Maduro Names Army Official as Minister Despite U.S. Drug Charges
Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has named a senior military official as his new interior minister despite his being indicted this week in the United States on drug-related charges.
U.S. prosecutors accuse Nestor Reverol of receiving payments from drug traffickers and facilitating the deliveries of cocaine to the United States between 2008 and 2010, when he was head of the anti-narcotics agency.
"I have appointed Major General Nestor Reverol the new minister of the interior, justice and peace," Maduro announced on his weekly television show on Tuesday.
Reverol, who had already served as interior minister under Maduro's predecessor Hugo Chavez, "broke the world record for capturing traffickers," the president said.
"That is why they want to make him pay, the DEA and all the U.S. drug mafias," he added, referring to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency.
Reverol, 51, was commander of the National Guard police troops until several weeks ago.
U.S. prosecutors announced an indictment against him and another official, Edylberto José Molina -- the current military attache in Germany -- on Monday for abetting cocaine trafficking. Reverol has previously denied the accusation.
The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry characterized the accusations against him as "judicial and police terrorism."
Prosecutors in New York say Reverol and Molina received payments from drug traffickers in exchange for information about raids, allowed shipments of narcotics to leave the country and secured the release of drugs, cash and suspects.
They also accuse him of preventing the arrest and deportation of suspects sought by the United States and other countries for drug trafficking.
Outgoing interior minister Gustavo Gonzalez is on a U.S. sanctions list for alleged human rights violations against opposition protesters. He denies the accusations.
Gonzales will now serve as head of the country's intelligence service, Maduro said.
Source: Agence France Presse
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