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Posted on 01/17/2026 11:32:12 AM PST by E. Pluribus Unum
WASHINGTON (AP) — When President Donald Trump announced the audacious capture of Nicolás Maduro to face drug trafficking charges in the U.S., he portrayed the strongman’s vice president and longtime aide as America’s preferred partner to stabilize Venezuela amid a scourge of drugs, corruption and economic mayhem.
Left unspoken was the cloud of suspicion that long surrounded Delcy Rodríguez before she became acting president of the beleaguered nation earlier this month.
In fact, Rodríguez has been on the radar of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration for years and in 2022 was even labeled a “priority target,” a designation DEA reserves for suspects believed to have a “significant impact” on the drug trade, according to records obtained by The Associated Press and more than a half dozen current and former U.S. law enforcement officials.
The DEA has amassed a detailed intelligence file on Rodríguez dating to at least 2018, the records show, cataloging her known associates and allegations ranging from drug trafficking to gold smuggling. One confidential informant told the DEA in early 2021 that Rodríguez was using hotels in the Caribbean resort of Isla Margarita “as a front to launder money,” the records show. As recently as last year she was linked to Maduro’s alleged bag man, Alex Saab, whom U.S. authorities arrested in 2020 on money laundering charges.
The U.S. government has never publicly accused Rodríguez of any criminal wrongdoing. Notably for Maduro’s inner circle, she’s not among the more than a dozen current Venezuelan officials charged with drug trafficking alongside the ousted president.
Rodríguez’s name has surfaced in nearly a dozen DEA investigations, several of which remain ongoing, involving agents in field offices from Paraguay and Ecuador to Phoenix and New York, the AP learned. The AP could not determine the specific focus of each investigation.
Three current and former DEA...
(Excerpt) Read more at apnews.com ...
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AP trying desperately to unwind the Trump Realpolitik in Venezuela.
The Washington DC S**thouse Is Still Leaking like the floor in a zoo’s chimpanzee cage.
Joe Biden: “Maduro must go! It is wrong to leave him in place!”
Kamala Harris: “Maduro must go! It is wrong to leave him in place!”
Trump: “Maduro is gone. We went in, grabbed him, and he will face justice!”
Democrats: “That’s terrible! You don’t know if he was guilty of drug dealing! You can’t overthrow the government! You should return him to his rightful place.”
Trump: “Delcy Rodriguez is now in charge. We weren’t trying to overthrow the government.”
Democrats: “Delcy Rodriguez must go! Drug dealers cannot be left in place!”
AP is a sewer. I spend no time on anything sourced from them. In other words l stop reading at the letter “P”.
the problem here, is that Donald Trump appears to be a slow learner. He expected Biden to be different than Obama, so he expects this woman to clean up all the corruption, drug trafficking and grift that existed under Maduro.
Not too bright.
The defacto prez Rodriguiz knew from the beginning that she too is captured, by her own drug linked history of profiteering. Only her US cooperation can save her, keep her alive and healthy.
CIA Director, John Ratliff, just returned from a direct meeting with her in Venezuela.
What she was told by Ratliff had to be obvious. She is clearly on a very short leash until safe and unfettered new elections occur. A deadline that satisfies the Argentine people and the USA is plainly predictable.
Argentine people??? This is Venezuela!
“...he expects this woman to clean up all the corruption, drug trafficking and grift that existed under Maduro.”
Trump is not bright. Not as bright as Segovia, apparently. Trump needs to be sent to Segovia Academy of Brightness. Ooookey….
I see it more that he expects her to learn the lesson of Damocles.
That is a completely ridiculous read of Trump’s motivation and the situation in general. Perhaps you should pack up your imbecility and head back to the DU.
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