Post by scumbuster on Aug 4, 2016 8:09:08 GMT -5
Venezuela Puts Drug-Indicted General in Charge of Justice & Sacks Pro-Market Reformer
CARACAS -- An intense ministerial cabinet shake-up took place Tuesday night, twenty-four hours after the CNE electoral authority haltingly admitted that a recall against embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro could continue to the next stage.
“I have the balls to face the people in the streets,” an obviously anxious Maduro said in reference to the recall, during a televised speech announcing the second large cabinet shake-up in less than six months.
REVEROL IS IN
The sole pro-business minister in the entire cabinet, Miguel Perez Abad, was unceremoniously sacked one day after he said some nationalized and expropriated companies and assets should be restored to their previous owners.
While the firing of Perez Abad disappointed analysts hoping that Venezuela might be able to save itself, the real surprise came when Major General Nestor Reverol, who was indicted in the U.S. for drug trafficking the day before, was rewarded with an Interior & Justice Ministry post.
Miraflores watchers believe that Reverol had been forced out as Commander of the National Guard by Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino just three weeks earlier.
During his televised intervention, Maduro heaped praise upon the 51 year old Reverol and defended him from accusations made public on Monday by the U.S. District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York (see below for Indictment). A similar case against two members of Venezuela’s First Family ("NarcoSobrinos", nephews of First Lady and former National Assembly President Cilia Flores) also for allegedly trafficking drugs is in the Manhattan Federal Court across the East River.
“I have designated Mayor General Nestor Reverol Torres as new Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace”, said Maduro, adding later that Reverol “had broken records in capturing drug traffickers.”
According to the Indictment, Reverol received payments from drug traffickers while he was head of ONA, Venezuela's National Anti-Drugs Office. Under the General, ONA mutated from being a hands-off agency that mostly counseled drug-addicts to being a police agency similar to the D.E.A. in the U.S. Reverol’s second in command at ONA, Edylberto Jose Molina Molina, was also accused by the U.S. District Attorney.
While first thought to be related to the "Narcosobrinos" case, the Latin American Herald Tribune has learned that the Reveral and Molina indictments appear to be related to the still sealed case of a former subordinate who appears to be assisting, Lieutenant Darry Fortul (Darry Francisco Fortoul Ochoa).
The Reverol and Molina Indictments were actually filed back on January 21, 2015, well before the NarcoSobrinos were caught in November.
RECALL
Monday night, the CNE said MUD, the main opposition coalition, had 48 hours to present a petition for the recall against Maduro to continue, admitted the request had cleared the first of three stages. The MUD delivered the request barely 12 hours after the announcement.
Tuesday night, Maduro again threatened to jail “the leaders of the recall” for allegedly presenting forged signatures during the first stage of the process. The CNE discarded thousands of signatures but the opposition still reached the goal.
laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2417974&CategoryId=10717
CARACAS -- An intense ministerial cabinet shake-up took place Tuesday night, twenty-four hours after the CNE electoral authority haltingly admitted that a recall against embattled Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro could continue to the next stage.
“I have the balls to face the people in the streets,” an obviously anxious Maduro said in reference to the recall, during a televised speech announcing the second large cabinet shake-up in less than six months.
REVEROL IS IN
The sole pro-business minister in the entire cabinet, Miguel Perez Abad, was unceremoniously sacked one day after he said some nationalized and expropriated companies and assets should be restored to their previous owners.
While the firing of Perez Abad disappointed analysts hoping that Venezuela might be able to save itself, the real surprise came when Major General Nestor Reverol, who was indicted in the U.S. for drug trafficking the day before, was rewarded with an Interior & Justice Ministry post.
Miraflores watchers believe that Reverol had been forced out as Commander of the National Guard by Defense Minister General Vladimir Padrino just three weeks earlier.
During his televised intervention, Maduro heaped praise upon the 51 year old Reverol and defended him from accusations made public on Monday by the U.S. District Attorney in Brooklyn, New York (see below for Indictment). A similar case against two members of Venezuela’s First Family ("NarcoSobrinos", nephews of First Lady and former National Assembly President Cilia Flores) also for allegedly trafficking drugs is in the Manhattan Federal Court across the East River.
“I have designated Mayor General Nestor Reverol Torres as new Minister of the Interior, Justice and Peace”, said Maduro, adding later that Reverol “had broken records in capturing drug traffickers.”
According to the Indictment, Reverol received payments from drug traffickers while he was head of ONA, Venezuela's National Anti-Drugs Office. Under the General, ONA mutated from being a hands-off agency that mostly counseled drug-addicts to being a police agency similar to the D.E.A. in the U.S. Reverol’s second in command at ONA, Edylberto Jose Molina Molina, was also accused by the U.S. District Attorney.
While first thought to be related to the "Narcosobrinos" case, the Latin American Herald Tribune has learned that the Reveral and Molina indictments appear to be related to the still sealed case of a former subordinate who appears to be assisting, Lieutenant Darry Fortul (Darry Francisco Fortoul Ochoa).
The Reverol and Molina Indictments were actually filed back on January 21, 2015, well before the NarcoSobrinos were caught in November.
RECALL
Monday night, the CNE said MUD, the main opposition coalition, had 48 hours to present a petition for the recall against Maduro to continue, admitted the request had cleared the first of three stages. The MUD delivered the request barely 12 hours after the announcement.
Tuesday night, Maduro again threatened to jail “the leaders of the recall” for allegedly presenting forged signatures during the first stage of the process. The CNE discarded thousands of signatures but the opposition still reached the goal.
laht.com/article.asp?ArticleId=2417974&CategoryId=10717