The ongoing lawsuit is not the only legal action currently filed in U.S. courts against Nicolás Maduro and the Cartel of the Suns. Previously—dating back to the times of Hugo Chávez—other legal endeavors have pointed fingers at the Venezuelan regime, which has morphed into a criminal organization, for deliberately implementing actions against the security of the United States and the region.
Since 2009, a class-action lawsuit has been underway in the Southern District Court of Florida against high-ranking Venezuelan officials—The late Hugo Chávez, Ramón Alonso Carrizales Rengifo, Nicolás Maduro Moros, Tareck El Aissami, Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, Hugo Carvajal Barrios, and Henry Rangel Silva—for committing severe human rights abuses.
The lead plaintiff is journalist Ricardo Guanipa, who claims the Hugo Chávez government collaborated with terrorist groups like the FARC to pursue and torture opponents. In this context, the legal document outlines acts of political violence, death threats, and the use of state resources to finance international criminal activities.
All actions that years later, one of the accused, Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal Barrios, somewhat confirmed both in his admission of guilt to the courts and in a communication addressed to then-President Donald Trump.
The 2009 Lawsuit and the Hostile War Against the U.S.
On April 16, 2009, Ricardo Guanipa, along with other class members, accused high-ranking Venezuelan officials, led by Hugo Rafael Chávez, in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida of systematic violations of human rights, material support for global terrorism, and crimes against humanity.
The lawsuit alleges a coordinated conspiracy between the Venezuelan state and international terrorist organizations—including the FARC, Al Qaeda, and the Taliban—describing a pattern of corruption and repression aimed at consolidating an ideological regime through terror. As evidence, among other items, they presented seized communications directly linking the Venezuelan elite to drug trafficking and logistical support for armed insurgency.
This evidence was extracted from computers confiscated from FARC commander Raúl Reyes, detailing financing, weapon supply, and logistical support from Venezuela. The plaintiffs are seeking damages exceeding USD 1,000,000,000.
In 2025, one of the defendants, namely Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal Barrios, sent a letter from a U.S. prison to President Donald Trump corroborating much of what Guanipa and the other plaintiffs cited against him.
In the letter, Carvajal asserts that the Venezuelan regime is a criminal organization—the Cartel of the Suns—that deliberately and in a multidimensional way—from Chávez to Maduro—attacks the national security of the United States through the use of criminal gangs like the Tren de Aragua, infiltration of foreign intelligence—Russian and Cuban—into critical infrastructures, and the alleged capability to manipulate electoral systems using Smartmatic technology.
The Plaintiffs and Defendants in 2009
The plaintiffs include, foremost, Ricardo Guanipa, a Venezuelan citizen, journalist for Radio Martí, and political refugee in the United States, residing in Miami, Florida; alongside him are fellow class members, namely, victims of assaults, intimidation, torture, and terrorist acts perpetrated or facilitated by the defendants, categorized in the lawsuit as the “Assault Class” and “Victims of Terrorism Class.”
The lawsuit identifies the following officials in their individual and official capacities:
NamePosition (at the time of the lawsuit)
Hugo Rafael ChávezPresident of Venezuela at the time of the lawsuit
Ramón Alonso Carrizales RengifoVice President of Venezuela
Nicolás Maduro MorosMinister of Foreign Relations at the time of the lawsuit
Tarek El AissamiMinister of Interior and Justice
Ramón Rodríguez ChacínFormer Minister of Interior and Justice
Hugo Carvajal BarriosDirector of the Military Intelligence Directorate (DIM)
Henry Rangel SilvaDirector of the Intelligence and Prevention Services Directorate (DISIP)
Attack on Journalism
The lawsuit describes a pattern of political persecution and state violence aimed at silencing dissent and independent journalism, specifically citing the case of Ricardo Guanipa, a Venezuelan journalist who investigated links between high-ranking Venezuelan and Cuban officials with drug trafficking and money laundering since the early 90s.
Following Hugo Chávez’s election in 1999, Guanipa began to receive recurring threats via text messages, such as: “You’re a rat. In Venezuela, we kill rats” and “You won’t live much longer.”
In September 2004, Guanipa was approached in Caracas by two individuals; one of them put a gun to his back and warned him: “It’s better you be quiet or we’ll destroy you. This is not a game.”
During the protests calling for a recall referendum against Hugo Chávez, the following events were documented:
The National Guard used tear gas and rubber bullets against peaceful protesters.
Reports indicated the use of live ammunition fired from buildings by individuals in civilian clothing identified as Chávez supporters under his direction.
The attacks resulted in over 400 arrests, 1200 injured, and direct assaults on the press.
Connections to International Terrorism
The lawsuit claims that the defendants have utilized Venezuelan state resources to further a Marxist-Leninist communist agenda by supporting terrorist groups.
After a Colombian army incursion into a FARC camp in Ecuador in March 2008, 600 gigabytes of data were seized, which Interpol analyzed and confirmed were not manipulated.
The evidence includes:
Military Training: Emails from 2005 coordinating the training of Venezuelan “Popular Defense Units” in guerrilla warfare by the FARC.
Financial Support: Documents from 2007 detailing a loan request of USD 250 million from the FARC to Chávez, referred to by Armón Rodríguez Chacín not as a loan, but as “solidarity.”
Weapon Supply: Meetings between General Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal Barrios and FARC leaders to provide bazookas and anti-tank rocket launchers. The port of Maracaibo was offered to facilitate weapon shipments from Russia to the FARC.
Logistical Support: Orders from Hugo Chávez to create “rest zones” and hospital areas for the FARC within Venezuelan territory.
Missile Technology: Coordination to assist FARC guerrillas in travelling to Arab states in the Middle East to learn how to use anti-aircraft missiles.
The lawsuit alleges that the defendants, acting individually and jointly, provided material support, including funds of approximately one million dollars, to terrorist organizations like Al Qaeda and the Taliban. This indicates the Venezuelan regime’s participation in a joint criminal enterprise intending to intimidate civilian populations and affect government conduct through mass destruction and assassination.
The Charges Presented
Charge I (Terrorism and Material Support): The defendants are accused of facilitating funds, weapons, ammunition, and shelter to terrorist organizations to carry out murders, enforced disappearances, and kidnappings.
Charge II (Assault): Based on the physical assaults and threats suffered by the plaintiffs as a direct result of the defendants’ policies.
Charge III (Intentional Infliction of Emotional Distress): It is alleged that the defendants’ “extreme, outrageous, and intolerable” behavior caused severe mental suffering, anxiety, fear, and physical symptoms to the plaintiffs.
State of Terror
The lawsuit concludes that the defendants have created a state of terror both in Venezuela and internationally to advance their political agenda, violating the laws of the United States, Venezuela, Colombia, and natural law.
The plaintiffs are demanding a jury trial and a verdict that includes compensatory and punitive damages, attorney’s fees, and litigation costs, totaling over one billion U.S. dollars.
Letter from Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal to Trump
On December 2, 2025, one of the defendants from the 2009 lawsuit in Florida and also sued in 2009 in New York for narco-terrorism, after admitting his guilt and corroborating the existence of the Cartel of the Suns, sent a letter to Donald Trump describing a deliberate and multidimensional strategy by the Venezuelan regime—from the era of Hugo Chávez to Nicolás Maduro’s current administration—to attack the national security of the United States.
Carvajal Barrios, a three-star ex-general, former head of Military Intelligence of Venezuela, and former National Assembly deputy, currently in custody in the United States after pleading guilty, outlined in his letter to Trump, the transformation of the Venezuelan state into a criminal organization—the Cartel of the Suns—using criminal gangs like the “Tren de Aragua” as operational assets on U.S. soil, the infiltration of foreign intelligence—Russian and Cuban—into critical infrastructures, and the alleged ability to manipulate electoral systems using Smartmatic technology.
Narcoterrorism and the Cartel of the Suns
Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal states the Cartel of the Suns, currently led by Nicolás Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, and other high-ranking officials, executed a plan to turn drugs into weapons against the United States. A strategy that was suggested to Hugo Chávez by the Cuban regime in the mid-2000s.
Carvajal’s letter asserts that drug trafficking to U.S. cities is not merely a by-product of corruption, but a deliberate, coordinated state policy.
He claims the Venezuelan regime acts as a facilitator for terrorist organizations and insurgent groups by providing weapons and passports, operational impunity in Venezuelan territory, and direct collaboration with the FARC, the ELN, and Hezbollah.
The Tren de Aragua: Exported Criminality
Carvajal Barrios’ letter to Donald Trump details how criminal gangs, specifically the Tren de Aragua, were integrated into the regime’s defense strategy and subsequently projected internationally.
PhaseStrategic ActionObjective
Chávez EraRecruitment of criminal leaders (inside and outside of prisons).Defend “the revolution” in exchange for impunity.
Maduro EraMass export of gang members abroad.Reduce internal crime statistics and attack political exiles.
Infiltration into the U.S.Use of border policies to introduce operatives.Establish armed and obedient personnel on U.S. soil.
He notes that the export of these criminals was coordinated through the Ministry of the Interior, the Ministry of Prisons, the National Guard, and the police forces.
The operatives of the Tren de Aragua have explicit instructions to finance their operations through kidnapping, extortion, and murder. According to Carvajal, every crime committed by this group in the U.S. is an act ordered by the Venezuelan regime.
Counterintelligence and Threats to Infrastructure
Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal Barrios reveals in his letter that Russia proposed to Hugo Chávez the intervention of the submarine internet cables connecting much of South America and the Caribbean with the United States, to penetrate U.S. government communications.
He stated that in 2015, a secret listening post was established on La Orchila Island, operated by Russian intelligence, despite warnings about the military consequences this might attract.
He also asserts that Cuban intelligence has sent thousands of spies over the decades, some of whom are operating within naval bases on the East Coast or have pursued careers as politicians.
Carvajal claims that U.S. diplomats and CIA officials were paid to assist Chávez and Maduro in staying in power, acting as spies for Cuba and Venezuela. Some of these individuals, he states, remain active.
Vulnerability of the Electoral System (Smartmatic)
Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal Barrios mentions in his letter an issue raised by Trump multiple times when he labels Smartmatic as a tool born from the Venezuelan regime to ensure its hold on power.
Carvajal claims to have personally appointed the head of IT for the National Electoral Council (CNE), who reported directly to him. He asserts as a fact that the Smartmatic system can be altered and confidently states that the software has been used to manipulate elections.
He said this technology and its operators maintain relations with electoral officials and voting machine companies within the United States.
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