The real reason why Maduro Venezuela survives: dirty money

When asked to explain why their efforts to overthrow the President of Venezuela, Nicolás MaduroThey were not enough. Trump administration officials often cite the sinister influence of Cuba and Russia, which they say support the regime's resistance. What we do not talk about so much is one more important factor: the cartel of suns.

This colorful term refers to a drug trafficking network that carries hundreds of tons of Colombian cocaine from Venezuelan airports to Central America and the Caribbean each year for possible distribution in the United States and Europe. This network includes some of the highest officials of the Maduro Diet. These men do not cling to power because they are true believers in socialism or because they are loyal to them. Vladimir Putin and Raúl Castro. They are maintained because, despite the economic implosion of Venezuela, they still harvest millions of people and risk being imprisoned in Venezuela or the United States as they move away.

The cocaine trafficking is only one of the many criminal activities in which plunges the elite of the "Bolivarian revolution". Hugo Chavez. There is also the illicit mining of gold and iron; fraudulent sale of oil; import fees for food products and medicines; and fraudulent currency trading. Maduro and all his relatives, including his wife, his number 2, and the ministers of the Interior and Industry are at the throat.

Although the government of Trump, Maduro's far-left foreign defenders They prefer to describe the Venezuelan crisis in political terms, it is less a government, let alone a socialist government, than a criminal gang. This has two consequences that complicate its elimination. First, the money you harvest criminal activities serves as a support for you to survive US sanctions.

Perhaps the most important point is that the toxic stain on almost all senior officials makes the usual formulas of a peaceful transition more difficult, including the creation of a transitional government and amnesty for those who resign from office.

The collapse of Venezuela's regular economy has created a serious shortage of food, water, medicines and energy, and more than 10 percent of its 30 million people have fled the country. However, the illicit income of the Maduro gang seems to be increasing. A recent report from CNN said that drug thefts from Venezuela had gone from about two a week in 2017 to almost every day in 2018; The text quoted a US official claiming that this year there had been up to five flights a night. In 2018, it is estimated that 265 tons of Colombian cocaine, with a market value of 39 billion dollars, were the subject of trafficking via Venezuela..

Another new study done for the University of National Defense by Douglas Farah and Caitlyn Yates found that, although the Maduro scheme has sold 73 tons of gold to Turkey and the United Arab Emirates last year to procure money, its reserves have increased by 11 tons, probably because of the illegal extraction of gold, including Venezuelan-based Colombian rebel groups and regime allies. These sales would have raised nearly $ 3 billion, more than enough to fund security forces and paramilitary groups that remain loyal to Maduro.

Farah and Yates describe the Venezuelan regime as part of a regional network called "Bolivarian Joint Criminal Enterprise".consortium of criminalized states and non-state actors"They identified 181 people and 176 companies in 26 countries related to criminal activity in Venezuela," Maduro said, "the Maduro regime has not collapsed and may not have done so. for a significant period … the network to adapt and diversify its criminal wallet means that money continues to flow into the coffers of the regime. "

In theory, the Venezuelan opposition, the Trump government and others seeking to pressure Maduro could resolve to forgive all this. The opposition spoke of amnesty for military leaders who oppose the regime and last week the Treasury Department lifted the sanctions imposed on the head of Venezuelan intelligence after his desertion.

In practice, however, it is hard to imagine that most members of the Maduro Mafia will simply leave. At least two of his capos have been accused by the big federal juries of the United States. Another, former General Hugo Carvajal, returned to Spain last month and was quickly jailed for an extradition request from the United States.. He faces federal charges for cocaine trafficking.

Some opposition leaders and foreign governments hope to negotiate a transitional administration that includes prominent figures in the regime. But, as he said to The post office María Corina Machado, former activist of the opposition, "you can not have drug lords… you can not have individuals who are part of the mafia of gold traffic, oil and gas trafficking, or food mafias. "This, unfortunately, can exclude almost everyone who has the power to achieve a peaceful change in Caracas.