Summary: The newly instated vice president of Venezuela has been investigated by several groups for years regarding his role in drug trafficking and issuing passports to Middle Easterners.
Venezuela’s vice president has been labeled an international drug trafficker by the United States. The Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control claims that Tareck El Aissami has played a “significant role in international narcotic trafficking.”
The OFAC has been investigating narcotic traffickers in Venezuela for several years under the Kingpin Act. Acting director John Smith said, “OFAC’s action today is the culmination of a multi-year investigation under the Kingpin Act to target significant narcotics traffickers in Venezuela and demonstrates that power and influence do not protect those who engage in these illicit activities.”
El Aissami was appointed in January as the vice president of Venezuela. He is a former interior and justice minister and governor to the Aragua state. He has been linked to drug shipments to Los Zetas and providing protection to a Colombian drug lord.
The Treasury Department claims El Aissami “facilitated shipments of narcotics from Venezuela to include control over places that leave from a Venezuelan air base, narcotics shipments of over 1,000 kilograms from Venezuela on multiple occasions, including those with the final destinations of Mexico and the United States.”
Sanctions have been placed in El Aissami, prohibiting anyone in the United States from doing business with him as well as seizing any U.S. assets. He has also been investigated by CNN for the past year.
CNN linked him to 173 Venezuelan passports and ID’s issued to people from the Middle East, even some connected to the terrorist group Hezbollah. El Aissami issued the passports, “granting visas and nationalizing citizens from different countries, especially Syrians, Lebanese, Jordanians, Iranians, and Iraqis.”
Do you think Trump should be concerned more about other countries like Venezuela than the seven in his travel ban? Tell us in the comments below.
To learn about the travel ban, read these articles:
- At Least 60,000 Travelers Affected By Travel Ban
- Trump’s Executive Order: “Muslim Ban” or Key to American Safety?
- Court Unanimously Upholds Freeze on Travel Ban
Photo: primicias24.com