(ConservativeInsider.org) – A recently published report from the Miami Herald showed that a multi-national cocaine smuggling organization backed by high-ranking members of the Venezuelan government and military is trafficking over 350 metric tons of cocaine per year, with a value of nearly $9 billion.
The report from the Miami Herald is part of an international investigatory group called “NarcoFiles: The New Criminal Order.” The collaborative project is led by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and includes journalists from 23 countries, from Europe to Latin America to the United States.
The investigation began in 2022, when more than seven million emails, audio clips, and other documents from the Colombian prosecutor’s office were leaked. The leaks gave journalists rare insight into law enforcement efforts to take down transnational criminal gangs involved in drug trafficking.
Documents from the report reveal the involvement of Venezuela’s socialist dictator Nicolás Maduro in perpetuating the deadly drug trafficking from his country. It is believed that his regime has been engaged in drug smuggling for two decades now, but that their activities related to drug trafficking have substantially increased within the last three years.
At first, the Venezuelan military was merely given bribes to “look the other way” and allow drug smugglers through. However, it is now believed that the military is actively engaging in international drug trafficking. According to the former chief of International Operations for the Drug Enforcement Administration, Mike Vigil, said the Venezuelan military is now in charge and “directly involved” in smuggling and distributing cocaine to both the United States and Europe.
The report suggests that after decades of socialist mismanagement destroying the nation’s oil industry, the Maduro regime is now dependent on cocaine trafficking to fund the government. Revenue earned from drug trafficking is reportedly over $5 billion, approximately 8.5% of Venezuela’s GDP. Research consultants involved in the investigation have said drug trafficking is now a “central element allowing the regime to stay in power.”
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