Case Intel
A newly reviewed superseding indictment paints Nicolás Maduro not as a foreign leader caught in a diplomatic dispute, but as the alleged architect of a decades-long narco-terrorism enterprise that prosecutors say flooded the United States with cocaine while arming and enriching violent terrorist groups.
[USA HERALD] – A sealed superseding indictment filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York lays out one of the most aggressive criminal cases ever brought by the United States against a former foreign head of state. According to the charging document, federal prosecutors accuse Nicolás Maduro Moros of leading and protecting a sprawling criminal conspiracy that used the institutions of Venezuela itself as tools for international drug trafficking and narco-terrorism. (See Maduro-indictment).
The indictment alleges that for more than 25 years, Maduro and senior members of his inner circle abused positions of public trust to move thousands of tons of cocaine from Colombia through Venezuela and onward to the United States. Prosecutors describe a state-sponsored trafficking network often referred to as the “Cartel de los Soles,” named after the sun insignia worn by high-ranking Venezuelan military officials who allegedly provided protection, logistics, and armed escorts for drug shipments.
