Venezuela Claims 3.6 Tons of Cocaine Their Forces Seized Was Part of a DEA False Flag Operation

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Diosdado Cabello, Venezuela's Minister of the Interior reported the dismantling of a "false flag" operation meant to link the South American country with drug trafficking. The alleged perpetrators of this operation? A drug trafficker tied to the large cocaine shipment, and the DEA.

Cabello reported at a press conference that Venezuelan authorities carried out an operation in which they seized 3,680 kilograms of cocaine traveling aboard a boat with four crew members, who were all arrested.

"That drug boat was a DEA false flag operation to accuse Venezuela. Four detainees with Venezuelan IDs were going to be released; they (the detainees) are reporting that," Cabello emphasized.

The minister asserted that U.S. authorities are trying to create a false narrative linking Venezuela to drug trafficking, a narrative he described as "false and manipulated," stating that one of those arrested in the operation was Levi Enrique López who, according to Cabello "is a DEA agent and a drug trafficker."

"Basically, what they want to do is plant drugs on a Venezuelan vessel. They are sentencing Caribbean fishermen to death," he stated.

He added that during the operation, members of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB), who had prior information from intelligence agencies, waited for a period of 20 hours for the small boat which from La Guajira, Colombian to pass before being intercepted.

The drugs had originated in Colombia, so the minister urged the Trump administration to monitor shipments leaving via the Pacific Ocean to the US and to Europe. He also mentioned that drug shipments have been detected in banana exports linked to Ecuador and the family of President Daniel Noboa.

Noboa's family are one of the largest banana exporters in the country, a common smuggling method with or without the knowledge of the export companies due to the large volume of banana shipments from Ecuador to the US and Europe.

Venezuela claims to have seized 60 tons of drugs since January of this year. According to 2023 charts, around 250 tons of cocaine transit through Venezuela annually. The 60 tons seized, if true, would be a record year so far for seizures by the country.

The Venezuelan government has portrayed this as proof of their commitment to fighting drug trafficking, contrasting it with the narrative of their country’s direct involvement in trafficking.

Venezuelan authorities seized the Go Fast boat with 3,692 kg of cocaine, 100 bags of cocaine hydrochloride, a satellite phone, two smartphones, two radio transmitters, a GPS, and 2,400 liters of fuel.

Four people were arrested, all with Venezuelan ID cards, which, according to Cabello, was part of a plan to incriminate the country. "Four people were going to be arrested with Venezuelan ID cards; that's what they're saying," he said.

According to the minister, the vessel used the same route as the failed 2020 Operation Gedeón, an attempted mercenary incursion into Venezuela. 

"Who is the owner of that drug, the operator? The drug operator is a man named Levi Enrique López Batiz," who has "close ties to Gersio Parra Machado, a citizen who operates in La Cañonera, in Catatumbo, and who has returned his operations to La Guajira, Colombia."

According to the Venezuelans, one of the detainees, known as "Cirilo," confessed to having connected the drug trafficker Levi Enrique López Bati with the DEA to carry out the operation. One of the detainees was previously detained in Puerto Rico for seven years for drug trafficking.

Who is Lopez Bati?

Levi Enrique Lopez Bati is alleged to have ties to a drug trafficker Gersio Parra Machado, said to have a key role in the Colombian drug trade, especially in the Catatumbo and La Guajira regions.

But Cabello’s statements went on to claim that Lopez Bati is not merely a drug trafficker but an operative for the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA). The claim made by Cabello during the news conference was that this drug trafficker was plotting a false flag operation meant to implicate Venezuela in the drug trade, potentially justifying further U.S. intervention or condemnation.

"Venezuela has complied with all established protocols," the official stated. He emphasized that, although they could have used weapons against the boat, they did not, unlike the US actions against Venezuelan vessels.

This claim comes after three smuggling boats were targeted by US military forces in the Caribbean Sea this past week. The first strike killed 11 alleged Tren de Aragua members on the boat. 3 more were killed in another attack on a vessel as seen on unclassified videos.

Trump posted details of the second attack on social media, stating it "resulted in the death in action of three male terrorists." Later Monday, he told reporters at the White House that the United States is ready to attack drug cartels both on land and at sea.

“Stop sending drugs to the United States,” Trump declared Tuesday as he departed Washington for London. “We actually destroyed three ships, not two, but you saw two.”

Trump did not provide further details about the attack, but warned Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro to stop sending narcotics and criminals from his country to the United States.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro described the attack by the US against a vessel believed to be transporting drugs in international waters as an assassination.

"Killing three passengers on an unarmed, unarmored boat with a missile is murder. The United States government is murdering Latin American people on their own land, because it's their territorial waters," the president stated.

Colombia's Drug Decertification

Colombia's recent removal of their certification as an ally in the fight against drugs by the United States highlighted the deterioration of bilateral cooperation and revived the debate over the effectiveness of anti-drug strategies in the region.

This decision, adopted by the Donald Trump administration, means Colombia is included on the list of countries considered non-cooperative in the fight against drug trafficking. This marks a turning point in the relationship between the two countries and directly affects the allocation of resources, which until now amounted to approximately $380 million annually.

According to a DEA official, the main concern is that approximately 90% of the cocaine identified in the United States comes from Colombia, according to United Nations figures for 2023. Several routes through neighboring countries including Venezuela have created powerful organized crime groups and gangs involved in the smuggling and protection of the drugs.

A substantial portion of the cocaine produced in Colombia transits through Ecuador before heading north, passing through Mexico and Central America before entering the United States.

The DEA official emphasized that these levels of production and trafficking have not decreased during Gustavo Petro's administration. 

Petro focused on defending his policy of eradicating and substituting illicit crops, and asserting that his administration has managed to counterattack the forces of criminal groups like the Tren de Aragua.

He even pointed out that the captured members of this terrorist group "should not be called terrorists" because they are "immigrants excluded" from the Venezuelan dictatorship. 

President Gustavo Petro continues to distance himself from recognizing the Cartel of the Suns as a narco-terrorist group led by Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro, despite the fact that both the United States and the Colombian legislative branch are aligned in affirming the cartel's existence as a criminal organization.

The Cartel of the Suns was recognized by the Colombian Senate, declaring the drug trafficking front a "transnational criminal and terrorist organization." 

The legislative resolution was announced on September 16, 2025, and received 33 votes in favor and 20 against.  "The security of Colombians and the region demands firm decisions against structures that, like the Cartel of the Suns, have been linked to drug trafficking and terrorism."

“We defined the criminal threat, the terrorist threat, in a document called the Critical Threat Capabilities Analysis. And that document essentially establishes three major groups that are fracturing among themselves because their interest is drugs. It's ambition, not ideology. There's the Gulf Clan cartel, there's the ELN cartel, and there's the dissident cartel in all its variations. Our focus is on those threats,” Sánchez said.

The vote occurred the same day that the U.S. decertified Colombia's anti-drug program. This could essentially cut off any aid, funding and access to weapons from the United States. 

But the Colombian president claims that these are "urban hitmen" groups. Therefore, he published a lengthy message on his social media in which he not only denied the existence of this criminal network, whose leader, according to Washington, is Maduro himself, but also asserted that drug trafficking on the border with Venezuela is the work of armed groups operating there.

Sources La Silla Nota, TeleSur, Infobae, Infobae

Categories: colombia, dea, venezuela