Former Chavist intelligence chief, former general Hugo "El Pollo" Carvajal, detailed in a letter to U.S. President Donald Trump the alleged connections of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro with the Cartel of the Suns and offered collaboration to the authorities, his lawyer confirmed to EFE on Thursday.
Carvajal, who awaits sentencing in a U.S. federal prison after pleading guilty to drug trafficking and weapons possession charges, stated he wants to redeem himself: "I write to atone for my sins by telling the whole truth, so that the United States can protect itself from the dangers I witnessed for so many years."
"I was a direct witness to how the government of Hugo Chávez became a criminal organization today led by Nicolás Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, and other high-ranking officials of the regime. The objective of this organization, now known as the Cartel of the Suns, is to use drugs as a weapon against the United States," Carvajal wrote.
The Trump Administration considers Maduro the leader of the Cartel of the Suns, a group it designated as a terrorist organization, something that Caracas categorically denies.
In the letter's text, initially shared with the local outlet The Dallas Express by his lawyer Robert Feitel, Carvajal asserts that the drugs that arrived in U.S. cities "through new routes" were not the work of "independent traffickers" but "deliberate policies" of Caracas.
"This plan was suggested by the Cuban regime to (Hugo) Chávez in the mid-2000s and has been successfully executed with the help of the FARC, the ELN, Cuban operators, and Hezbollah," Carvajal revealed, explaining how the Venezuelan government provided "weapons, passports, and impunity" to these organizations.
According to Carvajal, the former president Chávez decided to recruit drug trafficking leaders and arm gangs like the notorious Tren de Aragua and ordered sending "thousands of members out of the country," in coordination with the Ministries of the Interior, Prisons, the National Guard, and the national police.
"After Chávez's death, Maduro expanded this strategy by exporting criminality and chaos abroad, with the aim of attacking Venezuelan political exiles and artificially reducing crime statistics within Venezuela," Carvajal revealed.
The former general's letter confirms the accusations of Trump and his Administration against Maduro as the "leader of a drug trafficking network," with which they justify their threats to expand U.S. military actions of the anti-narcotics campaign in the Caribbean and the Eastern Pacific into Venezuelan territory.
"President Trump's policies against the criminal Maduro regime are not only justified, but necessary and proportional to the threat," Carvajal insisted in his letter, where he also states that "the open borders policy" of former President Joe Biden gave Caracas "the opportunity to send these operators to the U.S."
Carvajal's letter reflects the Trump Administration's view of the Venezuelan government, which—according to the former high-ranking official—"is at war with the U.S., using drugs, criminal gangs, espionage, and even its own democratic processes as weapons."
According to the former general, the extent to Maduro might be willing to go to cling to power might even be underestimated. "They have contingency plans for all extreme scenarios just to not let go of control," he warned.
