Called narco-terrorists by the Trump administration, the men ‘killed’ in Venezuela mourn their loved ones
Another was a fisherman who struggled to make $100 a month. One became a career criminal. The third was a military cadet. And the fourth was the bus driver of his bus.
The men used to be the same across the coastal city and the fact that these four people among more than 60 people were killed since the beginning of September when the US military began to attack the boats that smuggled drugs. President Donald Trump and senior US officials suspect that the art was to be used by Norco-terrorists and members of the Cartel tied to the lethal drugs of American communities.
Ravina Shamdasani, spokeswoman for the UN Commission High Commissioner for Human Rights, the calls are “unacceptable,” and we must stop them immediately.
The accompanying machine learned the identities of four men – and gathered together the details of at least five others – who had been killed, giving a complete account of those who died in the strikes.
In many of the conversations in the Venezuelan villages burning in the northeast, where some boats go, the residents and their relatives say drugs but they were not terrorists or bandits.
Most of the nine men have been researching such work for the second time, making at least $500 a year, residents and relatives said. They were workers, a fisherman, a motorcycle taxi driver. Two were low-level criminals. One was a well-known local crime boss who obtained his smuggling services from smugglers.
The suspects live on the Paria Peninsula, in neglected areas that can go weeks without water service and are often without power for hours a day. They wake up to panoramic views of tropical rainforests, the Gulf of Paria and the Caribbean’s sparkling sparkling waters. When the time came for their drugs, they boarded open fishing boats that were reduced to motors without motors to haul their drugs to nearby Trinidad and other islands.
Residents and relatives were interviewed anonymously by AP APAXITIty for fear of reprisals from drug traffickers, the Venezuelan government or the Premp Administration. They said they were angry that the men were killed without due process. In the past, their boats would have been challenged by US officials and the crew faced criminal charges, giving them a day in court.
It has been difficult for relatives to learn more about their dead loved ones because gangs and the Venezuelan government have long suppressed the flow of information in the region.
Venezuelan authorities blasted the US government over the strikes, with the country’s ambassador to the UN calling the attacks “excessive killings.” They have also strongly denied that drug dealers are operating in the country and are yet to admit that any of its citizens were killed on the boat. A Venezuelan government spokesman did not respond to a request for comment.
The Trump Administration prepared for the strikes by declaring the drug Carcels to be “illegal wars” and said that the US is now “At War” with them. Trump said each boat burned saved 25,000 American lives, possibly more. The boats, however, appear to be transporting cocaine, not the deadly opioid known to kill tens of thousands of Americans each year.
What is President Donald Trump repeatedly attacking boats near Venezuela? Andrew Chang breaks threats The Trump Administration says it is responding to why Venezuela’s relationship with China could be one. Images provided by Getty Images, The Canadian Press and Reuters.
Sean Parnell, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement to the AP that the Department of Defense “often says that our intelligence has indeed confirmed that people are involved in these drug operations, and we stand by that investigation.”
So far, the US military has attacked 17 ships, killing more than 60 people. Nine of the artifacts were targeted in the Caribbean, and at least three of those had left Venezuela, according to the Premp Administration. The military is attacking the boats at the same time the administration is applying increasing pressure on Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro. The Department of Justice doubled the reward for his arrest to $ 50 million, and the US military gave birth to unusually large forces in the Caribbean Sea and Venezuela and drank a pair of high, threatening bombs.
Relatives and acquaintances said they confirmed the death through Word-of-Mouth and social media posts that sought to convey information about the dead without drawing the attention of Venezuelan authorities. They even described that as a logical deduction: The men didn’t return phone calls or texts in weeks, or were reached to say they were okay; Venezuelan authorities, residents say, have also searched some of the homes of the dead.
“I want an answer, but who can I ask?” said a relative of one of the men. “I can’t say anything.”
A fisherman
A native of Guiria, a town in the southeast of the peninsula, Robert Sánchez went to school as a teenager and like many others in the region became a fisherman like his father, following friends and relatives. This 42-year-old man is considered among the best pilots on the Peninsula, having spent the better part of three years adapting to currents and winds, so he can navigate the water at night without tools.
As part of the hired crew, Father-of-the-four spent his days fishing, kingfish and dogfish. A fisherman wanted to save enough money to buy a 75 horsepower outboard motor so he could work on his own boat and not work for others. It was a dream that Sánchez knew that he might not know that he could not see, said relatives: most of his income – about $ 100 a month – went to support his children.
He was not alone in that situation.
The peninsula is part of Sucre State, one of Venezuela’s poorest. Sucre was once home to several fish plants, an automatic wind plant and a large public university, all of which provided well-paying jobs. Most are closed. The Peninsula is full of unfulfilled promises from 26 years of self-described socialist government, including an abandoned shipyard and mature infrastructure for a natural gas complex.
With its proximity to the Caribbean Sea, the area is a popular transit point for cocaine that makes its way from Colombia to Trinidad and other Caribbean islands before making its way to Europe. Colombian Cocaine destined for the US is often smuggled into Colombia via the Pacific coast.
The great economic pressures – and the intention of Sánchez to have a boat engine – is what persuades the fisherman to accept the offer to help the sellers know well, they are friends and relatives.
Sánchez had just finished loading up for the last day last month when he told his mother he was going on a short trip and would see her in a few days. They didn’t know where he was going.
After seeing clips on social media of his death, relatives broke the news to his mother – after they were sure he had taken her blood pressure. Sánchez’s youngest son, a third grader, could not accept the days that his father was gone. He kept asking the elders if his father survived the explosion, and noted that he should not be in the sea.
No, the adults told the boy. His father was gone.
One of the first to die
Luis (Che) Martínez was killed in the first strike. Around 60 years old, Martínez was a longtime local crime figure, and did most of his smuggling of drugs and people across borders, according to several people who knew him.
He was convicted by Venezuelan authorities of human trafficking charges behind a boat he operated in December 2020, which killed two people, law enforcement officials said at the time. Among those who died in the accident were his two sons and his grandson, relatives told AP. The AP was unable to determine the nature of his criminal case, but Martínez was eventually released from custody and returned to smuggling people and drugs, according to acquaintances.
Although they hated what he did for a living – and to control Martínez and similar criminals who filled their villages in the Festival of the Princess, and spent well in shops and restaurants. He also bet a lot on cockfights, which he won, said the bird installer.
US President Donald Trump has confirmed that he has authorized the CIA to carry out covert operations in Venezuela, increasing efforts to suppress the government of President Nicolas Maduro. Trump said he authorized the action because large amounts of drugs were entering the United States from Venezuela, mostly by sea. Venezuela’s foreign ministry condemned the move in a statement, saying the action ‘constitutes a further violation of international law and the United Nations’ Charter. ‘
Rartínez was killed, many of his acquaintances said, in a strike in September. The crew of 11 men, the President said, were members of the Tren de Aragua Gang. He said all the people were killed and also posted a short video clip of the small ship going up in flames.
Martínez’s relatives say they don’t believe the underground icon was a member of that gang.
They said they have not been given information from the Venezuelan government about his future. They found it when they found a picture of a body that had washed up on a beach in Trinidad. This photo was shared on social media and messaging apps and shows a disabled body. People familiar with Martínez said they immediately knew the sweet corpse was Martínez because, on his left wrist, it was held by one of his most prized possessions: a sweet watch.
Former CADET and bus
Dushak Milovcic, 24, was drawn to crime by the adrenaline rush and money, so much so that he dropped out of the National Guard Academy, according to those who knew him. He started as a lookout for smugglers, they say. Although he had no sea experience, he eventually won promotions to lucrative and coveted jobs on drug boats.
It is not clear how far he traveled before he was killed last month.
Juan Carlos “El Guaramero” the Fuentes operated a tour bus for several years but faced difficult financial conditions when they laid it down. The government was unable – or unwilling – to fix it. That meant that he had run out of money because bus drivers in Venezuela usually pocket half of the money, which made it almost impossible for him to support his family.
Locals say they are not surprised that the Fuentes, who have no nautical experience, turned to smuggling to make ends meet. The high-level traders who usually end up with such boats have been constantly attacking the coast to avoid being targeted by the US micinol. In their area, locals say, they have been hiring novices like garbage.
Fuentes told friends he was nervous about his first smuggling run, knowing it would be fraught with dangers from the weather, rivalries, and even the US military. The September trip had gone surprisingly well, he told friends, and he agreed to join the rest of the crew. The Fuentes were killed in a missile strike last month, friends said, the exact number unknown.
