A secret memo uncovering details of a yearlong covert operation by the US Drug Enforcement Administration that sent undercover operatives into Venezuela to record and build drug trafficking cases against the country’s leadership, a plan US acknowledged as a violation of international law, memo obtained by Associated Press.
“It is necessary to conduct this operation unilaterally and without notifying Venezuelan officials,” reads the memo expanding “Operation Money Badger,” an operation targeting dozens of people including President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro.
As there is no way to hold the US accountable, the discovery threatens to sour already fraught relations with Maduro’s government and could deepen resentment and hate for the US across the South American continent over perceived meddling.
It also allows a window to see the dedication of DEA to fight a drug war in a country that has banned US drug officials nearly twenty years ago.
Who are targeted?
Some of the Maduro’s closest people were targeted in the investigation, popular names like Alex Saab, recently freed in a prisoner swap for 10 American and one fugitive defense contractor.
“We don’t like to say it publicly but we are in fact, the police of the world,” said Wes Tabor, a former DEA agent.
However, Tabor has not confirmed the existence of any such operation.
“We’re not in the business of abiding by other countries’ laws when these countries are rogue regimes and the lives of American children are at stake,” Tabor said.
The DEA and Justice department also declined to answer any questions regarding this memo.
Maduro accused DEA and CIA of undertaking actions to destabilize the country, to which CIA declined to comment.
“I don’t think President Biden is involved but the CIA and DEA operates independently as imperialist criminal organizations”, Maduro said.
Maduro – the priority target
Maduro’s regime had taken an authoritarian turn, Donald Trump’s administration has described it as a sham re-election in 2018.
After this DEA officials deploy at least three undercover agents to record and build cases against top officials for converting Venezuela into a narco state.
The plan required the approval of the Sensitive Activity Review Committee, or SARC due to international ethical and legal concerns.
The secretive panel consists of senior State and Justice Department officials, its approval is reserved for the most sensitive DEA cases which involves tricky ethical, legal and foreign policy considerations.
It further expanded the scope of operation “Money Badger”, created by DEA and prosecutors in Miami, 2013 to go investigate more than 100 Venezuelan insiders.
At first the DEA aimed to reveal the Colombian drug cartels and corrupt officials by leveraging Venezuela’s tightly controlled foreign exchange system to launder money. Later it expanded covering Maduro’s family and top allies.
Operations like these are not new for the super power, US has conducted several operations overseas without informing the host countries. One such operation that comes to mind is “Operation Casablanca”, Mexico 1998, implicating 160 people and several bank executives.
Accidental revel
The operation Money Badger memo was never intended to see the daylight, but it was unintendedly uploaded with several other documents and government exhibits to a file share website by the US Attorney’s Office in Manhattan during the bribery conspiracy trial.
The details and images of the actual memo are not published, to keep the names of informants secret due to safety reasons.
Despite all this, it is not clear if “Money badger” is still operating or not.
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