The U.S. Attorney General, Pam Bondi, stated on Monday, August 25, that the Department of Justice is investigating air bridges used for drug trafficking from Venezuela and other countries in the region.
“They pay government officials, they pay people, they pay law enforcement in their countries to ignore this and let them fly undetected. We are looking into all of this. We are investigating in several countries,” she said during a press conference regarding the guilty plea of Ismael “El Mayo” Zambada, co-founder and leader of the Sinaloa Cartel in Mexico.
In her remarks, Bondi explained that the term “air bridge” is common in security forces for referring to how drug traffickers transport drugs from various countries to the United States. She mentioned Venezuela, Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.
The attorney emphasized the conviction against Zambada as “the latest achievement of the United States against deadly cartels and organized crime groups.” She pointed out that under the Trump administration, the State Department designated the Sinaloa Cartel and five others, including MS13 and the Tren de Aragua, as foreign terrorist organizations.
Additionally, she warned that the offensive will continue with the aim of imprisoning the top leaders of drug trafficking in the United States. “We are not done yet. Under President Trump’s direction, we will keep fighting until all cartel leaders are behind bars on U.S. soil and in U.S. prisons for life.”
DEA targets Maduro’s administration
In recent statements, Terry Cole, director of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), said that the administration of Nicolás Maduro collaborates with guerrilla groups from Colombia, such as the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), to send drugs to Mexican cartels that are then trafficked to the United States.
The U.S. official claimed that record amounts of cocaine have entered the country and that this 2025 has seen higher seizures of this drug compared to previous years. He also stated that large quantities of methamphetamine and fentanyl continue to flow into the United States.
“The Venezuelan corruption, the Venezuelan dictatorship, is narcoterrorist. They keep sending this poison to the United States, killing hundreds of thousands of Americans, not to mention the members of the Tren de Aragua that are being sent to our country to destroy its beautiful streets,” he added.
AG