Accusation against Diosdado Cabello appears to be off the wall.

THE ACCUSATION AGAINST DIOSDADO CABELLO (second in command of the Chavista movement in Venezuela) OF BEING THE CAPO OF THE CARTEL DE LOS SOLES DOESN’T STAND UP TO SERIOUS ANALYSIS OR COMMON SENSE. Never (at least that I know of) in the history of drug trafficking has there been a politician who heads drug cartels, because by nature they are clandestine operations. Politicians serve as accomplices, but not as kingpins who direct drug operations, as Leamsy Salazar, now in the hands of the DEA, is claiming. None of the heads of the Cartels of Mexico or Colombia (Pablo Escobar, for instance) have been above-ground figures. Salazar’s accusation lends itself to the launching of new acts of protest-civil-disobedience-violence to lead into an attempt to overthrow the government of Nicolás Maduro, a repeat of the guarimba operations of last year.