Following in the footsteps of the Chavista narcogeneral, Hugo Carvajal Barrios, Cliver Alcalá Cordones, a member of the Cartel of the Suns and sentenced to 21 years in prison, wrote a letter to the President of the United States, warning that the regime controlled by Nicolás Maduro and Diosdado Cabello has constructed a criminal corporation operating in the shadows of the State.
The Venezuelan general Clíver Alcalá Cordones, one of the most influential officers of Chavismo during the early 21st century and currently the only high-ranking military officer sentenced in the United States for his role in the Cartel of the Suns, has sent a letter from prison that reignites the debate about the internal power structure in Venezuela. The document, addressed to U.S. authorities, details how Nicolás Maduro and Diosdado Cabello personally directed both the electoral fraud machinery and the criminal operations that sustain the regime.
Alcalá is serving 21 years and eight months in a federal prison after admitting to collaborating with FARC, facilitating the movement of arms—including grenade launchers—and ensuring the passage of cocaine shipments headed for the U.S. This conviction recognizes him as an operational piece of the Cartel of the Suns, giving special importance to his testimony, crafted from the perspective of an insider who participated in the militarization of organized crime in Venezuela.
A system directed from the top of power
In his letter, Alcalá argues that Maduro and Cabello have exercised a joint command that transcends politics and penetrates the most sensitive areas of the State. According to his account, they form “the real leadership” of the criminal apparatus that consolidated under Chavismo. While Maduro was responsible for articulating international relations, illicit alliances, and the regime’s political strategy, Cabello acted as the military operator, ensuring loyalty, internal discipline, and armed protection for the drug trafficking networks.
Alcalá describes Cabello as the “final guarantor” of the system, with direct influence over generals, regional commanders, and structures associated with internal security. Under his supervision—he claims—cocaine routes were maintained, illegal mining operations in the Orinoco Mining Arc were conducted, and armed collectives were deployed during critical moments of political tension.
Electoral fraud as state policy
The letter dedicates a section to the electoral issue, a ground that the general presents as inseparable from the regime’s criminal structure. Alcalá claims to have witnessed the use of parallel voting machines and internal systems designed to alter electoral totals. Although he acknowledges that brothers Jorge and Delcy Rodríguez executed the technical engineering of the fraud, he insists that the final decisions came from Maduro and Cabello, who would have authorized the manipulation of results to safeguard the government’s permanence.
According to his testimony, General Carlos Quintero, a member of the electoral power, directed the technical aspects of the system, while Cabello deployed the coercion infrastructure necessary to ensure that no military or civil authority interrupted the operation.
Drug trafficking, illegal mining, and criminal expansion
Alcalá also details the evolution of the Tren de Aragua, which he identifies as a criminal structure originating in Venezuelan prisons, protected and later utilized by the regime for social control operations and illicit expansion. He claims that this organization—now spread across several countries in the region—was “deliberately exported” as a tool of influence and pressure.
In economic terms, the letter emphasizes that gold extracted from the Mining Arc has been converted into a money laundering and political financing instrument. According to Alcalá, “gold is the hard currency of state drug trafficking,” and its flow would have been controlled by networks under Cabello’s sphere of influence.
International relations under direct supervision
The general asserts that Maduro personally managed relations with Iran, the Revolutionary Guard, and actors linked to Hezbollah. He notes that these alliances not only had a political component but were also tied to illicit exchanges and the creation of parallel financial channels.
He also claims that since 2007 he was aware of unofficial contacts between figures of the Venezuelan regime and U.S. lawmakers, without specifying names, but suggesting a layer of parallel operations aimed at influencing external actors.
Final warning to the United States
Alcalá concludes the letter with a strong warning: “The Maduro and Cabello regime represents a threat to U.S. national security.” He claims to be willing to testify about all the matters mentioned, as well as other episodes that, according to him, remain unknown to U.S. authorities.
His status as a retired general, convicted and potential cooperating witness, grants the document political and judicial weight that could have implications for open cases against Venezuelan officials and in Washington’s policy toward Caracas.
A testimony that erodes the regime’s official narrative
Clíver Alcalá’s letter not only describes the operational structure of the Cartel of the Suns from the perspective of a convict. It also challenges the legitimacy of Maduro’s regime by directly linking its leadership to electoral fraud, drug trafficking, and alliances with sanctioned international actors.
At a time of increasing military and diplomatic pressure in the Caribbean, Alcalá’s assertions contribute to a dossier that relies not only on intelligence reports or external accusations but on voices that actively participated in building the system.
