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The United States Department of Justice has focused on Diosdado Cabello —identified as one of the most influential individuals in chavismo— within an investigation that, according to documents cited by the Colombian newspaper El Tiempo, describes an alleged international cocaine trafficking network with connections to Colombian illegal armed groups and references to the environment of the Sinaloa cartel, including Joaquín “el Chapo” Guzmán, who is currently imprisoned in the United States.
According to those files, one of the key episodes dates back to April 2006, when a DC-9 aircraft took off from Simón Bolívar International Airport (Venezuela) with 5.6 tons of high-purity cocaine en route to Ciudad del Carmen, in the Mexican state of Campeche.
The document states that the aircraft would have taken off from the presidential hangar and that only the pilot and co-pilot were on board during the operation.
Upon arriving in Mexico, the co-pilot —identified as Miguel Vicente Vázquez Guerra— was arrested, while the pilot managed to escape.
According to the cited research, Vázquez Guerra was a trusted pilot of “el Chapo” Guzmán.
The shipment, according to the report, was intended to be transferred to another aircraft on which alleged members of the Sinaloa cartel, "with the consent of officials" of the Venezuelan regime.
The text attributes the connection between Cabello and that operation to his alleged control over key figures in security and intelligence.
In the cited court documents, it is stated that the drug was allegedly transported by five trucks through Caracas to the presidential hangar, under the custody of the National Guard; and that the flight plan for the DC-9 was supposedly authorized by Vassyly Villarroel, a retired captain of the Bolivarian National Guard, who —according to the file— allegedly received bribes to facilitate the operation.
Bribed hair
After the seizure in Mexico, Villarroel reportedly informed Venezuelan collaborators that it was necessary to pay a bribe of 2.5 million dollars to Cabello to “protect” the officials involved in the shipment.
The text specifies that this testimony comes from Villarroel, who was captured in 2015, and is part of the dossier in the United States.
The document adds that Villarroel may have also worked with Colombian drug traffickers such as Daniel “el Loco” Barrera and brothers Luis Enrique and Javier Antonio Calle Serna (“los Comba”), identified as leaders of Los Rastrojos. This would have allowed those drug lords to use Venezuelan territory as a refuge and transit route for sending large volumes of cocaine.
It also mentions businessman Walid Makled as a related figure and points to mechanisms for paying bribes to high-ranking officials, according to sources cited by the Colombian media.
The ELN in the spotlight
The cited research is not limited to historical facts. According to the text, there is recent evidence that connects Cabello to drug trafficking activities in collaboration with the ELN (National Liberation Army), the Segunda Marquetalia, and dissidents of the FARC.
Among the mentioned evidence are travel records of Cabello to clandestine airstrips operated by the ELN on the Colombia-Venezuela border during 2022 and 2024.
According to the described report, cocaine is said to have been flown out of Venezuela on flights approved by high-ranking military officials and through clandestine operations to evade detection in South America and Central America.
The document adds that, by the end of 2024, Cabello would have received direct profits from the drug and that in 2025 Colombian drug traffickers discussed with one of his collaborators the continuation of transit through Venezuela.
The mentioned criminal structure would include a group known as "the Generals," described as high-ranking Venezuelan military officials who support the regime and engage in illegal businesses.
The text further states that Cabello's control over the intelligence apparatus and armed groups would be coordinated through his cousin Alexis José Rodríguez Cabello, identified as the director of Sebin.
The document also indicates that the United States has two federal cases open against Nicolás Maduro and high-ranking officials on charges of narco-terrorism, and that in a formal accusation appear, in addition to Maduro, Cilia Flores and Diosdado Cabello himself, along with former generals Hugo Armando “Pollo” Carvajal and Clíver Alcalá.
It also mentions Colombians such as Iván Márquez (Segunda Marquetalia) and Jesús Santrich, regarding whom it claims he was killed in Venezuela during a military operation.
The facts investigated span from 1999 to 2020 and describe a persistent collaboration between Venezuelan regime officials and Colombian insurgent leaders for the shipment of tons of cocaine, with alleged agreements between the “Cartel de los Soles,” dissidents, and the Sinaloa cartel, as well as the role of collaborating witnesses like Marlon Marín providing details about meetings and coordination.
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