U.S. agents have arrested two relatives of Venezuelan President
Nicolá s Maduro on charges they conspired to transport 800
kilograms of cocaine to the U.S., according to two people familiar
with the matter.
The arrests come amid U.S. accusations that the top echelon of
the government in Caracas is involved in the narcotics trade.
The two men, Efraí n Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores
de Freitas, were first arrested in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on
Tuesday by local police, turned over to U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration agents and flown the same day to New York in a DEA
jet, these people said. The two were scheduled to go before a
federal judge in New York on Thursday, they said. A spokesman for
the federal district court declined to comment.
Mr. Campo Flores, 29 years old, identified himself on the DEA
plane as a stepson of the president, according to the people
familiar with the matter, having been raised by his aunt, Cilia
Flores, who is Mr. Maduro's wife. A U.S. document said the other
man identified himself as a nephew of Ms. Flores.
Ms. Flores, 62 years old, is one of the most powerful figures in
Venezuela's government. The longtime partner of Mr. Maduro, she
married him in July 2013 after his election as president.
Before becoming first lady—or 'first combatant," as she is known
in Venezuela—Ms. Flores was president of the National Assembly. Ms.
Flores has put many of her relatives in important government
positions, including another nephew, Carlos Erick Malpica Flores,
who is the chief financial officer of state oil company Petró leos
de Venezuela and the country's treasurer.
The arrests of the two men come as prosecutors in New York,
Washington and Miami are pursuing numerous investigations into
alleged drug-trafficking and money-laundering activities of top
Venezuelan military, police and government officials, according to
U.S. officials.
U.S. officials have long said Venezuela is the main transit
point for cocaine from neighboring Colombia. Caracas routinely
denies allegations that it is involved in drug trafficking,
characterizing them as efforts to destabilize Venezuela's leftist
government.
But military officers and officials who have fled Venezuela for
the U.S. describe a government unable to mend a broken economy and
allegedly involved in drug trafficking.
"All of this may be weighing on some of the people in the
military and elsewhere in the government who are concerned about
the sustainability of the government," said Eric Farnsworth, vice
president of the Council of the Americas, a Washington think tank.
"You've seen some people already trying to separate themselves…What
makes this particularly interesting is the allegation that drug
trafficking goes right up to the very top of the government."
The two men contacted a DEA confidential informant in Honduras
in October and asked for help in trafficking 800 kilograms of
cocaine through the airport in the country's Caribbean island of
Roatá n, according to one of the two people familiar with the
case.
The two men also sent pilots to talk to an airport official at
Roatá n about the drug trafficking scheme, according to a U.S.
document. "It looked like amateur stuff," said a person with
knowledge of the matter.
In subsequent meetings in Venezuela, this person said, the two
Venezuelans brought a kilogram of cocaine to a confidential
informant to show the quality of the promised shipment, which was
to be sold in New York. Agents filmed and taped the meetings with
the Venezuelans, this person added.
Venezuela's consul in New York, Calixto Ortega, has been in
touch with the DEA over the arrests, the two people familiar with
the situation said. Mr. Ortega didn't return calls or respond to an
email requesting comment. It isn't known whether the two men have
lawyers.
Spokesmen at Venezuela's Ministries of Communications and
External Affairs both declined to comment. Calls and emails to the
Venezuelan diplomatic mission at the United Nations, Mr. Maduro's
office in Caracas, the Defense Ministry and the Interior Ministry
weren't returned. The Venezuelan Embassy in Washington didn't
return phone calls or respond to an email.
The arrests come as Mr. Maduro's government faces legislative
elections in December amid a collapsing economy marked by 200%
inflation and widespread scarcity of essential food and
medicine.
According to the latest projections by the International
Monetary Fund, Venezuela's economy is expected to contract 10% this
year.
U.S. officials say they have been investigating alleged drug
trafficking and money laundering by a number of high-ranking
Venezuelan officials, including Diosdado Cabello, the president of
the country's National Assembly, who is widely seen as the second
most powerful man in the country. Mr. Cabello, considered by most
political analysts to be a political rival of Mr. Maduro, denies
any involvement in illicit activities.
What U.S. officials have called an explosion in drug trafficking
in the oil-rich country over the last decade has led to increased
antidrug operations by the DEA and other agencies. That has
included operations to recruit military officers and government
officials who can provide American investigators with details about
the alleged ties high Venezuelan officials have in the cocaine
trade, people familiar with those cases have told The Wall Street
Journal.
As far back as 2008, the U.S. Treasury Department put three top
aides to the late President Hugo Chá vez on a blacklist and froze
any assets they might have in the U.S. on suspicion of supporting
Colombia's drug-trafficking guerrillas. In 2011, four more
Venezuelan officials were added to the list for similar
reasons.
In July of last year, U.S. counter-drug officials came close to
nabbing a top Venezuelan official—Hugo Carvajal, the former head of
military intelligence. Mr. Carvajal was indicted in Miami and New
York on drug charges and detained in Aruba at the U.S. government's
behest. But Dutch authorities released him to Venezuela, citing his
diplomatic immunity.
Since last year, the U.S. has revoked the visas of at least 56
Venezuelans linked to allegations of drug trafficking and
corruption, including bankers and financiers whose identities
haven't been made public.
News of the arrests came as Mr. Maduro prepared to give a speech
on Thursday before the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva. The
appearance of the Venezuelan leader has led to sharp criticism from
human-rights groups because of what they contend is Venezuelan
government's poor human-rights record.
"Venezuela should not be allowed to use the council as a vehicle
for self-promotion," said José Miguel Vivanco, Americas director of
Human Rights Watch.
Neither Mr. Maduro nor Ms. Flores referred on Wednesday to the
arrests. Their official Twitter accounts were instead dedicated to
highlighting meetings Mr. Maduro had with Saudi leaders. Mr. Maduro
also extolled his admiration for Mr. Chá vez in one missive,
asserting that "Chá vez lives and lives, and his thinking is more
current than ever."
Kejal Vyas in Caracas, Venezuela, and Juan Forero in Bogotá ,
Colombia, contributed to this article.
Write to José de Có rdoba at Jose.DeCordoba@wsj.com
Subscribe to WSJ: http://online.wsj.com?mod=djnwires
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
November 11, 2015 20:15 ET (01:15 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2015 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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