ZCZC
BFF-11
US-VENEZUELA-CRIME-DRUGS-POLITICS
US indicts Venezuela ex-vice president Tareck El Aissami
NEW YORK, March 9, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – The United States indicted Venezuelan
industry minister and former vice president Tareck El Aissami on sanctions
violations Friday, two years after naming him a narcotics “kingpin” for
allegedly giving cover to drug traffickers.
Aissami, a close ally of President Nicolas Maduro, and businessman Samark
Lopez Bello were indicted together in New York and charged with violating US
sanctions by using private jets to fly to meetings around the world.
The indictment came as the US steps up pressure on the embattled government
of Maduro, who the US has branded illegitimate.
“El Aissami and Lopez Bello allegedly used private jets to set up private
meetings around the globe including Turkey and Russia,” Immigration and
Customs Enforcement special agent Angel Melendez said in a statement.
“It is necessary to impose sanctions against foreign persons seeking to
gain power and control by circumventing the law.”
The indictment covered activities by the two, along with four other men
also indicted — three in Florida and one from Panama — that began in 2017
and continued through last week.
The indictment charged that they violated sanctions when they used US
companies to arrange and pay for the flights between Venezuela, Turkey and
Russia, the purpose of which was not explained.
Washington is leading international pressure to have Maduro replaced by
opposition leader Juan Guaido, whom the US recognizes as the official interim
president.
El Aissami and Lopez Bello were designated as complicit in narcotics
trafficking in February 2017 under the US Foreign Narcotics Kingpin
Designation Act.
El Aissami, 44, has served as Venezuelan interior minister and was vice
president from January 2017 to June 2018, when he shifted to lead the
Industry Ministry.
The 2017 designation alleged that as interior minister El Aissami was paid
to help protect shipments by Venezuelan drug boss Walid Makled Garcia, and
helped coordinate them with Mexico’s Los Zetas cartel.
Lopez Bello, the US Treasury said at the time, was a frontman for El
Aissami and laundered drug proceeds.
BSS/AFP/GMR/0930 hrs