Latest news with #HugoChávez
Wall Street Journal
06-07-2025
- Politics
- Wall Street Journal
The Lure of Comrade Mamdani
As he led a guerrilla war to overthrow dictator Fulgencio Bastista in 1958, Fidel Castro promised Cubans that he was staunchly anticommunist and pro-free-speech. Once Batista was gone, Castro said Cuba would hold elections. Argentina's Juan Perón wasn't much different. Before he was first elected in 1946, the strongman said democracy must 'serve the people.' As a candidate for president of Venezuela in 1998, Hugo Chávez framed himself as democrat. All three socialists lied. They were extremists all along. The lesson is that communists and fascists, whom F.A. Hayek called members of 'rival socialist factions,' will say anything to get into power and do anything to stay there.
Bloomberg
01-07-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
Citgo Auction Adviser Recommends Gold Reserve Bid
A court-appointed adviser is preparing to recommend a consortium led by Gold Reserve Ltd. as the best bidder for Citgo Petroleum Corp. 's parent company, according to people familiar with the matter, with a judge to make the final decision in the coming months. The recommendation, by Special Master Robert Pincus, is due to become official by July 2 and is then subject to the approval of Judge Leonard Stark, who is presiding over the case in federal court in Delaware. The sale's proceeds will help compensate creditors of Venezuela whose assets were seized when the government nationalized industries under the late President Hugo Chávez.
BBC News
26-06-2025
- Politics
- BBC News
Hugo Carvajal: Venezuelan ex-spy chief pleads guilty to narco-terror charges
Venezuela's former head of military intelligence, Hugo Carvajal - also known as "El Pollo", or The Chicken - has pleaded guilty to drug trafficking and narco-terrorism charges in the US. US officials accused the 65-year-old of forming part of a drug-smuggling organisation made up of high-ranking members of the Venezuelan guilty plea is the latest twist in Carvajal's demise from feared spymaster to convict via his ignominious arrest in a hideout in Madrid, where he had been spotted despite donning a fake moustache and a who was a close ally of the late Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez, is thought to hold key information about Chávez's successor, Nicolás Maduro. Carvajal was part of the Cartel de los Soles (Cartel of the Suns) - named after the suns which feature on the lapels of high-ranking officers in the Venezuelan military - according to a statement released by the US Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York, where Carvajal was due to go on trial in the coming days."For years, he and other officials in the Cartel de Los Soles used cocaine as a weapon - flooding New York and other American cities with poison," the statement added that he partnered with left-wing rebels of the Revolutionary Armed Forces in neighbouring Colombia, whom he supplied with weapons and whose cocaine shipments to the US via Venezuela he received millions of dollars in payment in exchange, according to US Attorney Jay Clayton. The fact that Carvajal changed his plea to "guilty" two years after he denied all of the charges brought against him led to speculation he may have reached a deal for a lower sentence in exchange for providing incriminating information about the Maduro's US charged Maduro with "narco-terrorism" five years ago and has imposed sanctions on him and his inner circle. As former spy chief, Carvajal is thought to have access to a wealth of material about the current and past Venezuelan between Carvajal and Maduro soured in 2017, when anti-government protests that Carvajal spoke out in favour of swept the country. They broke down completely in 2019, when Carvajal urged the military to back opposition leader Juan Guaidó's attempt to overthrow Maduro. When the military remained loyal to Maduro, Carvajal fled to several years during which he was on the run, he was finally tracked down to an apartment in Madrid and extradited to the US.
Miami Herald
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Miami Herald
U.S. Rep. Salazar: Iran is an evil growing in our own backyard
'You don't appease evil. You confront it. You annihilate it.' That was my statement after the United States struck Iran's nuclear facilities — not because I celebrate violence, but because I understand the nature of our enemy and the unacceptable cost of a nuclear Iran. Iran is not just another hostile regime. It is a revolutionary Islamic power, born in blood and committed to chaos. It does not want peace. It wants permanent revolution, exported to every corner of the globe — including our own hemisphere. This is not a theory. It is doctrine. Ayatollah Khomeini, the father of modern Iran, said it himself: 'The Islamic Revolution is not confined to Iran alone. Its mission is global. We shall export it to the world.' Iran does not thrive in stability. It thrives in collapsed states, black markets, smuggled weapons and terror cells. That's why it must never obtain a nuclear weapon. The debate over U.S. tactics misses the larger truth: dictators and rogue regimes only understand one thing — strength. And when that strength is absent, they expand. Iran doesn't need long-range missiles to reach America. It found Venezuela. And through Venezuela, it found Cuba. Together, they've built an axis of terror just 1,363 miles from Miami — closer than New York is to Dallas. This isn't a distant threat. It's a live wire in Miami's own backyard. Iran's alliance with Venezuela is now two decades strong. What began as an ideological flirtation under Hugo Chávez has become a full-blown military and financial partnership — built on weapons, oil and hatred for America. Today, Iran flies planes full of weapons into Venezuela and builds factories for military technology. Just this March, an Iranian plane full of missiles and drones landed at El Libertador Air Base. This is how Iran keeps its allies armed — through steady shipments and training. And it doesn't end there. For years, 'aero-terror' flights ran between Caracas and Tehran, carrying Iran's Quds Force (the elite arm of Iran's Revolutionary Guard), explosives, and Hezbollah and Hamas agents disguised as passengers. Venezuelan banks have directly financed Iran's missile and nuclear programs and its Revolutionary Guard. Other examples can be found throughout Latin America. In Cuba, U.S. intelligence reports have confirmed Tehran's coordination with Havana on military intelligence and electronic surveillance. And as Iran gains ground in our hemisphere, it brings a history of bloodshed. Just ask Argentina. In 1992, the Israeli embassy in Buenos Aires was bombed. In 1994, the AMIA Jewish cultural center was destroyed, killing 85 and injuring hundreds, the worst antisemitic attack since the Holocaust— until Oct. 7, 2023. Both attacks were tied to Iran-backed Hezbollah. Thirty-one years later, the Jewish families of South Florida still carry the pain because no one was ever held accountable. This isn't just about Iran. It's about a new world order, engineered by Iran, where democracy is dismantled, America is weakened and tyranny rises unchecked. Iran's deepening relationship with China is a subject for another op-ed. But all roads lead to the same conclusion: We cannot, under any circumstances, allow Iran to gain more power or build a bomb. Iran's leaders chant 'Death to America.' They call for Israel to be 'wiped off the map.' They fund the same terrorists who slaughtered innocents on Oct. 7. Iran's reach is long. Its intentions are deadly. And its partners are growing bolder. That's why the U.S. was right to act. These strikes weren't escalations — they were containment. A clear line in the sand. For years, there was doubt about how close Iran was to building a bomb. Were they enriching uranium? Acquiring centrifuges from China? That doubt is over — because the U.S. severely damaged Iran's nuclear facilities, and with them, the illusion that this program was peaceful. That's good for the U.S., for Israel, and for every democracy in the Western Hemisphere. As I said before: You don't negotiate with evil. You stop it cold. This is how you confront tyrants — not just in Tehran, but in Havana, Caracas and Managua, too. Peace through strength. That is the American way. Strength is what this moment demands. Maria Elvira Salazar, a Miami Republican, represents Florida's 27th Congressional District.
The Independent
25-06-2025
- Politics
- The Independent
Former Venezuela spymaster pleads guilty to narcoterrorism charge ahead of trial
A former Venezuelan spymaster who was close to the country's late President Hugo Chávez pleaded guilty Wednesday to drug trafficking charges a week before his trial was set to begin in a Manhattan federal court. Retired Maj. Gen. Hugo Carvajal was extradited from Spain in 2023 after more than a decade on the run from U.S. law enforcement, including included a botched arrest in Aruba while he was serving as a diplomat representing current Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro's government. Carvajal pleaded guilty in court to all four criminal counts, including narco-terrorism, in an indictment accusing him of leading a cartel made up of senior Venezuelan military officers that attempted to 'flood' the U.S. with cocaine in cahoots with leftist guerrillas from neighboring Colombia. In a letter this week to defense counsel, prosecutors said they believe federal sentencing guidelines call for Carvajal to serve a mandatory minimum of 50 years in prison to a maximum of life. Nicknamed 'El Pollo,' Spanish for 'the chicken,' Carvajal advised Chávez for more than a decade. He later broke with Marudo, Chávez's handpicked successor, and threw his support behind the U.S.-backed political opposition — in dramatic fashion. In a recording made from an undisclosed location, Carvajal called on his former military cohorts to rebel against a month into mass protests seeking to replace Maduro with lawmaker Juan Guaidó, whom the first Trump administration recognized as Venezuela's legitimate leader as head of the democratically elected National Assembly. The hoped-for barracks revolt never materialized, and Carvajal fled to Spain. In 2021 he was captured hiding out in a Madrid apartment after he defied a Spanish extradition order and disappeared. Carvajal's straight-up guilty plea, without any promise of leniency, could be part of a gamble to win credit down the line for cooperating with U.S. efforts against a top foreign adversary that sits atop the world's largest petroleum reserves. Although Carvajal has been out of power for years, his backers say he can provide potentially valuable insights on the inner workings of the spread of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua into the U.S. and spying activities of the Maduro-allied governments of Cuba, Russia, China and Iran. He may also be angling for Trump's attention with information about voting technology company Smartmatic. One of Carvajal's deputies was a major player in Venezuela's electoral authority when the company was getting off the ground. Florida-based Smartmatic says its global business was decimated when Fox News aired false claims by Trump allies that it helped rig the 2020 U.S. election. One of the company's Venezuelan founders was later charged in the U.S. in a bribery case involving its work in the Philippines. Gary Berntsen, a former CIA officer in Latin America who oversaw commandos that hunted al-Qaida, sent a public letter this week to Trump urging the Justice Department to delay the start of Carvajal's trial so officials can debrief the former spymaster. 'He's no angel, he's a very bad man,' Berntsen said in an interview. 'But we need to defend democracy.' Carvajal's attorney, Robert Feitel, said prosecutors announced in court this month that they never extended a plea offer to his client or sought to meet with him. 'I think that was an enormous mistake,' Feitel told The Associated Press while declining further comment. 'He has information that is extraordinarily important to our national security and law enforcement.' In 2011, prosecutors alleged that Carvajal used his office to coordinate the smuggling of approximately 5,600 kilograms (12,300 pounds) of cocaine aboard a jet from Venezuela to Mexico in 2006. In exchange he accepted millions of dollars from drug traffickers, prosecutors said. He allegedly arranged the shipment as one of the leaders of the so-called Cartel of the Suns — a nod to the sun insignias affixed to the uniforms of senior Venezuelan military officers. The cocaine was sourced by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, which the U.S. has designated as a terrorist organization and which for years took refuge in Venezuela as it sought to overthrow Colombia's government. Carvajal 'exploited his position as the director of Venezuela's military intelligence and abandoned his responsibility to the people of Venezuela in order to intentionally cause harm to the United States,' DEA Acting Administrator Robert Murphy said. 'After years of trying to evade law enforcement, (he) will now likely spend the rest of his life in federal prison.' ___ Associated Press writer Larry Neumeister in New York contributed.
