Nicolás Maduro asked the justice this Saturday to apply the “maximum punishment” to those public officials of the country who are involved in the “phenomenon of narcopolitics”.
«What did they have in mind, to use the card as a deputy, mayor, to join the horrendous and criminal business of drug trafficking (…). I ask the Justice for the maximum punishment of the narco-political phenomenon », he expressed at the installation of the V Congress of the official United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
Maduro assured that it is the “first time” that the “phenomenon of narcopolitics” is seen in the country. He claimed that he dominates the political life of Colombia.
«Let those who are involved in that know, that we are going for them and we are going to get them. We are not going to allow a project as beautiful as Chavismo to be contaminated by Colombian narco-politics,” he said.
He also said that they are going to “rigorously punish” those officials who are “trafficking gasoline against the people.”
On February 3, Attorney General Tarek William Saab reported that Chavista Daniel Haro Méndez, former mayor of the Pedro María Freites municipality, Anzoátegui state, was arrested during an operation against fuel smuggling.
Likewise, the mayor of the Independencia municipality, in Anzoátegui state, the Chavista Carlos Rafael Vidal, was also arrested. Also the commander of the Third Company of the Bolivarian National Guard in Independencia, Antonio José Barrios and the superior prosecutor of Bolívar state, Manuel Gil Da Silva.
Maduro warned that he would go after officials involved in “narcopolitics”
These officials were identified as leaders of an organized crime “network” dedicated to the diversion, smuggling and illegal sale of gasoline.
On January 27, eight citizens were arrested, including Chavista deputy Taína González and the mayor of Jesús María Semprún, Keyrineth Fernández. These were traveling in three vans, one of them with a secret compartment in which they found six kilos of cocaine.
Saab explained on February 17 that, to date, 21 people have been apprehended in operations against a “drug trafficking network”. And 49 raids have been carried out in Caracas and in the states of Anzoátegui, La Guaira and Mérida. Also in Falcón, Táchira, Trujillo and Carabobo, where they seized 490 kilos of cocaine, 19 vehicles and 5 buildings.