The arrest of former Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and his wife on drug trafficking charges on January 3 brought into sharp focus the involvement of corrupt Venezuelan state elements in drug trafficking.
An indictment that was unsealed while Maduro was brought to the United States reiterated accusations of his involvement in drug trafficking. While a prior indictment and sanctions portrayed Maduro as the leader of the so-called Cartel of the Suns (Cartel de los Soles), which it referred to as a “Venezuelan drug-trafficking organization,” the new indictment reframes the idea of the Cartel of the Suns as a “patronage system” wherein widespread corruption allows officials of all levels to profit from criminal activity.
The system known as the Cartel of the Suns began in the military, with officials guaranteeing protection to drug traffickers in exchange for bribes, but has since expanded to encompass a range of state elements. It is still unclear to what extent, if any, interim President Delcy Rodríguez will be forced to stamp down on corruption, but Maduro’s arrest alone will have little impact on how it functions.
Here are five figures who played a prominent role in the development of Venezuelan state corruption.
Diosdado Cabello
Interior Minister Diosdado Cabello has been one of the most important figures within the Chavista regime for decades and is as central as anyone to its corruption.
Cabello was a staunch ally of Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chávez, and was seen as one of Chávez’s potential successors. But it was Maduro who took over after Chávez succumbed to cancer in 2013. Cabello has held roles including vice president, president of Venezuela’s parliament, known as the National Assembly, and governor of the state of Miranda.
As well as wielding control over Venezuela’s police and intelligence apparatus, Cabello has influence within the military and over the “colectivos,” the name for pro-Chavista civilian armed groups that have become key to violently repressing any internal dissent but that have also devolved into criminal groups.
US indictments claim that Cabello coordinated with guerrilla groups the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia — FARC) and, more recently, the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional – ELN) to facilitate the movement of cocaine through the country.
Although Cabello remains one of Venezuela’s most powerful figures, the fact he was named alongside Maduro in the recently unsealed indictment suggests he remains firmly in the US authorities’ crosshairs.
“I am dismayed, shaken, emotionally […] and deeply fearful due to the disproportionate scale of the attacks against our country,” he admitted in an address to the nation televised on January 8.
Vladimir Padrino López
Like Cabello, Vladimir Padrino López has long been one of the Venezuelan state’s most important players and has been defense minister since 2014.
Unlike Cabello, Padrino López was not named in the recently unsealed indictment. However, 2019 charges accused him of drug trafficking. In 2020, former US Attorney General William Barr claimed Padrino López had used his position to protect drug traffickers, allowing them to pass through Venezuelan airspace in exchange for bribes, and ordered the military to shoot down the planes of those who refused to pay. The United States is currently offering a $15 million reward for his capture.
Widespread discontent and opposition from Venezuelans has grown more acute in recent years, especially following last year’s presidential election that was widely decried as fraudulent. As a result, the Chavista regime has come to depend on the military to keep it in power. Military officials have been granted more control over civilian institutions, including the Ministry of Petroleum and the Ministry of Aquatic and Aerial Transport, in exchange for their continued loyalty.
Padrino López publicly backed Rodríguez as interim president after she was sworn in following Maduro’s arrest, and his continued loyalty will be crucial if she is to maintain her position.
Tareck El Aissami
Former Oil Minister Tareck El Aissami is an example of how state corruption extends beyond both the military and drug trafficking and that powerful figures within the regime have as much to fear from their rivals within the state as they do from foreign forces like the United States.
El Aissami held numerous important posts during his career, including vice president, interior minister, governor of the state of Aragua, and, beginning in 2020, oil minister. His strategy of evading US sanctions on Venezuelan oil sales by increasingly relying on intermediaries made the inner workings of state oil company Petróleos de Venezuela (PdVSA) ever more opaque.
US authorities allege that, in addition to being a part owner of some drug shipments, he worked with Venezuelan drug trafficker Walid Makled and provided protection to other traffickers.
During his time as governor of Aragua, El Aissami also allegedly provided protection to the gang Tren de Aragua, obstructing police efforts to dismantle it.
El Aissami’s rise came to a dramatic end in March 2023 when he resigned amid a corruption scandal that led to the arrest of dozens of senior officials and business figures who were linked to him. El Aissami himself was detained in Venezuela, along with his alleged frontman Samark López Bello, in April 2024. Attorney General Tarek William Saab accused him of selling state crude oil and redirecting the proceeds into a multibillion-dollar money laundering scheme rather than into the state coffers. He and López Bello remain behind bars in Venezuela.
Hugo Carvajal Barrios
Hugo Carvajal Barrios, alias “El Pollo,” is a former Venezuelan military intelligence chief who allegedly used his position to block investigations into drug trafficking or corruption.
In 2008, the United States sanctioned him for facilitating the FARC’s drug trafficking operations. He was also accused of working with Cabello to use officials from the Bolivarian National Guard to ship 5.5 tons of cocaine to Mexico in 2006 and of providing at least one drug trafficker with official credentials so he could move freely through the country.
He was initially arrested in 2014 by Aruban authorities acting on a formal request from the United States before being released after Venezuela argued that his role as consul to the island gave him diplomatic immunity. Carvajal later broke with Maduro, speaking out in favor of his political opponent Juan Guaidó in 2019. In April that year, he was arrested over the same drug charges in Spain. He managed to escape and remained in hiding until 2021, when he was arrested in Spain again on the same charges before being extradited to the United States.
Carvajal changed his plea to guilty one week before trial in June 2025. In December that year, US news outlet the Dallas Express reported that Carvajal had written a letter to US President Donald Trump stating he sought to “atone by telling the full truth” about drug trafficking within Maduro’s regime and the Venezuelan state’s alleged involvement with Tren de Aragua.
The timing of this letter, a few days after Trump pardoned former Honduran President and convicted drug trafficker Juan Orlando Hernández, raises the possibility that Carvajal may be willing to tell US prosecutors what they want to hear in exchange for leniency. He may be an important witness in Maduro’s upcoming trial.
Cliver Alcalá
US authorities alleged that former general Cliver Alcalá was a major figure in the Cartel of the Suns, naming him alongside Maduro in an indictment issued in 2020 and offering a $10 million reward for his capture.
Alcalá was accused of coordinating drug trafficking activities, providing material support to the FARC, and providing protection to the Guajira Cartel drug trafficking organization.
Wanted in Venezuela for his alleged involvement in a 2020 coup attempt, Alcalá handed himself over to US authorities, and in April 2024, a US federal judge sentenced him to more than 21 years for criminal association and supplying high-caliber weaponry.
In December 2025, the Dallas Express reported that Alcalá, like Carvajal, had sent a letter to Trump stating that he too was willing to testify about the Venezuelan state’s involvement in illegal economies, meaning he could also be called as a witness in Maduro’s trial.