Venezuelan General Cliver Alcalá Sentenced to 21 Years in Prison for Drug Trafficking with FARC: Details Revealed

2024-04-08 20:58:00

Former Venezuelan Army General Cliver Alcalá was sentenced this Monday in a New York court to more than 21 years in prison for providing material and firearms to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) for drug trafficking purposes.

The ruling determines that Alcalá, 62, acted together with other high-ranking Venezuelan officials as the leader and manager of the Suns cartel, “abusing the Venezuelan people and corrupting the legitimate institutions of Venezuela” to facilitate the importation of tons of cocaine into the United States. United in association with the FARC, according to a statement from the US Department of Justice.

Apart from the prison sentence, the Venezuelan was sentenced to three years of supervised release.

The former soldier, charged with six counts of narcoterrorism, support for terrorism, cocaine smuggling and weapons possession, pleaded guilty in mid-2023 to negotiate the terms of his sentence, although he refused to accept the drug trafficking accusations.

Alcalá, a native of Caracas, was a prominent figure of Chavismo, although he broke ties with the regime in 2013 – for reasons that were until now unknown – and in 2020 the Venezuelan Justice accused him of leading a plan to depose the dictator Nicolás Maduro and assassinate the main government figures, in addition to alleged crimes of treason, illicit trafficking in weapons of war, terrorism and association.

In March of that year, the former military man, who lived in Barranquilla (Colombia), surrendered to the US authorities following being accused in that country of being involved in drug trafficking.

FILE – In this illustration, retired Venezuelan General Cliver Antonio Alcala Cordones, right, appears in federal court in New York (Elizabeth Williams via AP, File)

Now, the Department of Justice details that around 2006 Alcalá took advantage of his position in the army to prevent arrests, provide protection and provide high-powered weapons to members of the FARC, which include high-ranking leaders such as Luciano Martín Arango. or Rodrigo Londono Echeverri.

In addition, according to the sentence, the former general participated in meetings with some of the largest drug traffickers in Latin America, in which he discussed how both he and the cartel might help the FARC distribute cocaine.

In exchange for his services on behalf of the terrorist group, Alcalá received millions of dollars in bribes.

The US justice system categorically states that the objective of the Suns cartel was, in addition to enriching its members and increasing their power, “to turn cocaine into a weapon by inflicting the harmful and addictive effects of the drug on consumers in the United States.”

“Alcalá Cordones corrupted his own country’s vital institutions while helping the FARC flood this country with cocaine, but not anymore. Instead, he will now spend more than two decades in a United States prison,” said the federal prosecutor for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams.

In addition to Alcalá, the United States has a trial of similar characteristics pending once morest the former head of Chavista intelligence, former general Hugo “El Pollo” Carvajal, accused of introducing cocaine into the country.

(With information from EFE)

1712619516
#Venezuelan #general #Clíver #Alcalá #sentenced #years #United #States #collaborating #FARC