wheats.bsky.social
@wheats.bsky.social
Reposted by wheats.bsky.social
Another point I made in this post comparing the 2020 and 2025 Maduro indictments is that Tren de Aragua is added (including its head as co-conspirator), but his inclusion is really thin.
Effectively DOJ used indictment to ham-sandwich TdA claim IC disavowed.
www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/04/d...
Effectively DOJ used indictment to ham-sandwich TdA claim IC disavowed.
www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/04/d...
![f. Between approximately 2006 and 2008, HECTOR RUSTHENFORD GUERRERO FLORES, a/k/a “Nifio Guerrero,” the defendant, worked with one of the largest drug traffickers in Venezuela, Walid Makled. Members of the Venezuelan regime helped protect Makled’s cocaine shipments that were transported from San Fernando de Apure, Venezuela, to Valencia, Venezuela, and were then sent by plane from the Valencia international airport to Mexico and other locations in Central America for eventual distribution to the United States. Between in or about 2008 and in or about 2009, GUERRERO FLORES also provided another major Venezuelan drug trafficker with protection for cocaine shipments moving through Venezuela, including by providing armed men who carried, among other automatic weapons, AK47s, MP5s, and AR-15s, as well as grenades. At times, GUERRERO FLORES personally accompanied large cocaine loads as they were guarded by the teams of armed men, en route to airports or airstrips for transport north and eventual distribution to the United States. GUERRERO FLORES was paid a fee per kilogram of cocaine transported or received and he sometimes received an interest in portions of these massive cocaine shipments in lieu of payment. The traffickers that GUERRERO FLORES worked with moved thousands of kilograms per shipment, multiple times per month, resulting in the distribution of hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States. In or about 2009, Makled was charged with narcotics offenses in this District and is a fugitive.
[snip]
o. In or about 2019, TdA’s leader, GUERRERO FLORES, discussed drug trafficking with an individual he understood to be working with the Venezuelan regime. Over multiple calls, GUERRERO FLORES offered to provide escort services for drug loads, explaining that GUERRERO FLORES and TdA had control of the coastlines of Venezuela’s Aragua State. GUERRERO FLORES, speaking from TdA’s base of operations in Tocor6n Prison, explained that TdA could handle the logistics of ever…](https://cdn.bsky.app/img/feed_thumbnail/plain/did:plc:bbp2b224lro3bfnzcqwwnkfo/bafkreicg2zrssmx6kodqn3vjafhz7ooaujn6vyjqudnczwwnnyaylfrsdi@jpeg)
January 4, 2026 at 2:44 PM
Another point I made in this post comparing the 2020 and 2025 Maduro indictments is that Tren de Aragua is added (including its head as co-conspirator), but his inclusion is really thin.
Effectively DOJ used indictment to ham-sandwich TdA claim IC disavowed.
www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/04/d...
Effectively DOJ used indictment to ham-sandwich TdA claim IC disavowed.
www.emptywheel.net/2026/01/04/d...