The deposed dictator allegedly facilitated the issuance of diplomatic documents to members of the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas, when he served as Foreign Minister under Hugo Chávez from 2006 to 2008.
The Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro is facing serious new allegations in the United States, related directly to the sale of diplomatic passports to Mexican drug traffickers, as reported by the Mexican newspaper Reforma.
This information is part of an extensive dossier submitted by the Department of Justice to the Southern District Court of New York, where prosecutors mention the Sinaloa Cartel 14 times and Los Zetas 13 times, two of the most violent criminal organizations in Mexico.
Sale of Diplomatic Passports
According to the document cited by Reforma, Mexican drug traffickers not only allegedly obtained Venezuelan diplomatic passports, but they also used official flights to transport the profits generated by cocaine trafficking in the US.
The document states that these illegal economic benefits were transferred to the regime via Venezuelan state aircraft, within a framework consolidated between high-ranking officials and drug trafficking leaders.
The accusation also implicates Diosdado Cabello, regarded as one of the most powerful figures in the chavista regime, as responsible for coordinating drug transport between Venezuela and Mexico. According to the prosecution, Cabello was a key player in the logistics of sending loads to Central America and subsequently to U.S. territory.
The judicial document is unequivocal in describing the criminal operation: “Maduro and his accomplices have teamed up with narco-terrorists from the Sinaloa Cartel and Los Zetas to distribute tons of cocaine in the US.”
The Role of the Cartel of the Suns and the Tren de Aragua
The accusation explains that the cocaine was processed in Venezuela and then sent to the US using transshipment routes in the Caribbean and Central America, especially Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico.
The charge also mentions the involvement of the Cartel of the Suns, a criminal network made up of high-ranking Venezuelan military officers, indicating their central role in coordinating drug trafficking in partnership with Mexican groups. Additionally, it details the involvement of the Tren de Aragua, the mega-criminal gang from Venezuela that has spread across several countries in the region, facilitating logistical operations, routes, and protection.
This new accusation adds another chapter to the extensive federal case opened against Maduro in the United States, which already links him to narcoterrorism, corruption, money laundering, and conspiracy to introduce cocaine into U.S. territory.
With the information revealed by Reforma, U.S. prosecutors strengthen the narrative that the chavista regime has operated for years as a central actor in international drug trafficking, using diplomatic and state structures to protect and facilitate the operations of Mexican cartels.