The US Tried to Build Drug Cases Against Venezuelan Officials

On Thursday, the Associated Press (AP) published a report depicting an operation that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) developed with the purpose of forging “drug trafficking cases” against President Nicolas Maduro and other high-ranking officials.

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According to a 2018 memo, “Operation Money Badger” was conceived with nuances contrary to international law. For this reason, the DEA decided to carry it out unilaterally and without notifying the Venezuelan authorities.

"While there’s no clear mechanism to hold the U.S. accountable legally, the revelation threatens to roil already fraught relations with Maduro’s socialist government and could deepen resentment of the U.S. across Latin America over perceived meddling," the AP article stated.

Operation Money Badger "also offers a rare window into the lengths the DEA was willing to go to fight the drug war in a country that banned U.S. drug agents nearly two decades ago."

Before publishing its article, the Associated Press contacted the DEA and the Department of Justice to request more information about covert unilateral activities in other countries. U.S. authorities, however, did not respond to the journalists' requests.

Recently, President Maduro accused the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and other US institutions, which behave like “independent, imperialist and criminal organizations,” of carrying out efforts to destabilize Venezuela.

The Operation Money Badger memo was written at a time when then-President Donald Trump was trying to exert “maximum pressure” on the Maduro administration to force a regime change favorable to the U.S. geopolitical interests.

Just weeks after Maduro won re-election in 2018, the DEA sent clandestine informants to this South American country to record senior Venezuelan officials.

Due to its eventual repercussions, Operation Money Badger should have been approved by the Confidential Activities Review Committee (SARC), a panel through which the Departments of State and Justice analyze cases that could involve ethical, legal, or foreign policy issues.

The AP report also mentions that Wes Tabor, a former DEA official, admitted that his country factually acts as if it were the world's police, although "we don't like to say it publicly."

“We're not in the business of abiding by other countries' laws when these countries are rogue regimes," he said when asked about covert operations abroad that could transgress the principles on which international relations are supposedly based, namely, those related to respect for the sovereignty of nations and the self-determination of peoples.