| Anti-Drug National Command | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Allegiance |  Venezuela |
| Branch | Venezuelan National Guard |
| Commanders | |
| Current commander | Arturo Olivar Moreno [1] |
The Anti-Drug National Command is an operating unit of the Venezuelan National Guard that is tasked with preventing illegal drug trade within Venezuela. The unit is headed by General Arturo Olivar. [2]
Univision has described the unit as a "low-profile" component of the National Guard. [3] General Ramón Guillén Dávila, a commanding general of the Anti-Drug National Command was accused of drug trafficking in the 1990s. [3] Ramón Guillén Dávila and his successor Orlando Hernández Villegas allegedly cooperated with the Central Intelligence Agency in "controlled deliveries of cocaine" in a program titled "Operation North". [4] [5] The CIA installed an operations center with the Anti-Drug National Command's offices in Colinas de Las Acacias urbanization of Caracas, establishing a direct network to the El Paso Intelligence Center. [6] According to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration, over 200 kilograms destined for the United States never reached their targets in 1991. [5] However, Operation North was performed unknown to the DEA and Venezuelan authorities. [6] Both generals were later pardoned by President Carlos Andrés Pérez in 1993 and the CIA pulled out of Venezuela. [4] [6] The Operation North incident led to the origin of the term "Cartel of the Suns", the suspected involvement of Venezuelan generals in drug trafficking. [7]
Officials linked to the Anti-Drug National Command have been sanctioned for their alleged participation with corruption in Venezuela. Néstor Reverol, who served under Guillén Dávila, was later accused of drug trafficking as well and was sanctioned by the United States in 2016. [3] Eustiquio José Lugo Gómez, the former Operations Director was sanctioned by the United States on 27 June 2019. [8]
Low-ranking members have also been involved in drug trafficking incidents. On 11 September 2013, French officials seized 1.3 tons of cocaine arriving from an Air France flight from Venezuela; the largest cocaine seizure in France's history. [9] Three members of the Anti-Drug National Command were later linked to the event and brought to court in Venezuela. [9]
Diosdado Cabello Rondón is a Venezuelan politician and current member of the National Assembly of Venezuela, where he previously served as Speaker. He is also an active member of the Venezuelan armed forces, with the rank of captain.
Ramón Eduardo Arellano Félix was a Mexican drug lord who alongside his brothers founded and led the Tijuana Cartel. He was the leader of the enforcement wing of the organization until his assassination on February 10, 2002.
Osiel Cárdenas Guillén is a Mexican drug lord and the former leader of the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. Originally a mechanic in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, he entered the cartel by killing Juan García Abrego's friend and competitor Salvador Gómez, after the former's arrest in 1996. As confrontations with rival groups heated up, Osiel Cárdenas sought and recruited over 30 deserters from the Grupo Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales to form the cartel's armed wing. Los Zetas served as the hired private mercenary army of the Gulf Cartel.
The Gulf Cartel is a criminal syndicate and drug trafficking organization in Mexico, and perhaps one of the oldest organized crime groups in the country. It is currently based in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, directly across the U.S. border from Brownsville, Texas.
The Bolivarian National Guard of Venezuela, is a gendarmerie component of the National Armed Forces of Venezuela. The national guard can serve as gendarmerie, perform civil defense roles, or serve as a reserve light infantry force. The national guard was founded on 4 August 1937 by the then President of the Republic, General-in-Chief Eleazar López Contreras. The motto of the GNB is "El Honor es su divisa", slightly different from the motto of the Spanish Civil Guard "El Honor es mi divisa".
Juan José Esparragoza Moreno, commonly referred to by his alias El Azul, was a Mexican drug lord and member of the Sinaloa Cartel, Guadalajara Cartel and Juárez Cartel, three large and powerful criminal organizations. Originally a member of the Dirección Federal de Seguridad (DFS) police agency, he founded the Guadalajara Cartel in the 1970s along with other drug kingpins in Mexico. Following its disintegration in the late 1980s, he went on to lead the Juárez Cartel and eventually settled in the Sinaloa Cartel. He worked alongside Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and Ismael Zambada García, once considered world's most-wanted, powerful and rich drug lords.
A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin, lord of drugs, or narcotrafficker is a type of crime boss, who is in charge of a drug-trafficking network, organization, or enterprise.
The level of corruption in Venezuela is very high by world standards and is prevalent throughout many levels of Venezuelan society. Discovery of oil in Venezuela in the early 20th century has worsened political corruption. The large amount of corruption and mismanagement in the country has resulted in severe economic difficulties, part of the crisis in Venezuela. A 2014 Gallup poll found that 75% of Venezuelans believed that corruption was widespread throughout the Venezuelan government. Discontent with corruption was cited by demonstrators as one of the reasons for the 2014 and 2017 Venezuelan protests.
Illegal drug trade in Venezuela is the practice of illegal drug trading in Venezuela. Venezuela has been a path to the United States for cocaine originating in Colombia, through Central America and Mexico and Caribbean countries such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. In the 2010s, Venezuela also gradually became a major producer of cocaine.
The Clan del Golfo, also known as Gaitanist Self-Defense Forces of Colombia and formerly called Los Urabeños and Clan Úsuga, is a prominent Colombian neo-paramilitary group and currently the country's largest drug cartel.
The Cartel of the Suns is a Venezuelan organization supposedly headed by high-ranking members of the Armed Forces of Venezuela who are involved in international drug trade. According to Héctor Landaeta, journalist and author of Chavismo, Narco-trafficking and the Military, the phenomenon began when Colombian drugs began to enter into Venezuela from corrupt border units and the "rot moved its way up the ranks."
The Narcosobrinos affair is the situation of events that surrounded two nephews of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores who were arrested for narcotics trafficking. The nephews, Efraín Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freitas, were arrested on 10 November 2015 by the United States Drug Enforcement Administration in Port-au-Prince, Haiti after attempting to transport 800 kilograms of cocaine into the United States. A year later on 18 November 2016, the two nephews were found guilty, with the cash allegedly destined to "help their family stay in power". On 14 December 2017, the two were sentenced to 18 years of imprisonment.
Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, commonly referred to by his alias El Mencho, is a Mexican drug lord and leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), an organized crime group based in Jalisco. He is the most-wanted person in Mexico and one of the most-wanted in the U.S. Both governments are offering up to Mexican $30 million and US $10 million, respectively, for information leading to his arrest.
Abigael González Valencia, commonly referred to by his alias El Cuini, is a Mexican suspected drug lord and former leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), a criminal group based in Jalisco. He was also the head of Los Cuinis, an organization allied to the CJNG. Along with his brother-in-law Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, one of Mexico's most-wanted men, González Valencia reportedly coordinated international drug trafficking operations in the Americas, Europe, and Asia. He was also responsible for managing the financial operations of the CJNG and Los Cuinis.
Néstor Luis Reverol Torres holds the position of Minister of the People's Power for Interior Relations and Justice of Venezuela and is currently Commander General of the National Guard of Venezuela. On 3 August 2016, he was appointed as interior minister by President Nicolás Maduro.
On 9 November 1999, two agents from the United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) were threatened at gunpoint and nearly killed in Matamoros, Tamaulipas, Mexico, by gunmen of the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in the area. The two agents traveled to Matamoros with an informant to gather intelligence on the operations of the Gulf Cartel. As they cruised through one of the properties owned by the criminal group, they noticed several vehicles following them. The agents were forced to a stop and were corralled by a convoy of eight vehicles, from which fifteen gunmen emerged and surrounded the agents' car. Some of them wore uniforms of the local police. Among the gunmen was the former kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, who recognized the informant and ordered the three of them to get out of their vehicle.
Víctor Manuel Vázquez Mireles is a Mexican drug lord and high-ranking member of the Gulf Cartel, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Vázquez Mireles joined the cartel during the 1990s and was a trusted enforcer of former kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén. He started his career in the cartel as one of his bodyguards and was eventually placed in charge of operations in Tamaulipas and Veracruz. He was reportedly responsible for supervising the purchase of drugs intended to be smuggled into the U.S. for distribution and for arranging the assistance of corrupt law enforcement officials in the cartel's operations.
Raúl Hernández Barrón, also known by his alias Flanders 1, was a Mexican suspected drug lord and high-ranking member of Los Zetas, a criminal group based in Tamaulipas, Mexico. Hernández Barrón served in the Mexican Army from 1993 to 1999 as an infantry soldier. He then left and joined the Gulf Cartel under the kingpin Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, and became part of the first members of their newly formed paramilitary wing, Los Zetas. Like Hernández Barrón, most of the first members of Los Zetas were ex-military. Los Zetas was responsible for providing security services to Cárdenas Guillén and carrying out executions on the cartel's behalf. Hernández Barrón was also responsible for coordinating drug trafficking activities in Veracruz.
The Chapare Drug Cartel is a Bolivian criminal organization dedicated to drug trafficking and human trafficking that operates in the Chapare region. For this, several journalists have baptized this organization simply as the Chapare Cartel
Los Charlines is the name by which one of the most important drug trafficking clans in Galicia is known, together with the Oubiña and the Miñanco. The clan is made up of Manuel Charlín Gama, his wife and their children Manuel, María Teresa, Melchor and Yolanda, and their cousin, Josefa.