One of Maduro's top military leaders — Néstor Reverol, head of the country's national guard — will be charged in federal court later this morning with drug trafficking. Reverol is the biggest name yet in a wave of arrests that has already taken two of Maduro's nephews and several former top intelligence and narcotics officials.
Reverol has been a top figure in Venezuelan affairs dating back to Hugo Chávez's revolutionary governments. Ironically, he once headed up Venezuela's anti-drug agency and served as minister of the interior.
U.S. prosecutors say he had another, far more profitable job,
The charges echo a series of arrests in Maduro's inner circle. Last month, two of the president's nephews were nabbed by U.S. authorities in Haiti where they were allegedly putting the finishing touches on a plot to smuggle 800 kilos of coke through Honduras.
In September, Wifredo Ferrer, the top prosecutor at the U.S. Southern District of Florida courthouse, charged two other former top officials: Jesús Alfredo
More cases could be coming. For months, rumors have swirled that Diosdado Cabello, arguably the second-most powerful politician in Caracas, could be charged in the crackdown. Cabello has problems at home as well; his time as head of the National Assembly is likely over thanks to the sweeping opposition wins this month.
"After winning the national assembly, one of the first steps is