Compilation image of Nicholas Maduro (Left), Evo Morales (Center) and Andrés Manuel López Obrador (Right). Photo: Geopolitical Economy Report.
By Ben Norton – Feb 5, 2024
Numerous reports in major media outlets have documented how the US government has used the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in order to spy on and try to destabilize left-wing governments in Latin America.
DEA meddling schemes have targeted Venezuelaâs President NicolĂĄs Maduro, Boliviaâs former President Evo Morales, and Mexicoâs President AndrĂ©s Manuel LĂłpez Obrador.
In these scandals, the DEA has collaborated with known criminals, including drug traffickers and money launderers, to launch sting operations against leftist politicians.
DEA schemes in Venezuela
The Associated Press revealed this February that the DEA âsent undercover operatives into Venezuela to surreptitiously record and build drug-trafficking cases against the countryâs leadershipâ.
Known as Operation Money Badger, it was launched in 2013 with the goal of ensnaring senior Venezuelan officials in corruption scandals.
The AP reported that the DEA âauthorized otherwise illicit wire transfers through U.S.-based front companies and bank accountsâ. It noted that âColombian drug traffickersâ were involved.
As its informants, the DEA recruited criminals. The AP wrote (emphasis added):
The DEA Miami Field Divisionâs Group 10 recruited a dream informant: a professional money launderer accused of fleecing $800 million from Venezuelaâs foreign currency system through a fraudulent import scheme.
The informantâs illicit activity in Venezuela positioned him to help the DEA collect evidence against the chief target of the unilateral operation: Jose Vielma, an early acolyte of the late Hugo ChĂĄvez who in two decades of service to the Bolivarian revolution cycled through a number of top jobs, including trade minister and the head of Venezuelaâs IRS.
Venezuelaâs sovereign, democratically elected government had expelled the DEA, so this covert operation was a clear violation of Venezuelaâs sovereignty. And the US government itself acknowledged that these activities violated international law, the AP reported.
The AP quoted a former DEA official who served in Venezuela who boasted, âWe donât like to say it publicly but we are, in fact, the police of the worldâ.
Operation Money Badger started under the Barack Obama administration, but was expanded under President Donald Trump.
The Trump administration launched a coup attempt in 2019, pressuring countries around the world to recognize US-appointed coup leader Juan GuaidĂł as the so-called âinterim presidentâ of Venezuela, despite the fact that he had never participated in a presidential election.
The US government imposed several rounds of crushing sanctions and an economic embargo on Venezuela, which devastated the countryâs oil industry and starved Caracas of the export revenue it needed to fund social programs and the foreign currency it needed to stabilize its national currency, fueling hyper-inflation.
In 2020, the US government backed an attempted invasion of Venezuela. The attack, known as Operation Gideon, was led by two former US Army special operations commandos.
One of the top Venezuelan coup-plotters involved in the failed invasion later revealed that the putschists had been in touch with the CIA and other US government agencies.
The botched invasion was overseen by a US private security company called Silvercorp, which was based in Florida and run by a former U.S. Army Green Beret commando, Jordan Goudreau.
Goudreau had provided security for Donald Trumpâs rallies. And he met with US government officials at Trumpâs golf course in Doral, Florida to discuss the plans to invade Venezuela.
For his part, Trump boasted that he tried to âtake overâ Venezuela and pillage its massive oil reserves.
At a Republican Party convention in 2023, Trump stated, âWhen I left, Venezuela was ready to collapse. We would have taken it over; we would have gotten to all that oil; it would have been right next doorâ.
Trumpâs neoconservative national security advisor, John Bolton, likewise bragged in a 2022 interview on CNN that he âhelped plan coups dâetatâ in Venezuela and âother placesâ.
Meanwhile, US-backed coup leader Juan GuaidĂł and his accomplices were widely accused of extreme corruption.
Even GuaidĂłâs erstwhile supporters in Venezuelaâs right-wing opposition turned against him, accusing GuaidĂł and his allies of spending huge sums of humanitarian aid money on expensive nightclubs, hotels, cars, clothes, food, and alcohol.
GuaidĂłâs coup-plotting allies also used public assets that the US, UK, and EU stole from the Venezuelan government and people in order to pay their enormous legal fees.
The DEA Takes Aim at Mexicoâs President AndrĂ©s Manuel LĂłpez Obrador, Misses Badly
DEA schemes in Bolivia
Venezuela was by no means the only country in Latin America targeted by the DEA for destabilization.
In 2008, Boliviaâs democratically elected socialist president, Evo Morales, expelled the DEA.
Morales was the first ever Indigenous president of a country where the majority of the population is Indigenous.
He accused DEA agents of spying on his government and collaborating with violent right-wing opposition groups.
âThere were DEA agents that were doing political espionage⊠financing criminal groups so that they could act against authorities, even the presidentâ, Morales said, in comments reported by Reuters.
At the time, US officials rejected Moralesâ accusations as a crazy conspiracy theory.
But in 2015, the Huffington Post revealed that DEA agents had in fact been spying on Morales and the Bolivian government, as part of an undercover sting called âOperation Naked Kingâ.
To justify its meddling, the DEA misleadingly accused Morales of supporting the drug trade, because he legalized the production of coca, a plant that can be used for non-drug purposes, such as in teas and medicines.
Many poor farmers, especially in the Indigenous-majority areas that Morales was from and represented, relied on producing coca.
Vice News reported in 2016 that, after Morales legalized coca, âthere is less violence, less cocaine, and even less coca in Bolivia than there was beforeâ.
Morales blasted the DEAâs double standards, noting that it purchased 45,000 kilos of coca in 1992.
âDuring our government, the model of the fight against drug trafficking was applauded and recognized by the UN and EUâ, Morales tweeted in 2020.
âNow, they submit themselves to the CIA and DEA to benefit the geopolitical interests of the USâ, he added, condemning the then government of unelected far-right leader Jeanine Ăñez of âsubmissionâ and âcorruptionâ.
Durante nuestro gobierno, el modelo de lucha contra el narcotrĂĄfico era aplaudido y reconocido por la ONU y la UE. Ahora, se someten a la CIA y DEA para beneficiar a los intereses geopolĂticos de EE.UU., y anuncian gastos millonarios sin fiscalizaciĂłn. Sometimiento y corrupciĂłn.
— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) May 27, 2020
In 2019, Morales was overthrown in a violent coup dâetat. With US support, an unelected far-right regime came to power, which was led by Christian extremists who systematically discriminated against Boliviaâs Indigenous majority.
Boliviaâs US-backed coup regime also sought to privatize the South American nationâs massive lithium reserves. Bolivia is one of the worldâs top producers of lithium, a crucial material needed for battery production.
When a Twitter user criticized billionaire Tesla CEO Elon Musk in 2020 over his support for the putsch in Bolivia, the oligarch responded, âWe will coup whoever we want! Deal with itâ.
In 2021, Morales stated that, âFor the CIA and DEA the so-called âwar against drugsâ is an excuse to attack progressive and anti-imperialist governments. It is a screen to cover their geopolitical interestsâ.
The former Bolivian leader, who was spied on and targeted in a sting operation by the DEA, pointed to a similar scandal that had been exposed in Mexico.
Para la CIA y la DEA la denominada "guerra contra las drogas" es una excusa para atacar a gobiernos progresistas y antiimperialistas. Es una pantalla para encubrir sus intereses geopolĂticos.
El caso denunciado por #MĂ©xico asĂ lo demuestra.— Evo Morales Ayma (@evoespueblo) January 16, 2021
DEA schemes in Mexico
Over decades, the DEA has repeatedly been implicated in illegal espionage operations in sovereign Mexican territory, targeting government officials and politicians, particularly those on the left.
This January, the US media outlet ProPublica published a thinly sourced article alleging, without concrete evidence, that allies of Mexicoâs leading left-wing politician AndrĂ©s Manuel LĂłpez Obrador (AMLO) took money from drug cartels to try to help him win the 2006 presidential election.
The report acknowledged, âThe investigation did not establish whether LĂłpez Obrador sanctioned or even knew of the traffickersâ reported donationsâ.
AMLO later won the 2018 election, and has since been one of the most popular presidents on Earth, governing for five years with consistent support from around two-thirds of the Mexican population, according to the US-based firm Morning Consult.
AMLO blasted the ProPublica article as âvile defamationâ and âpropagandaâ, and he suggested that it sought to influence Mexicoâs upcoming 2024 election. The candidate Claudia Sheinbaum, from AMLOâs left-wing Morena party, is leading in all of the polls, by a huge margin.
The ProPublica article offered no tangible evidence, just insinuations trying to link AMLO to organized crime. But it did disclose that, in 2011, on the eve of Mexicoâs 2012 elections, âDEA agents proposed a sting in which they would offer $5 million in supposed drug money to operatives working on LĂłpez Obradorâs second presidential campaignâ.
That is to say, the DEA was blatantly meddling in Mexicoâs internal politics to harm the left-wing candidate, as a presidential election soon approached.
ProPublica also admitted that US âJustice Department officials closed the investigation, in part over concerns that even a successful prosecution would be viewed by Mexicans as egregious American meddling in their politicsâ.
Mexico-based US journalist Kurt Hackbarth noted that the âonly real revelation in this weekâs ProPublica piece is the DEAâs plot to frame the AMLO campaign in the runup to the 2012 electionâ.
âUnlike Russiagate, hereâs a bonafide attempt to intervene in a foreign election, freely admitted toâ, he added.
The only real revelation in this week's @Propublica piece is the DEA's plot to frame the AMLO campaign in the runup to the 2012 election. Unlike Russiagate, here's a bonafide attempt to intervene in a foreign election, freely admitted to. Think it'll make headlines in the US? Na. pic.twitter.com/nJ261T3r3a
— Kurt Hackbarth đč (@KurtHackbarth) February 2, 2024
In a follow-up Twitter thread, Hackbarth emphasized, âLetâs take a second and appreciate the implications of this. At the precise time Felipe CalderĂłnâs Security Minister Genero GarcĂa Luna was colluding with the Sinaloa Cartel â which the DEA saw and heard no evil about â they were instead focused on this stupid sting op on AMLOâ.
CalderĂłn, a conservative former president from Mexicoâs right-wing PAN party, was a close US ally, so faced no serious consequences for his documented links to drug cartels.
đ§”ANATOMY OF A HIT: Another clumsy attempt by the US to meddle in this year's Mexican presidential election. How does it work?
1.) THE SYNCHRONIZED SWIM: Spread your story at the same time across various media. (A little obvious, though, to do it at the exact same time, guys.) pic.twitter.com/t8jZMO2kh7
— Kurt Hackbarth đč (@KurtHackbarth) January 31, 2024
AMLO, on the other hand, is an independent left-wing leader who has routinely criticized the US for violating his countryâs sovereignty.
In 2023, the Mexican president sent the Joe Biden administration a letter formally condemning US âinterventionismâ in his country. Specifically, AMLO noted that USAID was funding right-wing opposition groups.
In another speech that year, AMLO condemned State Department criticism as hypocritical âmeddlingâ and stated, âThere is more democracy today in Mexico than in the United States⊠because here the people govern, and there the oligarchy governâ.
AMLO likewise held a huge rally in which he denounced Republicans Congress members who have called for the US military to invade their southern neighbor. While honoring the Mexican stateâs nationalization of the countryâs large oil and lithium reserves, AMLO declared, âMexico is an independent and free country, not a US colony or protectorate!â
Ben Norton
Benjamin Norton is the founder and editor of the independent news website Multipolarista, where he does original reporting in both English and Spanish. Benjamin has reported from numerous countries, including Venezuela, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Honduras, Colombia, and more. His journalistic work has been published in dozens of media outlets, and he has done interviews on Sky News, Al Jazeera, Democracy Now, El Financiero Bloomberg, Al Mayadeen teleSUR, RT, TRT World, CGTN, Press TV, HispanTV, Sin Censura, and various TV channels in Mexico, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Ecuador, and Bolivia. Benjamin writes a regular column for Al Mayadeen (in English and Spanish). He was formerly a reporter with the investigative journalism website The Grayzone, and previously produced the political podcast and video show Moderate Rebels. His personal website is BenNorton.com, and he tweets at @BenjaminNorton.
