The broker told his client a relative with links to a “famous sun” in the “little red party” who, for an upfront fee, would guarantee the safe passage of a container with cocaine on a ship docked in a Venezuelan port.
The cocaine – a batch of 32 kilograms hidden inside two electric generators – was destined for Libya.
The broker, aka Luisito, was trying to reassure the customer, aka Julio, that Venezuelan military officials would not steal his money or his cargo, according to wiretap recordings obtained by CBC News.
“There has to be some guarantee,” Julio said, according to the cellphone recording.
“They’re military, they don’t need a guarantee … they work there. The day the truck comes in, they get it and they keep it. [on the ship]” Luisito said.
CBC News obtained more than a dozen wiretap recordings from an ultimately successful two-year Colombian federal police investigation into a multinational drug trafficking organization based out of Colombia.
The organization used human drug mules to move cocaine by air and by sea via shipping containers to the Americas, Europe, Asia and North Africa.
Luis Ernesto Galvis Martínez, aka Luisito, left, and Luis Fernando Martínez, aka Julio, were caught in a cellphone wiretap planning to ship cocaine to Libya with the help of the Venezuelan military. (CBC)
The two-year investigation, which ended in 2016, was launched by the US Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). Cellphone interceptions showed members of the group discussing their dealings with Venezuelan military officials who oversee the international port of Guarano in Falcon state.
The Venezuelan government has denied any involvement in drug trafficking, and wiretaps obtained by CBC News did not capture any government or military officials.
In the wiretapped conversations, Broker Luisito frequently used the nickname “The Sun” when referring to senior Venezuelan military officials. The nickname refers to the high rank insignia that Venezuelan military officers wear on their uniforms to denote their rank.
He also referred to the color red when referring to the ruling United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).
“These conversations help us understand that, effectively, the ‘Cartel of the Sun’ exists. They are high-ranking, generals who had the power to control all shipments of cocaine from their country,” said a former federal Colombian anti-narcotics agent who worked on the case.
CBC News is not disclosing the identity of the former agent, as he was not authorized to release internal details of the police investigation.
In 2020, more than 800 kilograms of cocaine were seized inside a plane arriving from Venezuela in Bruce Laguna, Gracias a Dios Department, Honduras. (AFP via Getty Images)
The former agent said he found the term “Cartel of the Sun” in other investigations through conversations with confidential informants. He said the Venezuelan government has deep ties to the drug trade.
“The sources told us about secret runways where they sent planes loaded with the substance and the power they had to control everything related to drug trafficking,” the agent said.
He said the federal criminal case against arrested Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his wife, Celia Flores, likely stemmed from a similar case.
Maduro was arrested along with Flores on January 3 during a US military raid. They are facing charges in US federal court in New York City, including narco-terrorism and conspiracy to import cocaine, among other charges.
The US indictment against Maduro and Flores describes the Cartel of the Sun as a “protection system” where “Venezuelan’s elites enrich themselves through drug trafficking and the protection of their partner drug traffickers.”
Wiretaps obtained by CBC News recorded in April 2016 show how Julio planned to use fake Venezuelan IDs and a local company to move the cocaine into a container filled with two generators and other similar equipment, which would weigh at least a ton.
Julio wanted to move the container from Venezuela to Brazil and then to Libya. He was burned by another contact before returning to Luisito, a broker who recently said 50 kilograms of cocaine had been hidden inside a shipment of several tons of charcoal to Portugal, according to wiretaps.
Luisito said he has a relative who was part of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.
“He’s done some small things there and he has a little bit of power there in Punto Fizo,” Luisito said, according to a wiretap intercepted on April 4, 2016 at 6:10 p.m.
Punto Fizo Guarano is a city adjacent to the international port, located on a peninsula 548 km northwest of Caracas, the capital of Venezuela.
“And working with these people you mentioned, isn’t it dangerous?” A second phone call that same day at 6:43 p.m. hung up, Julio said
“Little Red? No, they’re in charge of the port… there’s no DEA [U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration]There’s nothing,” Luisito said.
“I don’t want them to steal [the product]” said Julio.
“They don’t need to, they’re the ones who are doing it with the famous Suns, they’re connected to the Suns that are sending the load,” Luisito said. “They have their own ways of sending things.”
Luisito said his relative was working with a high-ranking official and three subordinates.
He said the army has full control of the port and each shift operates its own side business, charging a basic amount of $8,000 US and above depending on the quantity to allow containers to be loaded onto ships.
“They’ve been doing this for a long time … and when I said [my relative] That was only 16 kilos of cocaine [per generator]He said it wasn’t much, if you only knew how much [cocaine] They are sending from here,” Luisito said in the same phone call.
Julio was still worried about being ripped off.
“How do I know that the police do not steal or steal money [generators]He said, the third phone call was interrupted at 7 pm on the same day.
“They send products daily … alternately from the airport and alternately by ship because their interest is money, they are not interested in bolivars. [the Venezuelan currency]They are interested [U.S.] dollars, because they are sending them to offshore tax havens,” Luisito said.
Luisito told Julio that he needed to make sure he had his documents to go through customs, as the military officers were only in charge of “narcotics screening”.
A former Colombian federal police drug agent told CBC News that the shipment took place in Libya, but authorities eventually charged Luisito and Julio, who were convicted and jailed.
