The opening of the trial against the 19 accused of being part of a network of “narcopolitics” who worked with the Colombian cartels, reported a judicial source. Among the accused are former deputies Yeicar Pérez and Taína González, as well as the elected mayor of the municipality Jesús María Semprún, on the Zulia-Colombia border, Keirynet Fernández,
These people allegedly used their political positions to move from Zulia to Falcón with drug shipments from Colombia and that other subjects then took charge of sending them to neighboring islands and Europe, according to investigations.
The defendants will be transferred to the 11th Trial Court of Caracas located in the capital’s Palace of Justice to begin the sessions where the Public Ministry will present witnesses and documents that support the accusation.
The decision to open a trial to the 20 defendants was made on 3/22/22 in the 10th Court of Control of Caracas in charge of Michael Armando Agro Garmendia.
In that preliminary hearing, Judge Agro Garmendia asked if anyone wanted to admit the facts, an approach that was only accepted by Luis Alfonso Viloria Chirinos, who was sentenced to 12 years in prisonexplained a source.
The other 19 defendants did not admit their participation in the narcopolitical network and consequently the Court ordered the opening of a trial, which is scheduled to begin this Thursday. This opening session is also an opportunity to admit the facts and receive a sentence with a reduction of up to a third of the sentence, according to the Organic Code of Criminal Procedure.
the trafficked
A total of 10 tons of drugs worth 20 million dollars had managed to get the drug network out of Venezuela, military sources said.
The 10 tons were transported for nine months through a so-called safe route that started when the shipments arrived from Colombia to Santa Bárbara del Zulia or La Guajira and from there they were taken to Sabanas Altas (Falcón), from where they were sent in boats to the Dominican Republic. and other Caribbean islands, according to the investigation.
immunity
On February 2, 2022, the National Assembly held a session where it agreed to strip deputy Taína González of her parliamentary immunity, due to her alleged links to the narcopolitical network.
During that session, representative Pedro Carreño reported that they had accepted the resignation of parliamentarian Jeycar Pérez, who was arrested on January 4 of that year in Plaza Bolívar in Caracas, to be detained in the National Anti-drug Command.
Fernando Soto Rojas, former president of the Legislative Branch, intervened in the debate of the session to strip deputy Taína González of her immunity. “Here nobody has a godfather and we are going to give him a pigeon and whoever deviates must assume the consequences,” he said.
other defendants
On November 7, 2021, the first seven arrests (in La Guaira) of those allegedly involved in the “narcopolitical” network took place: Luis Alfonzo Viloria and his father Luis Viloria, as well as Robert de Jesús Montaña Viloria, Samuel David Montilla Hernández, Wilmer Enrique Hernández, Delwis José Paredes and the Colombian Víctor Cano Páez.