Featured image: Colombian President Gustavo Petro. Photo: EFE
There are suggestions that Petro is using these alleged attacks in an attempt to persuade the Trump administration to lift OFAC sanctions against members of his family circle.
Colombian President Gustavo Petro echoed false reports about an alleged US bombing in Maracaibo, with the aim of linking Venezuela to drug-trafficking networks, according to the Venezuelan outlet La Iguana TV. Through his social media accounts, Petro claimed that the incident at the company Primazol was an attack on ELN cocaine laboratories, when in fact, it was an accidental fire caused by electrical failures that occurred on December 24.
This narrative ignores statements from the company itself and technical reports confirming that the incident involved the combustion of PET resin and had no connection whatsoever to illicit activities. Despite international bodies such as the UN certifying that Venezuela is not a drug-producing country, the Colombian president repeated unsubstantiated information disseminated by the US and its regime-change machinery.
While Petro seeks to ingratiate himself with Washington, the government of Venezuela continues a forceful offensive against drug-trafficking mafias, neutralizing irregular aircraft in the border states of Amazonas and Apure. The spread of these false positives by Gustavo Petro demonstrates, according to the report, a subordination to the foreign policy of the Trump regime in pursuit of personal benefits related to US sanctions.
By attacking Venezuela’s integrity through disinformation, the Colombian government breaks with the principles of Latin American integration and aligns itself with what is described as an imperial strategy of siege aimed at destabilizing the region.
This conduct, the article argues, repeats the patterns of Colombia’s historical right wing, which uses neighboring territory to justify its own failure to contain drug production at home—production that continues to rise under Petro’s administration.
The use of lies to slander Venezuela’sRevolution seeks to legitimize foreign interference and the criminalization of border regions while ignoring the sovereign efforts of Venezuela’s Bolivarian National Armed Force (FANB) in combating drug trafficking.
For its part, the Venezuelan chemical supplies distributor Primazol clarified in official statements that the incident recorded in the early hours of December 24 was an internal event that was promptly brought under control by the Fire Department and the company’s security team.
The company emphasized that there were no personal injuries and that current efforts are focused on cleanup and site assessment, rejecting rumors that have attempted to link the incident to foreign military operations or illicit activities.
With more than 14 years of experience in the country’s industrial development, Primazol noted that some of the information circulating on digital platforms is unverified and was likely manufactured in an attempt to damage the reputation of the organization and its founder.
The company reaffirmed its commitment to corporate responsibility and the safety of its personnel, completely distancing itself from disinformation narratives. By debunking the bombing claim, the company leaves the assertions that seek to criminalize national productive activity without foundation and exposes the use of mere industrial accidents as tools of political propaganda.
In this sense, the article concludes, the social transformation of the region requires leaders committed to truth and self-determination, not heads of state who use disinformation as a bargaining chip to obtain diplomatic favors from a power that has historically plundered and divided Latin America.
On Wednesday, the president of Primazol, Carlos Eduardo Siu, together with company workers, demanded a retraction from Colombian President Gustavo Petro through a video. They described Petro’s claims as unfounded accusations that express disrespect toward the honor and dignity of the company’s workers.
“We categorically reject all the false accusations that are being made and that are tarnishing my name. We are a family that has been in this country for more than 80 years,” Siu stated, while clarifying that the company does not produce any type of narcotics.
“President Petro, here we neither package nor manufacture any type of narcotic. We ask that you please stop smearing our name and our honor, which have taken so many years to build,” he said during a tour of the facilities, aimed at showing the extent of the damage caused by the fire that occurred on December 24 due to an electrical failure in the wiring system of the company’s main warehouse.
Siu explained that the incident took place in the factory’s main warehouse, where PET resins and PVC are stored. “It was the main warehouse where we keep the high-volume products handled by the company,” he noted, adding that the company employs a workforce of 113 people, of whom 44 live in the city of Maracaibo, in Zulia state.
In a third corporate statement released Tuesday to clarify the causes of the incident, the company published a link to a digital repository featuring closed-circuit footage captured before, during, and after the fire. According to analysts and legal experts, the images leave no room for doubt regarding the actual causes of the blaze, providing what observers describe as undeniable evidence that contradicts recent official narratives.
(Telesur) with Orinoco Tribune content
Translation: Orinoco Tribune
OT/CB/SL/JRE
Cameron Baillie is an award-winning journalist, editor, and researcher. He won and was shortlisted for awards across Britain and Ireland. He is Editor-in-Chief of New Sociological Perspectives graduate journal and Commissioning Editor at The Student Intifada newsletter. He spent the first half of 2025 living, working, and writing in Ecuador. He does news translation and proofreading work with The Orinoco Tribune.
