The Department of Justice announced the sentence of life in prison plus 30 years against Carlos Orense Azocar, described as one of the most prominent drug kingpins in Venezuela and responsible for the distribution of hundreds of tons of cocaine destined for the United States with the assistance of the country's regime.
Also known as "El Gordo," (the fat one) Orense Azocar began his career in organized crime around 2003. According to U.S. prosecutors, he helped transport, receive and distribute cocaine shipments ranging from hundreds to thousands of kilograms from Venezuela to Mexico and the Dominican Republic, among other destinations, using both air and maritime routes.
As detailed in a DOJ statement released Jan. 12, Orense Azocar operated ranches in Venezuela where he stored cocaine in underground tanks, stockpiled hundreds of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition, and ran clandestine landing strips used to dispatch planes loaded with cocaine.
Another component of El Gordo's criminal enterprise involved the use of high speed boats, similar to those targeted by U.S. airstrikes since September, to move cocaine from the Venezuelan coastline to multiple points across the Caribbean.
According to U.S. prosecutors, Orense Azocar relied on outside help to organize large scale cocaine shipments. Authorities say El Gordo worked with and paid bribes to high ranking officials throughout the Venezuelan government, including military generals, army officers, national police commissioners and senior members of the country's intelligence agencies.
In exchange, those officials provided his organization with access to military-grade weapons, protection from military and law enforcement raids, and safe passage for cocaine shipments by air and sea.
El Gordo was initially convicted in December 2023 following a two week trial in New York, but sentencing did not take place until Jan. 12 of this year, when U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick sentenced him for conspiring to import massive quantities of cocaine into the United States and for multiple weapons related offenses.
"Carlos Orense Azocar is one of the most prolific cocaine traffickers ever sentenced in this courthouse, responsible for the distribution of hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States," U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton said in a statement. "Orense Azocar and his co conspirators, including high ranking government and military officials, inflicted incalculable damage on this community."
As noted by the Miami Herald, U.S. investigations into the expansion of drug trafficking operations in Venezuela identified Orense Azocar as one of the longest operating figures linked to the so-called Cartel de los Soles, an organization U.S. authorities claim is run by senior members of Venezuela's government and its armed forces.
In addition to paying millions of dollars in bribes to Venezuelan officials, El Gordo also partnered with armed guerrilla groups operating in Colombia and Venezuela to source cocaine and secure safe passage for his shipments. As noted by the Miami Herald, prosecutors estimated that Orense Azocar distributed nearly one ton of cocaine per week, roughly 40 tons per year, and that over the course of the conspiracy he was responsible for moving hundreds of tons of the drug, generating tens of millions of dollars in illicit proceeds.
"Carlos Orense Azocar was a criminal kingpin who built an empire on deception, fraud and bribery," DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole said. "Orense Azocar's close ties to the Venezuelan government provided the resources he needed to evade law enforcement and move massive shipments of cocaine across the Western Hemisphere."
The DEA administrator added that El Gordo's sentence sends a clear message to other drug trafficking organizations operating in Latin America.
"The DEA will relentlessly pursue and hold international drug traffickers accountable, no matter how far they run or how powerful they believe themselves to be," he said.
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