Unravelling the US Agenda in Venezuela
Fishermen Caught in the Crossfire
(21WIRE) – On Wednesday, Trump revealed that he had given the Central Intelligence Agency the green light to carry out covert operations within Venezuela, fueling speculation in Caracas that the United States is trying to overthrow Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. On Thursday, the U.S. military executed its sixth strike against a suspected drug vessel in the Caribbean, resulting in the total deaths of 27 individuals. This new strike marked what is thought to be the first instance where some crew members actually survived the U.S. assault. This situation raises new questions as to whether the U.S. military assisted the survivors and if they are currently in U.S. military custody, potentially treated as prisoners of war.
In a communication addressed to the 15-member Security Council of the United Nations, Venezuela’s U.N. Ambassador Samuel Moncada requested a U.N. ruling declaring the U.S. strikes off its coast as unlawful and urged for a statement affirming Venezuela’s sovereignty. Just under a week ago, the Pentagon revealed that its counter-narcotics efforts in the area would not be managed by the Southern Command based in Miami, which is responsible for U.S. military operations in Latin America. Instead, the Pentagon has mentioned the formation of a task force that will be established and led by the II Marine Expeditionary Force, a unit known for its ability to conduct rapid overseas missions, stationed at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina.
The strike aimed at what the Pentagon has labelled narcoterrorists occurred amid a U.S. military buildup in the Caribbean, as President Donald Trump intensifies a standoff with the Venezuelan government. The White House, seemingly adopting rhetoric from Israel, characterized the attacks on the vessels in the Caribbean as “self-defense,” in light of criticism from legal experts who argued that these actions were unlawful. Washington is yet to provide evidence to support its assertion that the individuals targeted in these contentious operations are drug traffickers and not regular fishermen. Experts contend that these summary executions are illegal, even if they do indeed target confirmed narcotics dealers.
Recent US operations in the Caribbean have jeopardized the safety of the fishermen in Lake Maracaibo, Venezuela, and in Trinidad and Tobago, who are now living in fear for their lives. Last month, the Venezuelan government mobilized militia members and urged those who had not yet joined the civilian force to enlist. According to fisheries minister Juan Carlos Loyo, over 16,000 fishermen responded to this call.
Additionally, the sudden retirement of Navy Admiral Alvin Holsey, who for almost a year led Southern Command, which is responsible for all US military activities in Central and South America, is causing quite a stir. Normally, he would have served a full three-year term in that role. While there has been no official explanation for his departure, set to take place at the year’s end, various US media sources indicate that Holsey had voiced concerns regarding the mission and the assaults on the supposed drug boats. These operations, sanctioned by the White House, have been executed by Special Operations forces, effectively sidelining Holsey from the decision-making process. The legitimacy of Trump’s claimed authority for these deadly military operations is dubious and facing criticism, just as his compliance with international warfare laws is. In Congress, which holds the power to declare war, Democratic lawmakers, along with a few Republicans, have started voicing concerns regarding the actions taken by the administration.
Reflecting on the beginnings of the alleged drug trafficking cartel in Venezuela, we now present you with a passage from an excellent article authored by Andreína Chávez Alava, published on October 7 by Venezuela Analysis. The piece emphasises the historical involvement of the US Central Intelligence Agency and the DEA in drug smuggling activities between the Bolivarian Republic and the US, which, interestingly, seem to always be linked to a regime change agenda driven by oil…
Andreína Chávez Alava reports for Venezuela Analysis…
US Military Siege and ‘Narco-state’ Allegations Against Venezuela: All You Need to Know
Caracas has warned that the US is trying to provoke a war, as the Trump administration continues to carry out extrajudicial killings by bombing boats.
The so-called cartel’s first origin: the CIA
A cocaine trafficking scheme in Venezuela during the 1980s–90s involving a CIA asset and Venezuelan general, along with other unconnected cases, has been misrepresented, and intentionally so, as the origin of a supposed top-down structure known as the “Cartel de los Soles,” a term referencing the sun (“sol”) insignia worn by senior Venezuelan military officials.
In 1993, an exposé by US journalist Mike Wallace revealed that the CIA collaborated with Venezuelan General Ramón Guillén Dávila, head of Venezuela’s National Guard anti-drug unit between 1987 and 1991 and a 1967 School of the Americas graduate, to smuggle at least 22 tons of cocaine produced in Colombia into Venezuelan territory, which was later flown directly to the US.
VIDEO: The CIA-Venezuela Cocaine Connection (1993). (Source: MOBFAX)
The operation was busted once in late 1990 when US Customs Service seized 998 pounds of cocaine at the Miami International Airport and traced it back to the CIA and Guillén. It was later discovered that the scheme was led by Jim Campbell, the CIA’s Venezuela station chief, and Mark McFarland, the CIA’s officer in charge in Caracas.
The alleged mission was to infiltrate and gain intelligence on Colombian drug cartels. However, “no valuable intelligence” was ever produced from the CIA cocaine smuggling scheme, according to then-DEA director Robert C. Bronner, who claimed the DEA Caracas-based agents had no part in the operation, but were fully aware and stayed silent.
After being granted immunity, Guillén confessed to a Miami court that he had profited from the cocaine smuggling. However, when the investigation was reopened by a grand jury in November 1993, Guillén failed to appear. The general was never extradited to stand trial in the US and was imprisoned in Venezuela for a few months before being released.
The CIA made an internal investigation and found “no wrongdoing.”. Tons of cocaine hit the streets in the US, and the parts involved (including Colombia’s Medellin cartel) profited without consequence. CIA officials, interviewed by Wallace, also tried to excuse themselves, stating the DEA “does this all the time, they let the drug walk.”
These events not only preceded President Hugo Chávez’s rise to power in 1999, but Chávez himself also expelled the DEA from Venezuela in 2005 for espionage and drug trafficking operations involving undercover agents who were attempting to incriminate Venezuelan officials. Leaked documents in 2014 and 2024 corroborated the DEA’s destabilization activities.
The most notorious star witnesses, however, are Hugo ‘El Pollo’ Carvajal, Venezuela’s former intelligence chief, and retired Venezuelan Major General Cliver Alcalá. Both are named as defendants in the 2020 US indictment against Venezuelan officials.
Carvajal broke ties with the Maduro government in 2017 and two years later fled Venezuela after calling for a military insurrection and pledging support for Juan Guaidó’s US-backed “interim government.” He was detained in Spain in 2021 and fought extradition to both Venezuela and the US by offering Spanish authorities information concerning alleged illegal Venezuelan funding of Spain’s leftist PODEMOS party. He was finally extradited to the US in July 2023 and later pled guilty to conspiring to import cocaine into the US.
The former intelligence chief is scheduled to be sentenced on October 29 and could face life imprisonment. However, Carvajal’s guilty plea contrasted with his previous denials, leading to speculation about a reduced sentence.
Alcalá’s story is similar. He broke with the Maduro government in 2013. He was later involved in two coup plots, including the failed “Operation Gideon.” However, he was detained in Colombia on March 23, 2020, for weapons smuggling—just weeks before the ill-fated mercenary invasion. Three days later, the US Justice Department issued the “narcoterrorism” indictment, and Alcalá surrendered to the DEA and was flown to the US. However, during the trial, he denied the drug trafficking charges and said he had previously met at least seven times with US officials.
Facing a mandatory minimum sentence of 50 years, Alcalá negotiated his sentence and was convicted to almost 22 years in 2024 on charges of providing weapons to Colombia’s FARC. Prosecutors quietly dropped the drug-trafficking charges as part of the plea bargain.
Yet, Alcalá is viewed by the media as the first leader from the so-called “Cartel de los Soles” to be convicted. Over the years, drug trafficking claims against Caracas have been reported by major outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, relying on the unsubstantiated testimonies from both defectors.
A cover-up for intervention
In 2007, two years after expelling the DEA, Venezuela was declared by the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) a territory free of illicit crops, and the seizure of narcotics grew every year since. In 2025 alone, Venezuela seized 60 tons of drugs, according to military spokespeople.
The 2025 UN World Drug Report once again concluded that Venezuela is neither a major drug producer nor a key international trafficking corridor. The so-called “Cartel de los Soles” and “Tren de Aragua” are not even a footnote.
The report is very clear: Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia are the primary sources of cocaine in Latin America, with the vast majority (over 80 percent) of shipments reaching the US and Europe via the eastern Pacific Ocean and Washington-allied Central American nations. The 2017 DEA report also concluded that less than 10 percent of US-bound cocaine passes through Venezuela. The agency’s 2024 National Drug Threat Assessment report does not even include any reference to Venezuela, “Cartel de los Soles,” or “Tren de Aragua.”
UNODC also notes that synthetic opioids such as fentanyl and methamphetamine are produced in clandestine North American labs and move across the US–Mexico border, debunking Trump’s claims that fentanyl in the US comes from Venezuela.
Pino Arlacchi, former UNODC Executive Director, argues that the “narco-state” narrative is “propaganda disguised as intelligence” used to justify an oil-driven regime change agenda.
Military intervention on the horizon?
With the claim that Maduro heads a drug cartel, Washington’s renewed “war on drugs” and regime-change objectives have become indistinguishable. A threat that follows 25 years of oil-rich Venezuela being in Washington’s sights, facing everything from crippling economic sanctions to mercenary incursions.
Trump’s top officials are reportedly pressuring for military strikes inside Venezuela, with White House staffer Stephen Miller said to be behind the return to gunboat diplomacy to coerce Latin American nations into bowing down to Washington.
Some 4,500 US troops and at least eight warships are now deployed off Venezuela’s coasts. This force to destroy small purported drug vessels is disproportionately large. And although not enough for an invasion, this Caribbean deployment, away from Pacific drug routes, signals political aims over genuine counternarcotics efforts. The New York Times also reports clandestine elite forces being deployed in the region, suggesting potential commando incursions could be in the works.
On October 2, Venezuela denounced the “illegal incursion” of five US fighter jets flying close to its shores, calling it “a provocation that threatens national sovereignty and contravenes international law.” Caracas presented a complaint to the UN Security Council. Washington has dispatched at least ten F-35 aircraft to Puerto Rico as part of its military build-up.
Caracas has called for peace and dialogue while also launching defense exercises and preparing to declare a State of Exterior Commotion. A country under siege, once again.
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(TLB) PUBLISHED THIS REPORT FROM 21WIRE
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