Iran’s pro-democracy movement, and funded its proxy terrorist groups Hamas, and Hezbollah to increase their attacks on Israel.
Today there are wars in Europe and the Middle East, and a huge loss of life, and it appears that this policy of loosening sanctions and inviting more chaos will now engulf Latin America.
The Biden Administration made a deal with Mr. Maduro that if he held free elections, then the United States would lift all sanctions, and normalize relations with Venezuela. This has created a crisis that can benefit the democratic aspirations of the Venezuelan people who voted for change by an overwhelming majority on July 28.
Through diplomatic channels and nonviolent means, including sanctions, democratic nations have the opportunity to pressure Maduro to respect the results of the Venezuelan presidential election. There will be hemispheric repercussions if the democratic world is unable to effectively assist Venezuelans defend their popular sovereignty using nonviolent means.
Caracas has bought a large quantity of heavy weapons from Moscow, and Tehran. Mr. Maduro in 2023 began threatening to invade and annex Essequibo, which makes up two-thirds of neighboring Guyana’s territory, to stoke nationalist sentiment in Venezuela, and seize its rich oil deposits. It is highly likely that if Mr. Maduro survives the electoral challenge from Mr. González that he will pursue war with Guyana in an attempt to gain support but more importantly to advance Russian, Chinese, and Iranian objectives in the South Atlantic.
The democratic world must do more now to rally, work together,and impose multilateral sanctions to ostracize the Venezuelan dictatorship as was done with the apartheid regime in South Africa. It must target individual Venezuelan officials who engaged in crimes against humanity with sanctions and charges in the International Criminal Court. Other countries siding with Mr. Maduro must also be sanctioned and publicly called out.
The future of Latin America will be decided in Venezuela over the next few weeks, and if autocracy triumphs, war is bound to follow. Providing carrots, such as amnesty and safe harbor is fine. But sticks must also be displayed to discourage the continued brutalization of Venezuelans.
Jeffrey Scott Shapiro’s Washington Times opinion piece on July 30 calling for the U.S. to “arrest Maduro on 2020 narco-terrorism charges” raises the question: Is there a red notice out on Nicolas Maduro with interpol?
• John Suarez is a human rights activist and executive director of the Center for a Free Cuba and a former program officer for Latin America Programs at Freedom House.
https://www.washingtontimes.