"Los días de Maduro están contados", asegura congresista Carlos Giménez

Hello, how are you? Welcome, I am Claudia Gurizati, director of this international news channel and this program of opinion, analysis, debate, to understand what is happening in our region and in the rest of the world. Tonight, the lights are on so you can see the key point of the news. The US Navy warships in the South Caribbean Sea, very close to Venezuela. On the other hand, the pressure on the tyrant dictator, now considered a narco-terrorist by the US, is growing. Caroline Levitt, the White House spokeswoman, is willing to use all the resources of his power to bring the responsible people to justice. Avoid not only that the drug reaches the United States, but to bring justice to the responsible people. Let us remember that when the United States presented this plan, it focused on the cartel de los soles, ese cartel de narcotráfico que según la inteligencia y las investigaciones de los Estados Unidos,

Nicolás Maduro es su máximo jefe criminal. Caroline Levitt también ha confirmado hoy de manera clarísima que Nicolás Maduro ya ha sido imputado formalmente. Esto significa que ha sido acusado de cometer graves crímenes formalmente en la justicia de los Estados Unidos. This means that he has been accused of committing serious crimes in the United States.

Is President Trump considering launching military attacks against military installations in Venezuelan territory?

I will not advance the President with respect to any information or military action, never. But what I will say is that many Caribbean nations and many nations in the region have applauded the administration and this drug process. The President is willing to use any element to stop the drugs from entering our country and bring those responsible to justice.

As I have said many times, the Maduro regime is not the legitimate government of Venezuela. It is a cartel. Maduro is not a legitimate president. He is the leader of that cartel and has been called that in the United States because he has trafficked drugs in the United States

and he has to be responsible to that administration because we have to prevent the great flow of drugs drugs in our country. on this topic, on the specific topic of tyranny in Venezuela. He has said that all efforts with this military pressure are focused on a negotiated exit with Nicolás Maduro, avoiding a bloodshed. However, he says that if it does not work, the United States would be willing to take a step further.

He even talks about some extraction of those criminals.

Listen to this. We have been working very carefully, trying to find a solution, preferably peaceful, where the regime of these criminals, because they are not politicians, can give up and leave the country. There are opportunities for them to move to Cuba, for example, and live their lives for as long as they have left. If not, the alternative, unfortunately, would be to have to make a very drastic decision

that we would not want to make, since we know that there will be victims. Let's hope they are not innocent victims, but we know that he is surrounded by Cubans, a Cuban regiment that they sent to protect them, because he does not trust his own people. It will be a very, very, very surgical operation, where we will have to enter with surprise, to has put this clown and we know where they are exactly, as I told you. A kinetic bomb can be thrown in a house and not touch the neighbor's wall. And it's going to be an operation like that, and then the helicopters that would have to

disembark, the B-22s that also have to disemb the people. There would be some kind of maneuvers to entertain the armed forces, but it would be something so surprising that when they realize, they are already knocking on the door harder.

Congresswoman from the United States, Representative to the House for the Republican Party, Carlos Antonio Jiménez. It is a pleasure to greet you here. This is Claudia Burizate, director of this channel, NTN24. Thank you very much for attending us.

It's a pleasure.

How are you?

Very well, thank you. As all this pressure grows, deployed in the Caribbean, this pressure on Nicolás Maduro, considered a terrorist for the United States. Also the group of politicians in the United States, the Republicans, who have great interest in our region,

are starting to warn those who consider themselves to be Maduro's allies. This is the case of his very harsh warning to Gustavo Petro. He has told him that if he proves that he cooperates with Diosdado Cabello, the second in this regime, or with the Soles Cartel, could be impeached in the United States. Why does he believe it? What actions by Petro can lead him to think that he can end up impeached in the United States?

What I have said is that he is a friend of Nicolas Maduro. Maduro is the illegitimate president of Venezuela. If President Petro really believes in democracy, he should denounce Maduro because he is illegitimate. He lost the elections and has refused to hand over the government to the real president, which is Mundo González, and the vice president, which is María Corina. So that's the problem I have now with President Petro.

But he denies, not only denies that he is illegitimate, but also denies that there is the Soles poster, that Nicolás Maduro is the head of that poster. And that's why the United States has given a reward of $50 million to Nicolas Maduro and has also frozen all his funds and has also named him as a drug trafficker, an enemy of the United States who puts the security of the United States at risk. Petro seems to be allied with Nicolas Maduro and that's what bothers me.

Sure, the issue begins when Diosdado Cabello, in a statement, says that there is a collaboration with the Petro government for the security of the border area, a plan that according to Cabello would involve the deployment of 15,000 Venezuelan soldiers. In front of this, you tell Petro and you make it clear whether he will deny it or not and the consequences that could be if that is true.

Of course, there is constant communication. We have asked for reciprocity on the Colombian side. Everyone attending their border. If Colombia attends its border and we attend our border, what will be the result? Success?

There will be no crime around the border. And our people will do what they have historically done. Live in peace. They will go from Colombia to Venezuela, and from Venezuela to Colombia. With peace of mind. They go from Colombia to Venezuela, and from Venezuela to Colombia, with no worries.

These things, besides me informing them, the Colombian government was informed. So that they take into account, and they showed their approval. It was done through the Minister of Defense. And we were deployed, and they were told the operations we were going to do.

Republican Representative Carlos Jimenez. Mr. Gustavo Petro, is what Diosdado says true or are you going to deny it? If Petro cooperates with Diosdado and the cartel of the Oles, he would be an accomplice of a transnational drug trafficking company and could be sued by the US justice system.

What worries you about this possible military cooperation between Petro and the Venezuelan regime?

I don't worry about it much. The US forces are powerful enough to do what they have to do. President the cartels that are operating in Colombia, in Venezuela, and also in Mexico. But the difference between Petro Maduro and Scheinbaum is that President Scheinbaum and Petro are elected in a democratic way, they are the legitimate governments of those countries. But in Venezuela, that is not the case. We have someone who has taken a position in a country and is not legitimate. And he has also been identified as a criminal by the United States.

President Petro and President Scheinbaum have been designated as criminals. Now that they are cooperating, it could be President Petro, with this regime. That does bother me. And also, if those North Colombian posters are also a threat to the United States, let's see what kind of action President Trump takes on that, but he hasn't taken it yet. But let me read what you wrote to Gustavo Petro.

You say, Mr. Petro, Gustavo, what Diosdado says is true, you are going to deny it. If Petro cooperates with Diosdado and the Soles Cartel, he would be an accomplice to a transnational drug trafficking company and could be sued by the American justice system. That is, you do tell Petro that, if proven, he be impeached in the American justice system. And my question is, what would it be, what would Petro have to go through to be considered Maduro's accomplice?

I'm not going to start speculating with what President Petro has to do to do that, but to get to that point, what I'm saying is that it hasn't gotten to that point. So I hope it doesn't get to that point. And we are not trying to threaten the legitimate government of Colombia, which is President Petro. What bothers me is his alliance and also the way he is trying to protect

Neclos Maduro, someone who is not elected democratically, who is illegitimate, who is a criminal designated by the United States. If he does ... the kind of action he needs to have that kind of designation of the United States, I think it's not close. So I was just telling him, look, be careful because look what's happening there. We are not dawning, but this president is going to take action to protect the interests

of the United States. And we hope that, as you are a person who was elected democratically, that I understand why you are defending this criminal, Nicolas Maduro.

Yes, the Colombian president denied the existence of the cartel of the Soles. According to him, that is a fictitious excuse, that it is from the far right, that it is to overthrow governments. And you answer him, well, Petro just signed his own sentence.

Gustavo Petro, President of Colombia. The Soles Cartel does not exist. It is the fictitious excuse of the far right to overthrow governments that do not obey them. The passage of Colombian cocaine through Venezuela is controlled by the Narcotrafico Board and its leaders live in Europe and the Middle East. Venezuela, lo control a la junta del narcotrafico y sus capos viven en Europa y Oriente Medio. Le propuse a Estados Unidos y Venezuela que juntos destruyamos ese cartel. Es coordinar y no someter.

Representante republicano Carlos Jimenez, Gustavo Petro acaba de firmar su propia sentencia. En el Congreso de Estados Unidos no tomaremos esto de chiste.

Al contrario, es gravísimo.

¿Qué significa? Al contrario, es gravísimo. And also, well, it's the same as saying that the planet is flat, and that Nicolas Maduro is the legitimate governor of Venezuela. And I also asked him if he was smoking too much. That's my answer. So look, I'm not threatening President Petro. I'm just's what he's saying. I think that's what he's saying. I think that's what he's saying. I think that's what he's saying. I think that's what he's saying. I think that's what he's saying. I think that's what he's saying.

I think that's what he's saying. the to ensure the security of our country. We have not said that President Petro is involved with those cartels operating in the north of Colombia, but it seems that he is willing to help the cartel of the Soles that is operated by Nicolas Maduro.

The FARC, the ELN, have taken that area of the Catatumbo, the of the Catatumbo border on the Venezuelan side. Gustavo Petro, August 28, 2025.

I requested the militarization of the Catatumbo border on the Venezuelan side to reduce the forces of the mafia to the maximum. I have ordered the Colombian army to increase the number of troops in the Colombian Catatumbo. We have 25,000 soldiers in the area. It is not the land that the mafia wins.

It is the coordination between the two states that achieves it. the with the Venezuelan regime? No, the Venezuelan regime will not fight the mafia

because the Venezuelan regime is part of the mafia. So that doesn't make any sense. Nicolas Maduro is the head of the Cartel de los Soles. The Cartel de los Soles is the mafia. The Cartel de los Soles is a terrorist organization and also a drug dealer.

Now, if they are going to cooperate with President Petro and President Maduro to bring peace

and to stop criminal activities in that part of Venezuela and Colombia, part using and resorting to all his efforts to stop the entry of drugs to the United States, to this country, and to bring those responsible before justice. He says that the Maduro regime is obviously not the legitimate government of Venezuela. When he talks about all the efforts, this would imply the use of the military force deployed in the Caribbean.

Representative Jiménez, that option is open if Nicolás Maduro does not negotiate or does not leave Venezuela. the So he can choose any option he wants to get the results. The result for us is that again we have increased the reward for the capture of Nicolás Maduro to 50 million dollars. We have designated him as a terrorist, the leader of a terrorist gang, a terrorist cartel. a to solve this problem. I don't know what option President Trump will choose to solve this problem. So, we'll see what he does in the future. I don't have that kind of information,

but I know he does have different options, like the President of the United States.

And how long do you think Maduro remains in charge of this regime and this criminal organization of the cartel of Los Soles.

Are the days of Nicolás Maduro counted in that sense?

Well, if you had to bet, yes, I think the days are counted. But I'm not a gambling man, so I don't know when and if this indicates that Nicolas Maduro's days are numbered. What indicates to me that this is the case is that all these actions that the President of the United States has taken, and he has done it quite quickly, one after another, and now he also has forces in that area. It may be that they are negotiating with Nicolas Maduro now to see how he can go and deliver power to the legitimate government, which is not him.

So there are many options that President Trump has now. And then he will choose the options that he believes are the most beneficial for the security of the United States.

And why was this military pressure necessary, this pressure to interfere in that cartel of the suns, to send all their warships, their nuclear submarine? Why was the pressure necessary?

The pressure is necessary because the Sun Cartel and other cartels are a threat to the security of the United States, a threat to the security of the citizens of the United States. More than 500,000 Americans have died from the fentanyl overdose that occurs in Mexico by the Mexican cartels. But also, what is the vehicle that uses fentanyl? the to more dramatic than before. Néclas Maduro is not going to leave power simply to ask him,

please leave power because you are illegitimate. We already have the evidence that he is not going to leave. So other measures are necessary to obtain what is desired, democracy, the freedom of Venezuela, but also to stop this threat

that we have every day of those cartels.

If the Venezuelan regime falls, this narco regime, this criminal organization that took the country, that took Venezuela, in effect, Dominu, do you think it would also have an impact in Cuba? Would the Díaz-Canel regime weaken?

Could the Díaz-Canel regime also fall? the And if it is removed or falls, or goes, Nicolas Maduro of power, and we have a new regime that is a new government, which is legitimate, which is democratic. And then, in a sign of the freedom of Venezuela, I think that is something that Cuba does not want. That is something that Diaz-Canel does not want. Because they are allies.

Venezuela also gives, I think, 30,000 barrels of oil every day to keep the lights on in Cuba. So that's going to be a pretty hard blow to the Cuban regime. And the Cuban regime is in a pretty weak position now. I think the weakest I've seen in more than 60 years. So I don't think they will like it, or it is good for them that there was a change in what is their friend in Venezuela.

So if it is going to collapse, I don't know. But without a doubt it it will damage the regime in Cuba. of They heard the warning from the representative Carlos Jimenez of what can be believed or not be believed about the regime, saying that they hope that Gustavo Petro will not become precisely that ally, in that cooperation with these people already considered terrorists. When we return, we will explain to you what the Cartel de los Soles is about. That one that denies its existence of Gustavo Petro. It says it doesn't exist.

It says it's an invention to overthrow governments. But the Cartel de los Soles exists. There are witnesses before the courts of the United States, like Pollo Carvajal, who was the director of intelligence during the periods of Hugo Chávez and then during the first part of the dictatorship of Nicolás Maduro. What is known, what they have told about that cartel of the suns that has generated

the denial of Gustavo Petro, this reaction of congressmen in the United States. In this case, congressman Carlos Jiménez. We'll be right back. We continue with La Noche, on NTN24, el canal de las Américas. the Colombian government and them. And obviously, what irritated me the most was denying that the Soles Cartel existed. The Soles Cartel is a criminal organization that the US Department of Justice has continued to build a case, the case known as the Soles Cartel started all this in 2019 and 2020. Disciplinary and dissident testimonies of very high profile of Chavismo are those who have delivered the information.

Very explosive testimonies have confirmed all that topic of the corrupt and criminal network, in the dome of the Venezuelan dictatorship, that tyranny, the information of all those witnesses, who, as we say, are people who have been close, precisely to Chavism, and have operated within Chavism, revealed how this structure trafficked drugs produced by organizations such as the terrorist group of the FARC of Colombia, the United States, and Europe, with the help of Mexican cartels. There are different witnesses.

One of them has been crucial, Pollo Carvajal, who was the head of security of the Chavismo forces and then in the first period with Nicolás Maduro until he decided to leave, to desert, and decided to tell the world what was happening. He was in Spain, he spoke with the national audience, and even reported on the cooperation of this cartel of the Soles and the Venezuelan regime with the FARC and the ELN. What is the cartel of the Soles really? Valentina Lárez is a recognized journalist and chief investigative reporter of chief of the news portal Armando Info. We have called her to tell us where all the suspicion comes from and how the existence of the Soles Cartel is confirmed over time.

Valentina, thank you for the invitation. The Soles Cartel is a peculiar phenomenon that has been heard in Venezuela since the late 90s. It is a bit like an urban legend of drug trafficking and micro-trafficking in various parts of the country. Until there is, let's say, the first formal complaint that is made about the Soles Cartel, is made by a journalist from the state of Monagas, who denounces precisely a head of the National Guard for drug trafficking in the area. And unfortunately, that journalist appears dead two days later.

He spoke and spoke at the time of making his complaint about the existence of the Soles Cartel. He spoke at that time and tried to introduce some evidence before the Venezuelan justice of the existence of a cartel in which members of the National Guard participated in the transport of drugs through Venezuelan territory. That is the first, let's say, great or most notorious mention of the Cartel de los Soles as such. However, what we know as the Cartel de los Soles

is clearly mentioned from the construction of the case in the United States between 2019 and 2020, when a series of former government officials, both Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, escape from Venezuela. Some are imprisoned outside and begin to give clues about the existence of a cartel as such. And they talk and explain that there are specific guidelines in the case of Hugo Chávez to flood the United States with cocaine.

That is all clearly detailed in the accusation made in the United States. What we have known and we have been able to confirm as journalists with other documents, even documents of intelligence from the Colombian government from at least eight or nine years ago, is that there is a recognition of the Colombian authorities also of the existence of a cartel of Los Soles that works above all as a criminal federation,

as a kind of consortium in which the military who have territorial control in Venezuela, especially the National Guard and the Army, do a work of a kind of a visagra, of this traciego, which is to store, store and also transport drugs to places

where it finally leaves Venezuelan territory to other places, especially in Central America, also in the Atlantic coast of Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Suriname. And from there, medium points are used as the first arrival of cargo that is then distributed to Europe and the United States. But we are talking about that,

about the fact that there are a lot of people who to Europe and the United States. But we are talking about that, about a phenomenon that happened to be... Yes, sorry.

Yes, yes. If you want, we can also see the testimonies that have been collected in front of the authorities of the United States. Leam C. Salazar, for example, he was the head of the Cabello soldiers until December 2014 and he delivers statements to the DEA. There he denounces precisely this character of the Cabello soldiers and says that he is

the leader of the cartel of the suns. In 2015, in Venezuela, they say that five tons of drugs were smuggled through Venezuela, and that they were warning all the investigations that they knew. The DEA has that document. against Chávez's military intelligence, also from Maduro, and became a witness, also very important, the main one of all that criminal plot of the Soles Cartel. He abandoned Venezuela, he abandoned Venezuela in 2019, then was extradited by Spain to the United States in 2023,

and before the United States justice, he declared himself guilty of drug trafficking and drug terrorism. This was right was in June. El Pollo Carvajal admitted to having participated in drug trafficking, arms trafficking in favor of the FARC.

And obviously, for the New York District Court, all this has been a fundamental material to dictate the sentence against him.

It is expected to be next October. the cartel que produce droga, Valentina? No hay, digamos, información precisa ni datos concretos al respecto. En un trabajo que realizamos en Armando Puto Info junto con el Miami Herald, donde pudimos tener acceso a varios documentos, no solo de informes de consultoría y análisis políticos, We have access to several documents, not only of consultancy reports and political analysis, but also, as I was saying, documents of intelligence from Colombian institutions, as well as the documents of the case of the US cartel of the Suns. There is no concrete indication that there is cocaine production in Venezuela.

What is being talked about is, above all, the safeguarding of cargo, of transport and of transport, carried to neuralgic points such as in the state of Zulia, in the state of Apuré, Venezuela, and also in a part of the south area. From there, the cargo is pushed through the rivers,

through the Orinoco, also, of course, through clandestine routes in these states for the mobilization of drugs, especially through this river route that I told you about, and also through air. It is assumed and pointed out that there is a very strong complicity of the Venezuelan state precisely for the permission for this type of flights

and also to allow the existence of these officials without being persecuted by justice. We are talking about a network in which both military officials with territorial control in Venezuela participate, but also officials from the Venezuelan judicial system, to somehow protect all that cocaine storage and transport that enters, above all, through the Catatumbo area, the shared Catatumbo between Colombia and Venezuela. Yes, and we are going to see the statement that was given by the DEA to the South District Court in New York

that the Carvajal chicken would have failed in 2011 a plan with the FARC to send tons of cocaine to the United States. NTN24 knew and revealed at that time the file that described the summary of the documentary evidence,

also the physics, all that was reached investigated. In the search for these objectives, Carvajal and other members of the cartel of the Soles cultivated connections with large-scale drug traffickers, including, among them, the leaders of the revolutionary armed forces of Colombia, a terrorist organization in order to obtain large amounts of cocaine, as well as logistical support and protection along the cocaine transport routes within Venezuela and Colombia, between both countries.

Approximately in mid-2008, Witness 2 provided security for a meeting organized by Chávez in his ranch, which was attended by, among others, the Minister of the Interior, Ramón Rodríguez Chacín, and the head of the FARC, Luciano Marin Arango, alias Ivan Marquez. During the meeting, witness 2 heard Marquez describe the need for logistical support such as uniforms, boats and computers and Chavez indicated that the funds would be provided to the FARC by PDVSA. Chavez also ordered witness 2 to bring him a phone and witness 2 heard Chavez talking on the phone with Carvajal.

During the call, witness 2 heard Chavez referring to Carvajal for his nickname, El Pollo, and ordering Carvajal to supply weapons to the FARC.

The traffic then was of drugs but also of weapons with the cartel of the suns, other elements, Valentina? the to the territory of the Aysolans and to the United States. So, yes, it's like a... Let's say that there it takes on additional charges. In the case of the Carvajal chicken, there are two charges, as you said, for drug trafficking and drug terrorism, and also for arms smuggling.

Valentina, the fact that Gustavo Petro denies the existence of the cartel of the suns, how do you explain it? When there is so much evidence, when there are so many witnesses, when there are so many evidence that judges from the United States handle very seriously, the South District of New York is one of the most important and serious judicial districts in the United States. What do you attribute that to?

Gustavo Petric, that doesn't exist.

Look, that is a surprise to me. And I can't but attribute it to political factors. The documents that we have had access to from the Colombian institutions, we are talking about documents from the Colombian prosecution, documents from the Colombian army, made year after year by intelligence factors, also from Colombia. It is assumed then that President Petro must be extremely informed, not only of the

presence, but also of that gearing up with Mexican cartels, because these reports clearly specify that the Soles Cartel works as a kind of distributor and logistics provider for the drug movement from Colombia to the rest of the world through Venezuela. So these reports are extremely accurate. They talk about connections, as I was saying, with the Sinaloa Cartel, with the Jalisco Nueva Generación Cartel, even with the Brazilian political command. As I said, it is a great consortium that serves as support for drug trafficking.

And the US government knows it very well, but also the Colombian government, and with reports, as I was saying, since 2017, at least to what we have had access to. So imagine, it is very complicated to understand the position of President Petro in terms of... It's privileged information that he surely has access to.

So, what does it mean? He doesn't trust that information or there's a political background that leads him to make those statements. But without a doubt, they are very surprising and quite contradictory with all the information that he most certainly has at his disposal. Of course, and that has unleashed this controversy with the Republican congressman Carlos Jiménez.

Thank you very much, Valentina Lares, recognized journalist, research and editor-in-chief of the news portal Armando Info. Very kind.

Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

We continue with La Noche, by NTN24,

the channel of the Americas. Por NTN24, el canal de las Américas. The Catatumbo region. The agreement signed on July 17 includes, as officially revealed at the time, Nicolás Maduro, these sectors. On the Colombian side, the departments of Norte de Santander, Cesar and La Guajira. And on the Venezuelan side, the states of Táchere and Zulia. According to the information released by the same Colombian president,

the memorandum does not create binding obligations. Its validity will be five years, which can be extended. and The drug control that is coming out of the Catatumbo is disputed by the terrorists of the LN, criminal dissidents of the FARC and all that criminal conglomerate of Maduro there in the Venezuelan zone.

The president has ordered an operational reinforcement, special of the Catatumbo lightning operation and has extended it to the Tachira State with the Peace Zone number 1. And has ordered in a first phase a deployment of 15,000 men and women. 15,000 men and women all over the Venezuelans, of reinforcements, over which we already have, of reinforcements over which we already have, up to the limit of the state of Tachida. Then the zone of peace will come, number two,

and then the zone of peace, number three. All this is a border with our sister Colombia. All this is. Everything around here goes. with our sister Colombia. All of this, all of it. It's a border, Venezuela, Colombia. We have... This deployment is already beginning.

We are here, and it's already beginning. With this special reinforcement, it includes means, troops, aviation, flood deployment, drones, for the protection of our border. 15,000 men

that will come out. We asked the Colombian government, which has been collaborating, to make the Colombian side do its own thing, to ensure peace throughout the axis, to ensure peace throughout the axis, to evict whoever wants to eradicate themselves to be eradicated in the border area.