A retired Venezuelan general who claims he plotted to overthrow President Nicolas Maduro pleaded guilty to U.S. accusations of aiding Colombia’s FARC rebel organization on Friday, court records said.
Starting July 10, Manhattan federal court was scheduled to try Cliver Alcala and other senior Venezuelan government officials, including Maduro, for conspiring with the FARC to smuggle cocaine to the U.S.
In 2020, Alcala surrendered to U.S. agents in Colombia and pled not guilty. Court documents said he pleaded guilty this week to two counts of material assistance to a terrorist organization and illegal firearms transfer.
“General Alcala accepted an elaborately negotiated plea arrangement in which he pled guilty to lesser counts not listed in the accusation against him—providing material support to the FARC when he was a Venezuelan general. “This resolution does not include narcotics offenses,” Alcala’s defense team claimed.
The U.S. regarded the FARC, which disbanded in 2016 in a historic peace accord, as a terrorist group.
Alcala’s lawyers argued he supported the FARC as “part of his country’s foreign policy as directed by the civilian government.”
Alcala withdrew from Venezuela’s military in 2013 and became a vociferous critic of Maduro, a socialist accused by Washington of corruption, human rights violations, and election rigging.
Alcala alleged he met with the CIA many times between 2017 and 2020 to prepare a coup against Maduro in court papers last October. His lawyers stated his role in the conspiracy disqualified him from coordinating with Maduro to ship cocaine.
The CIA remained silent.
Maduro believes U.S. criticism of his regime is a plan to overthrow him and seize Venezuela’s massive oil assets.
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