Planned pardon of Hernández, convicted for cocaine trafficking, comes before the country’s election.
José de Córdoba
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Tag: Drug Trafficking/Dealing
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Trump to Pardon Honduran Ex-President Serving 45-Year Drug Sentence
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Colombia Orders Probe Into Ties Between Military and Drug Traffickers
The Colombian military said Monday it had opened an investigation into allegations that senior army and intelligence officials advised the leader of an armed drug-trafficking group about how to secretly buy weapons and evade military scrutiny.
The revelations, reported by the major Colombian media outlet, Caracol, have stoked fears that former guerrilla fighters who now smuggle cocaine have infiltrated high levels of the security forces under President Gustavo Petro, a former member of a leftist guerrilla organization. Petro has feuded with President Trump over U.S. airstrikes on alleged drug boats in the Caribbean Sea and Pacific Ocean and overseen fraying relations with the U.S. over soaring drug-crop cultivation and cocaine trafficking.
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Kejal Vyas
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The Web of Venezuelan Generals Accused of Fueling the Cocaine Trade
For more than two decades, a loose-knit group of Venezuelan generals and senior officials has enabled the shipment of thousands of tons of cocaine to the U.S. and Europe, American and Colombian officials say.
While nearly all cocaine is produced in neighboring Colombia, Venezuela plays an important role in allowing the drug to move through its territory and then onto ships and planes that traffic it to Europe, the Caribbean and the U.S., the officials have said.
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[ad_2] José de Córdoba
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A Drug Kingpin Who Faked His Own Death and Fled Justice Runs Out of Luck
Wilmer Chavarria was living the good life after faking his own death.
For four years, the Ecuadorean drug boss allied with Mexico’s Jalisco cartel moved among Dubai, Morocco and Spain, allegedly overseeing his drug empire and hit jobs back home—all while staying at the most exclusive hotels, Ecuador’s government said. To avoid detection, he underwent seven surgeries to alter his appearance and changed his name to Danilo Fernández.
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Ryan Dubé
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U.S. Boat Strikes Are Straining the Counterdrug Alliance
France denounced the U.S. military strikes on alleged drug boats as a violation of international law. Canada and the Netherlands have stressed they aren’t involved. Colombia has vowed to cut off intelligence cooperation with Washington. Mexico summoned the U.S. ambassador to complain.
Two months into the Trump administration’s military campaign against low-level smugglers in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific, the coalition of partners that has long underpinned U.S. antidrug operations in the region is fraying.
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Vera Bergengruen
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Trump Expresses Reservations Over Strikes in Venezuela to Top Aides
WASHINGTON—President Trump has recently expressed reservations to top aides about launching military action to oust Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, fearing that strikes might not compel the autocrat to step down, according to U.S. officials familiar with the deliberations.
The debate underscores that the administration’s Venezuela strategy remains in flux, despite a buildup of military forces in the region and public threats by Trump to launch attacks.
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[ad_2] Alexander Ward
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See the Secret Networks Smuggling Drugs to the U.S. From Latin America
Demand in America for illegal drugs such as fentanyl and cocaine fuels sophisticated systems for smuggling them in. Traffickers deploy everything from fast-moving fiberglass boats to stealthy “narco-subs” to cargo ships to get their products to users without losing shipments to seizures or couriers to arrest. With decades of experience, according to U.S. counternarcotics officials, the traffickers are usually a step ahead of America and its allies in Latin American and Caribbean waters.
The flow of fentanyl
Arguably the most dangerous illegal drug consumed by Americans, fentanyl is usually smuggled through ports of entry by U.S. citizens hired as “mules,” moving small amounts of the synthetic opioid for criminal groups such as the Sinaloa cartel, according to U.S. and Mexican officials. Nogales, Ariz., is one of the busiest fentanyl corridors in the U.S., with the drug transported in passenger cars, trucks and other methods.
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Daniel Kiss
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14 Killed in U.S. Strikes on Four Alleged Drug Boats in Eastern Pacific
The U.S. carried out three new lethal strikes on four vessels allegedly operated by drug smugglers in the Eastern Pacific on Monday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said.
In total, 14 alleged “narco-terrorists” were killed in the three strikes, which left one survivor, Hegseth wrote in a social-media post. U.S. Southern Command notified the Coast Guard to initiate search and rescue operations for the survivor, before relaying the information to a Mexican military aircraft operating in the area, according to a Pentagon official. Mexican authorities picked up the survivor, the official said.
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Lara Seligman
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Fear Grips a Caribbean Nation in the Shadow of U.S. Boat Strikes
LAS CUEVAS, Trinidad and Tobago—Fear is rippling through this Caribbean island nation off the coast of Venezuela.
Fishermen say they are staying home or sticking close to shore amid a massive buildup of American firepower in the region. Heading out into deeper water, where the fishing is better is too risky, they say, after the U.S. carried out at least 10 airstrikes on boats—allegedly carrying drugs—that have killed 43 people, some of them off the Trinidad coast.
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Kejal Vyas
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U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Colombia’s President Over Drug-Trafficking Accusations
WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department has sanctioned Colombian President Gustavo Petro and his family, alleging his government has aided drug traffickers.
“President Petro has allowed drug cartels to flourish and refused to stop this activity,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said.
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Alex Leary
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Pentagon Orders Aircraft Carrier to the Caribbean
WASHINGTON—The Pentagon said it is sending the Navy’s most advanced aircraft carrier to the Caribbean in a major escalation of the Trump administration’s military campaign to target drug smugglers and threaten governments in Latin America.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ordered the USS Gerald R. Ford carrier, which is currently deployed in the Mediterranean, to the Caribbean, bringing dozens more fighter and surveillance aircraft, along with other Navy warships that accompany a carrier, officials said.
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Shelby Holliday
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Exclusive | U.S. Sends B-1 Bombers Near Venezuela, Ramping Up Military Pressure
The U.S. flew Air Force B-1 bombers near Venezuela on Thursday, stepping up pressure on President Nicolás Maduro only days after other American warplanes carried out an “attack demonstration” near the South American country.
Two B-1 Lancers took off from Dyess Air Force Base in Texas on Thursday and flew near Venezuela, though they remained in international airspace, according to a U.S. official and flight tracking data.
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Shelby Holliday
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U.S. Widens Campaign Against Alleged Drug Boats With Eastern Pacific Strikes
The U.S. said Wednesday it had struck two suspected drug boats on the Pacific side of South America, widening its campaign against alleged drug trafficking and transnational crime.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth posted videos of the strikes on X and said one took place Tuesday in the eastern Pacific Ocean and another Wednesday. The two attacks killed five people on board the boats, he said, without providing more details about the vessels or their precise locations except to say that the strikes occurred in international waters.
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Shelby Holliday
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Trump Says U.S. Is Cutting Aid to Colombia Over Drugs
President Trump said the U.S. would stop aid payments to Colombia, for decades a close U.S. ally, because of the country’s drug production.
Trump, in a social-media post Sunday, escalated tensions with Colombian President Gustavo Petro, calling him “an illegal drug leader.” He said Petro was encouraging drug production and the U.S. wouldn’t give any more payments or subsidies to the country, long the U.S.’s closest ally in the war on drugs.
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Alyssa Lukpat
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U.S. to Repatriate Survivors of Strike on Suspected Drug Vessel
The U.S. is transferring two alleged drug traffickers to Colombia and Ecuador for detention and prosecution after they were briefly held on a U.S. Navy warship in the Caribbean, President Trump announced on Saturday.
The two people survived an attack on a submersible Thursday and were rescued by the U.S. military. They were taken to the USS Iwo Jima, which has been operating in the region and has a full medical staff, according to defense officials.
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Shelby Holliday
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