The Criminal Chamber of the Supreme Court of Justice rejected an appeal that sought to annul the sentences imposed on seven people accused of trafficking drugs to Central America using Venezuelan territory.
Such a decision is contained in sentence 728, published on November 17 with the signatures of the three magistrates who are members of the Criminal Chamber: Elsa Gómez (speaker), Carmen Marisela Castro and Maikel Moreno. In that ruling, the seven defendants are identified as Javier Mauricio Chaves Plata, Samuel Alfredo Miranda Martínez, Jorge Iván Guevara Jaramillo, Ricardo Alejandro Cañizares Rebolledo, Lacides Contreras García (later deceased), William Alberto Ruiz Pinzón and José Antonio Cañizares Mota.
These people were detained on December 12, 2019 at the José Rodríguez Sáez Airport located in San Juan de los Morros (Guárico). A small plane, YV-1085, landed there, white and blue with red and gold stripes, from where José Cañizales (pilot) got off, who said he was coming from Valencia (Carabobo) to look for some people to take them to Guasdualito (Apure). Cañizales wanted to bribe the airport staff so that they would not record the flight, a situation that was reported.
The officials verified at that time that Jorge Guevara, a Colombian national, submitted a request with a red alert for the crime of small plane theft in Nicaragua. José Cañizales presented a police record for international drug trafficking from Venezuela to Central America and aircraft theft in the capital of Carabobo.
The seven were tried in the 3rd Trial Court of Guárico, which imposed sentences between 21 and 22 years in prison for illicit drug trafficking and inducing corruption. The sentences were ratified by the Criminal Chamber of the TSJ.
