USA seeks key man from Maduro government for drug trafficking

CARACAS
Tareck El Aissami now includes the list of the 10 most wanted fugitives.
The Minister of Industry of Venezuela,
one of the allies and supporters of Bolivarian Nicolás Maduro,
appears in the list of immigration and customs control service the United States.

The news was known yesterday after the agency posted it on its website. There, he explained the reasons and badured that
Aissami, 44, is wanted for his alleged links with the
international drug trafficking
in the middle of the
total crisis that strikes the country,
with food shortages, remedies and record inflation.

"Have you seen the most wanted fugitive? He is obliged by international drug traffic," also wrote the service on his Twitter account.

"It facilitated the shipments of narcotics from Venezuela, including the control of aircraft that left a Venezuelan air base and
drug routes through ports in Venezuela", says the opinion, citing the Office of Foreign Assets Control (FOCA), which had already sanctioned in 2017.

According to OFAC, El Aissami "
consignments of narcotic drugs of more than 1,000 kilograms of Venezuela under control or partially owned several times, including those with Mexico and the United States as the final destination. "

The government of President Donald Trump announced in March criminal proceedings against El Aissami for violating the sanctions imposed by Washington two years ago.when he was accused of playing a leading role in international drug trafficking. The Venezuelan was singled out for escaping the February 2017 sanctions by hiring American companies to provide him with private flight services, including a trip to Venezuela from Russia on February 23.

His career in Chavismo

Aissami has a long history under Bolivarian governments. He was Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace in 2008, then Governor of the State of Aragua between 2012 and 2017. He was then Executive Vice President and is currently Vice President of the Economy.

"Today, we have experienced again this so-called aggression, the infamous channeled channel of imperialism … We respond unstoppable, unwavering, faithful to our beloved commander Hugo Chavez." They can not prevent the course irreversibly the Venezuelan people to become a power, a free and sovereign country, "said the minister in a video posted on his Twitter account from the dam of Guri, in southern Venezuela.

Similarly, the Venezuelan businessman Samark José López Bello, 45, linked to El Aissami and sanctioned by the Treasury Department, is also on the list. Given this situation, her press team said that she "will exhaust all available legal resources to clarify her name and re-develop her commercial activity with total normality".

Reuters, AP and AFP agencies