Indicted for Drug Trafficking, Venezuela's Justice Minister Blames "Destabilizing U.S. Political Weapon"

Venezuela’s Minister of Justice and the Interior Major General Nestor Reverol, indicted in New York with taking money from drug traffickers, said Monday during a press conference that he is waging a “no quarter” war against drugs. “In the face of unfounded accusations that have been made against me by U.S. authorities, we reject those, categorically and in all of its parts, for straying from reality,” Reverol said. “The State Department is using this as a political weapon in their destabilizing endeavor,” said Reverol of the U.S. drug charges. In early July, Reverol was removed as head of Venezuela's National Guard. A few weeks later, with Reverol out of office, the U.S. attorney general’s office in Brooklyn unsealed a year-and-a-half-old sealed indictment alleging Reverol and his second in command, Edylberto Molina, were involved in drug trafficking during Reverol’s tenure as head of ONA, Venezuela’s main anti-narcotics agency, from 2008 to 2010. More…