Provisional data from CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics indicate that:
"There were an estimated 100,306 drug overdose deaths in the United States during 12-month period ending in April 2021, an increase of 28.5% from the 78,056 deaths during the same period the year before." The largest percentage of those to die from drug overdose was in the 25-34 age group.
Who in the administration is dealing with this epidemic of our youth ?
Who is looking for the root cause of drugs trafficking into the USA ?
The Freedom Voice and our expert on transnational crime and corruption, Maibort Petit, in this report will present some of the players in the scheme to kill the youth of the USA.
Keys to understanding the criminal case of Clíver Alcalá Cordones
by Maibort Petit
Clíver Alcalá Cordones was one of the closest collaborators of the late former Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez and a Venezuelan retired major general. He presents as a strong enemy of the heir of the presidency, Nicolas Maduro and accused of staging the military. Who faces drug trafficking charges as a member of the Cartel of the Suns, but strangly was excluded from the list of "drug lords" by the Department of the Treasury.
For your info....
The Cartel of the Suns is a Venezuelan organization supposedly headed by high-ranking members of the Armed Forces of Venezuela who are involved in international drug trade.
Next, we present a series of key points that will help the readers of Freedom Voice to understand the case of Major General Clíver Alcalá Cordones, which is to be heard in the Court for the Southern District of New York.
Who is Clíver Alcalá Cordones?
He was one of the soldiers who accompanied Hugo Chávez Frías in the coup attempt with the government of Carlos Andrés Pérez on February 4, 1992.
He held key positions in the Chávez administration, having led in 2002 the intervention of the Metropolitan Police, then under the command of Mayor Alfredo Peña. In 2008 he was head of the Valencia Garrison and later he was leader of the Maracay Garrison. He was pointed out by the former magistrate of the Superior Court of Justice, Eladio Aponte Aponte, of being involved in drug trafficking crimes. In 2013 he was Commander General of the Guayana Integral Defense Region (REDI-Guayana).
Clíver Alcalá turned himself in before the National Intelligence Directorate of Colombia on March 27, 2020, an event that occurred after the United States Department of Justice included him on the list of requested and offered a USD 10 million reward for his capture. .
Finally, Alcalá Cordones turned himself in to the DEA and was extradited to New York to be prosecuted.
The accusation
On March 26, 2020, Clíver Alcalá Cordones was indicted by the United States government for allegedly participating, along with President Nicolás Maduro and other senior leaders of his regime and ideological allies - Diosdado Cabello, Hugo Carvajal, Luciano Martín Arango, aliases “Iván Márquez”, and Seuxis Paucias Hernández Solarte, alias “Jesús Santrich” - of participating in drug trafficking crimes.
In total,
14 Venezuelan officials were charged,
indicating that Clíver Alcalá was one of Maduro's lieutenants who acted - with the entire clan
- to “flood the United States with cocaine to undermine the health and well-being of our nation.
Maduro used cocaine very deliberately as a weapon, "according to what the prosecutors argued.
Before the courts: The charges
The charges against Alcalá Cordones - as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic - were made known to him by telephone on March 31, 2020 before Judge Paul E. Davison of the Southern District Court of New York,
The General declared himself innocent of the charges, but expressed his willingness to collaborate with the US justice system.
In June of that year 2020, the prosecutors requested to reschedule the date of the Alcalá Cordones presentation hearing, scheduled for June 26 of that year. Before the judge in the case, Alvin K. Hellerstein, he requested a public defender because he did not have money to pay for a private defense and on August 2 the judge approved it, but asked him to show that he certainly did not have the financial means. to pay the lawyers who had been representing him.
The charges filed against Clíver Alcalá Cordones are:
(1) participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years and a maximum of life imprisonment;
(2) conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 10 years and a maximum of life in prison;
(3) using and carrying machine guns and destructive devices during and in connection with, and possessing machine guns and destructive devices in support of narco-terrorism and cocaine import conspiracies, which carries a mandatory minimum sentence of 30 years and a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
From partners to enemies
Participated in the military coup to support Chavez and after when the Chavista ruling party was instituted in Venezuela.
Since the rise of Hugo Chávez heir's to power, Nicolás Maduro, the General supposedly was involved in drug trafficking activities through the Cartel of the Suns, Alcalá Cordones.
He soon declared himself an enemy of the Venezuelan dictator.
One of the most trusted men of the late former president, Hugo Chávez, separated himself from his successor, whom he now fights from all levels.
In fact,
he and other ex-ministers of Hugo Chávez formed the
“Platform for the Defense of the Bolivarian Constitution”
and spoke out against Maduro,
warning of the
“gradual but sustained and permanent progress in the limitation and elimination of the constitutional rights of the citizens and organizations of the Venezuelan people ”[6].
After the demarcation with the Maduro regime,
General Clíver Alcalá
fled to Barranquilla, Colombia,
where he lived for two years until March 27, 2020,
the date on which he surrendered to the authorities of that country to be extradited to the United States.
Then, he accused the president of launching a campaign of destruction against him.
The facts and arguments of the prosecution
According to court documents, the drug trafficking activities between Alcalá Cordones and President Nicolás Maduro began in 1999 and lasted until 2020, so the supposed break with the president would have to have occurred by this last date.
The defendants,
according to the indictment,
participated in a corrupt and violent narco-terrorist conspiracy of which
the Venezuelan Cartel of the Suns and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) were part.
The latter became one of the largest cocaine producers in the world and perpetrated acts of violence against United States citizens and property.
Meanwhile, the Cartel of the Suns is a Venezuelan drug trafficking organization made up of high-ranking Venezuelan officials who corrupted the institutional framework to facilitate the importation of tons of cocaine into the United States.
Maduro, Alcalá Cordones, Carvajal barrios, Cabello Rondón acted as leaders and managers of the aforementioned Cartel de los Soles and the FARC narco-terrorist conspiracy.
The indictment describes a series of events developed from the instructions that in 2005 the late Hugo Chávez issued to Nicolás Maduro, by then a deputy in the National Assembly, as well as to judges - a judge who refused should be removed - and other senior officials to protect the FARC. That year, Venezuela ended its collaboration with the DEA.
In 2006 Chávez appointed Maduro as Chancellor and
that same year the FARC paid him USD 5 million in drug revenues,
through a third party,
in relation to a money laundering scheme that was part of the conspiracy of the narco-terrorism.
In 2008, Diosdado Cabello, Hugo Carvajal and Clíver Alcalá agreed in a meeting that the General would assume additional functions coordinating the drug trafficking activities of the Los Soles Cartel and the FARC.
Support for Guaidó
Two days before his arrest in Colombia, the New Granada authorities seized an arsenal of weapons that, supposedly, was destined for an operation to overthrow the government of Nicolás Maduro.
Presumably, Clíver Alcalá Cordones participated in this movement in which Juan Guaidó was also part, who with Juan José Rendón signed a contract with a US mercenary to command the overthrow operation [1].
Juan Guaidó denied having a relationship with Cliver Alcalá and the weapons in Colombia [2].
Rugged judicial process
Since its inception, the trial against Clíver Alcalá Cordones in the Southern District Court of New York has suffered multiple delays and postponements.
On several occasions, the rescheduling of state conferences in which the parties must appear before the judge of the case has been announced.
On July 29, 2021, the United States District Judge for the Southern District of New York, Alvin K. Hellerstein, ordered the postponement of the state conference initially scheduled for August 4, 2021, until August 23 at 12:00 pm
On August 19, 2021, Alvin K. Hellerstein, judge for the Southern District of New York, ordered the postponement of the conference that had previously been scheduled for August 23, 2021 at 10:30 a.m. and rescheduled it for the September 27, 2021 at 10:30 am, excluding the time until this last date, in the interest of justice.
On September 29, 2021, the judge for the Southern District of New York, Alvin Hellerstein, established the schedule of actions to be followed in the judicial process. He scheduled for the presentation of motions by the government on December 1, 2021, while the defendant must present any opposition to that motion no later than December 8, 2021. The magistrate appointed December 13, 2021 as the Deadline for Alcalá Cordones to present any other motion, in addition to a calendar of information sessions.
The truth is that while all these postponements were taking place, it was strongly speculated that Clíver Alcalá Cordones was negotiating with the prosecution his alleged guilty plea in exchange for information that would help the United States government to structure the case against Nicolás Maduro and Diosdado Cabello. [3 ].
The military denied the species [4], but on December 1 of this year 2021, the US Department of the Treasury withdrew the former Venezuelan general from the list of "drug lords",
according to journalist Joshua Goodman, with which progress in the negotiations could be presumed, even when in court, the military man has not given any indication of admitting his guilt [5].
Why this report is important....
This report will be one of many. The players in the drug trafficking is known. Unfortunately drug trafficking is harming the USA by taking many of its finest in record numbers and also in harming our economy.
This is an intentional effort by some to bring down our great country.
About the Author
Maibort Petit is a Venezuelan writer, researcher and political scientist specialized in Transnational Organized Crime. Based in New York, she works for various Hispanic media outlets and as a consultant for various firms in New York and Washington DC.
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REFERENCES
[1] Venezuela Politics. "The judicial process against Cliver Alcalá Cordones begins in New York, initial presentation was made by telephone." March 31, 2020. https://www.maibortpetit.info/2020/03/se-inicia-en-nueva-york-el-proceso.html
[2] Venezuela Politics. "Learn the latest details of the case of Cliver Alcalá Cordones in court in New York." June 29, 2020. https://www.maibortpetit.info/2020/06/conoce-los-ultimos-detalles-del-caso-de.html
[3] Venezuela Politics. "Cliver Alcalá Cordones asks the court for a public defender because he does not have money to pay for private ones." June 29, 2020. https://www.maibortpetit.info/2020/06/cliver-alcala-cordones-pide-la-corte-un.html
[4] Venezuela Politics. "A New York judge orders Cliver Alcalá Cordones to show that he has no money to pay for his defense." July 2, 2020. https://www.maibortpetit.info/2020/07/juez-de-nueva-york- Orden-cliver- alcala.html
[5] Department of Justice. "Nicolás Maduro Moros and 14 Current and Former Venezuelan Officials Charged with Narco-Terrorism, Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Criminal Charges." March 26, 2020. https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/nicol-s-maduro-moros-and-14-current-and-former-venezuelan-officials-charged-narco-terrorism
[6] National Police of Colombia. "We seized a large shipment of firearms." March 25, 2020. https://www.policia.gov.co/noticia/incautamos-gran-cargamento-armas-fuego
[7] Infobae. "Venezuelan General Clíver Alcalá Cordones surrendered in Colombia and will be extradited to the United States." March 27, 2020. https://www.infobae.com/america/venezuela/2020/03/27/el-general-venezolano-cliver-alcala-cordones-se-entrego-en-colombia-y-sera- extradited-to-the-united-states /
[8] The National. "Juan Guaidó denied having a relationship with Cliver Alcalá and the weapons in Colombia." March 29, 2020. https://www.elnacional.com/venezuela/juan-guaido-nego-tener-relacion-con-cliver-alcala-y-el-armamento-en-colombia/
[9] The National. "Clíver Alcalá Cordones discusses pleading guilty in the United States." September 17, 2021. https://www.elnacional.com/venezuela/cliver-alcala-cordones-discute-declairse-culpable-en-estados-unidos/
[10] The National. "Clíver Alcalá Cordones has no intention of pleading guilty." September 27, 2021. https://www.elnacional.com/venezuela/cliver-alcala-cordones-no-tiene-intencion-de-declairse-culpable/
[11] US Treasury Department removes Cliver Alcalá Cordones from the list 'drug lords. December 1, 2021.