Venezuela names alleged cocaine trafficker as new interior and justice minister

BBC:
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has named General Nestor Reverol, 51, as his new interior and justice minister.

The nomination came just a day after Gen Reverol was indicted by a US court on charges of abetting cocaine trafficking.

He served as interior minister once before, under the late President Hugo Chavez, and more recently headed the National Guard.

Mr Maduro dismissed the charges against Gen Reverol as a "US conspiracy".

The president said Gen Reverol "broke the world record for capturing traffickers" when he was the head of Venezuela's anti-narcotics agency.

Prosecutors in New York announced on Monday that Gen Reverol and his former deputy at the anti-narcotics agency, Gen Edilberto Jose Molina, are suspected of receiving payments from drug traffickers in exchange for information about raids.

The prosecutors also alleged that the two men allowed shipments of narcotics to leave the country and let suspects go free.

Any assets they have in the US will now be seized.
...
Venezuela has been alleged to be a key waypoint in transporting cocaine from Colombia to Europe and the US.  Planes would fly from Venezuela to West Africa where the dope would be transported by people associated with al Qaeda, into Europe.  Maduro's wife's relatives were also charged with a scheme to import drugs into the US via Haiti recently.

This makes me suspect that the country is trying to replace some of its lost oil revenue with the dope business.

If you type in "The dope from Venezuela" in the search bar on the blog you will find about 77 posts on the trade.  One of them refers to early suspicions about Reverol tipping off smugglers.

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