Who is Tareck El Aissami, the powerful former Chavista minister who fell into disgrace and was arrested in Venezuela

Tareck El Aissami He is not a media politician like Diosdado Cabello or Nicolás Maduro himself, but he was the “tough guy” of the team and the main leverage with foreign groups that support the ruling Chavista regime in Venezuela. And he shared with them the gallery of the most wanted by American justice, which offers a reward of 10 million for their capture.

He was wanted by the US Department of Justice and the Office of Treasury Assets (OFAC) for alleged money laundering, drug trafficking and terrorism. The European Union also had it on its sanctions list.

The “Arab”, as his left-wing comrades nicknamed him a superminister who held the most important government positions in the 24 years of Chavismo government. He was Oil Minister, president of PDVSAalso vice president of the economic area and responsible for Industry and Commerce.

Russians, Iranians and Chinese

Tareck was the one who opened the doors of state industry to Russians, Iranians and Chinese to increase the exploitation of oil deposits but the attempts were in vain because they failed to bring production back to past levels.

Aissami is a criminal lawyer Graduated with honors from the University of Los Andes (ULA), 49 years old. He was born in Vigía, in the state of Mérida, where he grew up in a humble family of immigrants from Syria and Lebanon who today lives in a luxurious home.

It’s the second of five brothers. His father Carlos Zaidan El Aissami, a Syrian migrant, headed the Venezuelan branch of Iraq’s Arab socialist Baath political party, the same as Saddam Hussein. His uncle Shibli El Aissami was an official in Saddam Hussein’s regime.

His dizzying career began with the help of his mentor Adán Chávez, brother of former president Hugo Chávez. since his youth He was active on the left of the MVR (Chavista party) which merged with the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV).

His contacts with Chávez’s family allowed him to do so climb and run in the official nomenclature which began with the assignment of the Identity Mission and then continued with the head of Citizen Security, Minister of the Interior and Justice, deputy of the National Assembly, vice president of the Republic and governor of Aragua, the central state of Venezuela.

Violence

His time in previous positions has always coincided with rising indices violence and repression. For example, when he was Minister of the Interior and Justice (2008-2012), cases exceeded 20,000 murders per year. And when he was governor of Aragua, the feared “Aragua Train” criminal gang grew and in 2016 the highest number of violent deaths was recorded in the region: 142 murders per 100,000 inhabitants.

It is thrifty and speaks little. She is neither eloquent nor flaunts his power, on the contrary she behaves with a low profile so as not to end up in the sights of the press. His televised speeches were short and written in advance. His job was to organize and execute behind the scenes so as to leave no trace of his intervention.

“He is a cunning and discreet conspirator, sly, a devious man, a negotiator who triangulates and sets up operations with public resources and funds. He also allies himself with left-wing groups, both radical and Islamic, such as Iran, Hezbollah or Etarra, or Russian, Iranian or Cuban mafias, with the final aim of guaranteeing the perpetuation of power”, says a professor who has known him since in which he was a student leader at ULA and which he preferred maintain anonymity for fear of retaliation.

In dialogue with Clarion a few years ago, the analyst Joseph Humiredirector of the Study Center for a Free and Safe Society, stated that Tareck El Aissami has infiltrated the Lebanese Hezbollah terrorist group and the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard (GRI) in Venezuela, which are dedicated to illicit activities such as drug trafficking and arms sales.

According to Humire, It was dangerous because it would be linked to “a terrorist criminal network made up of more than 40 companies across Latin America to send illicit money to the Middle East. This network would be managed by his brother, Feras El Aissami.

In March 2019, the Manhattan Federal Court issued a ruling in which El Aissami was charged with drug trafficking, along with Samark López. The US Treasury Department alleged that El Aissami had protected and supervised large drug shipments from Venezuela to Mexico and the United States. And the US Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) included him on its most wanted list.

On March 18, 2023, President Nicolás Maduro, through the National Police against Corruption (PNCC), carried out a series of arrests and raids against public officials implicated in corruption cases

Among them was Joselit Ramírez, head of the National Superintendence of Cryptocurrencies (Sunacrip) and director of the El Aissami Office, who was also identified by the media as a person of his trust, requested by US justice. , accused of the disappearance, according to official sources, of 3.5 billion dollars in oil revenues.

Colonel Antonio Pérez Suárez and Lieutenant Colonel José Ramos Chirinos were also arrested in the operation, as well as deputy Hugbel Roa, all identified as belonging to El Aissami’s political circle.​ This operation had the support of deputy Diosdado Cabello, on behalf of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela.

In Caracas there were rumors that the arrests were due to an internal conflict between the Chavista faction led by the brothers Jorge Rodríguez, president of the National Assembly and Delcy Rodríguez, vice president of the Republic, against the group led by El Aissami, a thesis supported by the former prosecutor Zair Mundaray, who also reported Cabello as part of this internal clash of the government, ally of the Rodríguez brothers.​ Following this case, on March 20, 2023, El Aissami resigned from the position of Minister of People’s Power of Petroleum.​