The 2nd Control Court of Caracas decreed deprivation of liberty for Rosalba Hernández, who served as the 70th National Anti-Drug Prosecutor, sources from the justice system revealed.
Hernández was charged with the alleged commission of the crimes of delay and aggravated omission of functions and willful omission of functions in drug matters.
These crimes were allegedly committed by Hernández in 2021 when they opened a file during a procedure carried out by the Cicpc on August 31 of that same year.
The aforementioned operation was carried out inside an apartment located in the Club de Playa residential complex, El Morro sector, Lechería parish, Diego Bautista Urbaneja municipality, Anzoátegui state. In the property they located 227 panels of cocaine that weighed 251 kilos and 97 grams, according to what was reported at the time by Generals Richard Vargas López (head of the National Anti-Drug Superintendency); Elio Estrada (director of the Bolivarian National Police) and Marco Tulio Álvarez (head of the Comprehensive Defense Operational Zone 52).
In this procedure, they arrested Oscar Rafael Méndez Suárez (53), accused of trafficking the cache.
Four and a half years after that procedure, specifically the first week of last January, Omar de Jesús Medina (55), owner of the apartment where the 257 panels of cocaine were seized, was arrested. The arrest took place at the facilities of the Simón Bolívar International Airport, located in Maiquetía, La Guaira state. Medina is a businessman who dedicated himself to the corn business in Zaraza (Guárico), from where he migrated to Costa Rica more than 15 years ago.
When Medina was arrested in Maiquetía, he was transferred to the state of Anzoátegui where the main procedure related to the cocaine stash is open. But when Medina’s data was entered into the Police Information System, it showed that he had no police records. The only thing that appears is a complaint made by Medina to the Cicpc-Zaraza on Thursday, May 10, 2012 for the loss of license plates from his vehicle on public roads in the aforementioned Guariqueño municipality.
Given this circumstance, the military authorities, attached to the National Anti-Drug Command of the Bolivarian National Guard, communicated with the 72nd national anti-drug prosecutor, Rosalba Hernández, who said she was unaware of such a file. But military officials had gathered hours before, elements that incriminated Hernández with actions to remove Medina from any possible criminal responsibility in the file opened for the seizure of the 257 panels of cocaine located in an apartment owned by the businessman. This information was reported to the highest authorities of the Public Ministry from where they processed an arrest warrant against prosecutor Hernández, who was charged and deprived of liberty.
Meanwhile, the 9th Prosecutor’s Office of Anzoátegui proceeded to charge Omar Medina for the alleged commission of crimes contemplated in the Organic Law on Drugs, said the judicial source. The Anzoatiguense control court where Medina was presented accepted such accusation and decreed deprivation of liberty, setting the National Anti-Drug Command as a provisional detention site.
This investigation continues with the investigation regarding other officials of the Justice System who may have cooperated with prosecutor Hernández, who is accused of allegedly favoring the Zaraceño businessman Omar Medina.
