Monthly Archives: March 2020

03/31/20

Rogue Nations Competing with the X-37B

By: Denise Simon | Founders Code

America’s four greatest adversaries are investing in systems that can take out satellites on orbit, including funding laser systems, nuclear power, and satellites that shadow American space vehicles.

Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are each researching counter-space capabilities — kinetic or non-kinetic ways to taking out systems in space — according to the annual Global Counter-space Capabilities report, released by the Secure World Foundation.

Defense News was given an exclusive preview of the report, which will available later today and was edited by Brian Weeden and Victoria Samson.

For the first time, the report includes data on the space situational awareness (SSA) capabilities of countries — that is, the ability of nations to track what is moving in various orbits. Japan and India are two nations investing heavily in that area, according to the report, while Iran appears to lag behind.

“This is important because you can’t protect [against] what you can’t see,” said Samson, the organization’s Washington office director. “This doesn’t mean that developing an SSA capability is an indication of an offensive counter-space program, as there are many reasons why you would want that capability. But it is needed if you want to go offensive.”

She also highlighted the fact that in the last year, four of the countries with counter-space investments — India, Japan, France, and the U.S. — have launched new military organizations specifically to deal with space-related issues, including a focus, at least in part, on counter-space efforts. In addition, the NATO alliance declared space an “operational domain” in December.

The vast majority of counter-space capabilities continue to reside with Russia, China, and the United States, but other nations are funding programs as well. France, India, Japan, Iran, and North Korea are all known to be at least investing some money in counter-space efforts, whether through ballistic missile programs or non-kinetic means such as cyberattacks.

The most prominent counter-space example of the last year came from India, which in March controversially launched a missile at one of its satellites, blowing it up and spewing shrapnel around low-earth orbit.

So is a counter-space arms race underway? The authors say no, at least in the context of the nuclear arms race where each country is trying to match the other capability for capability.

Instead, “this is about developing a range of offensive and defensive capabilities to go after an opponent’s space assets while protecting your own,” said Weeden, the organization’s director of program planning. “And I think that’s unfortunately inevitable because more and more countries are using space for military purposes. That drives increased interest in how to counter those uses.”

Added Samson, “it now seems that if you want to be considered a major space power, it’s not enough to have your own satellites, or the ability to launch them, or even the ability to launch other country’s satellites. You want your own counter-space capability.”

The big three

When Pentagon and White House officials talked about the need for a Space Force last year, leaders emphasized a growing threat in space.

“For all their posturing about who’s ‘weaponizing’ space, the big three are all working on a lot of the same technologies and doing a lot of the same things,” particularly rendezvous and proximity operations (RPO) where satellites can maneuver near another nation’s system, said Weeden.

The big three, in this case, are China, Russian and the United States.

China has run multiple maneuvers with its space-based systems that may be RPO-related, but it’s hard to know whether those capabilities are being developed for counter-space use as opposed to intelligence gathering, the report said.

When it comes to Chinese capabilities, Weeden said to focus on the ground-based anti-satellite weaponry — perhaps not a surprise, given China declared itself a player in counter-space technology by destroying one of its own satellites in 2007.

Beijing is investing in at least one, and perhaps as many as three, kinetic anti-satellite capabilities, “either as dedicated counter-space systems or as mid-course missile defense systems that could provide counter-space capabilities,” according to the report.

“It was robustly tested and appears to be operationally deployed,” Weeden said of those capabilities. “As long as the U.S. still relies on small numbers of very expensive satellites in LEO, I think it will prove to be a significant deterrent.”

While China often becomes the focus of public comments from Defense officials, Weeden said to keep an eye on Moscow, as he was “a bit shocked by the breadth of Russian counter-space programs. For all the concern and hype in the U.S. about China, Russia seems to be putting the most into counter-space.”

Those efforts include the Nudol, a ground-launched ballistic missile designed to be capable of intercepting targets in low-earth orbit; three different programs focused on RPO capabilities; the rebirth of a 1980s era program involving a large laser, to either dazzle or damage a satellite, carried about an IL-76MD-90A transport aircraft; a newly-discovered program called Ekipazh, which involves a nuclear reactor to power a large payload of on-orbit jammers; and what Weeden describes as a “massive” upgrade to SSA capabilities.

“All of that spells a very potent, more operationally-integrated, and more battle-tested package than what I’m seeing in China,” he warned. He added that he believes the public focus on China to be “part of the broader narrative the Trump administration is trying to push with China being the long-term threat they want to focus on. It also helps sell the narrative they’re trying to push on human spaceflight and exploration as well.”

As for the United States, the military has focused more on SSA and defensive counter-space capabilities, a trend Weeden says is due to America being the most reliant on space of the three countries, and hence must “protect its capabilities if it hopes to win a future conflict against Russia or China.” America’s SSA capabilities, in particular, remain well ahead of the rest of the world.

Which isn’t to say the U.S. is skipping out on counter-space investments either. America has a number of options for electronic warfare in space, including proven capabilities to jam enemy receivers within an area of operations; assets with RPO capabilities; and operational midcourse missile defense interceptors that have been demonstrated against low orbit satellites. In addition, there are plans to invest in prototyping directed energy capabilities for space.

One capability to keep an eye on is the X-37B, a spaceplane program that has made five trips into orbit and back to earth. In total, the spacecrafts have spent 2,865 days on orbit cumulatively over its five missions, with its last trip consisting of 780 days in space — more than two years.

The Air Force has been secretive about X-37B missions, often talking broadly about it conducting experiments in space; analysts have long believed that the mission set has at least something to do with counter-space capabilities. That belief was only strengthened by what happened during its last trip during which researchers believe it was used to launch a trio of small CubeSats that were not registered in international tracking databases.

“The secret deployment of multiple small satellites raises additional questions about the mission of the X-37B. It suggests that the X-37B may have a mission to serve as a covert satellite deployment platform. The secrecy surrounding both the X-37B and the deployment may indicate they are part of a covert intelligence program, but it may also indicate the testing of offensive technologies or capabilities,” the authors wrote in the report. “The failure to even catalog the deployed satellites, something that is done even for classified U.S. military and intelligence satellites, calls into question the trustworthiness of the public SSA data provided by the U.S. military.”

And that creates potential diplomatic issues, at a time that the need for open discussions about space capabilities across nations should be growing, warned Samson.

“The Russians and Chinese have always pointed at the secrecy surrounding the X-37B program as evidence of malevolent intentions by the United States,” she said. “The fact that the U.S. released objects from the X-37B and didn’t register them feeds absolutely into that narrative and causes ripple effects that harm other multilateral discussions on space security and stability.”

03/31/20

Google Sent Users 40,000 Warnings

By: Denise Simon | Founders Code

Primer questions: Did other tech companies do the same and if so, how many? What does Congress know and where are they with a real cyber policy?

Google’s threat analysis group, which counters targeted and government-backed hacking against the company and its users, sent account holders almost 40,000 warnings in 2019, with government officials, journalists, dissidents, and geopolitical rivals being the most targeted, team members said on Thursday.

The number of warnings declined almost 25 percent from 2018, in part because of new protections designed to curb cyberattacks on Google properties. Attackers have responded by reducing the frequency of their hack attempts and with being more deliberate. The group saw an increase in phishing attacks that impersonated news outlets and journalists. In many of these cases, attackers sought to spread disinformation by attempting to seed false stories with other reporters. Other times, attackers sent several benign messages in hopes of building a rapport with a journalist or foreign policy expert. The attackers, who most frequently came from Iran and North Korea, would later follow up with an email that included a malicious attachment.

Color-coded Mercator projection of the world.

“Government-backed attackers regularly target foreign policy experts for their research, access to the organizations they work with, and connections to fellow researchers or policymakers for subsequent attacks,” Toni Gidwani, a security engineering manager in the threat analysis group, wrote in a post.

Top targets

Countries with residents that collectively received more than 1,000 warnings included the United States, India, Pakistan, Japan, and South Korea. Thursday’s post came eight months after Microsoft said it had warned 10,000 customers of nation-sponsored attacks over the 12 previous months. The software maker said it saw “extensive” activity from five specific groups sponsored by Iran, North Korea, and Russia.

Thursday’s post also tracked targeted attacks carried out by Sandworm, believed to be an attack group working on behalf of the Russian Federation. Sandworm has been responsible for some of the world’s most severe attacks, including hacks on Ukrainian power facilities that left the country without electricity in 2015 and 2016, NATO and the governments of Ukraine and Poland in 2014, and according to Wired journalist Andy Greenberg, the NotPetya malware that created worldwide outages, some that lasted weeks.

The following graph shows Sandworm’s targeting of various industries and countries from 2017 to 2019. While the targeting of most of the industries or countries was sporadic, Ukraine was on the receiving end of attacks throughout the entire three-year period:

Sandworm’s targeting efforts (mostly by sector) over the last three years.
Enlarge / Sandworm’s targeting efforts (mostly by sector) over the last three years.
Google

Tracking zero-days

In 2019, the Google group discovered zero-day vulnerabilities affecting Android, iOS, Windows, Chrome, and Internet Explorer. A single attack group was responsible for exploiting five of the unpatched security flaws. The attacks were used against Google, Google account holders, and users of other platforms.

“Finding this many zeroday exploits from the same actor in a relatively short time frame is rare,” Gidwani wrote.

The exploits came from legitimate websites that had been hacked, links to malicious websites, and attachments embedded in spear-phishing emails. Most of the targets were in North Korea or were against individuals working on North Korea-related issues.

The group’s policy is to privately inform developers of the affected software and give them seven days to release a fix or publish an advisory. If the companies don’t meet that deadline, Google releases its own advisory.

One observation that Google users should note: of all the phishing attacks the company has seen in the past few years, none has resulted in a takeover of accounts protected by the account protection program, which among other things makes multifactor authentication mandatory. Once people have two physical security keys from Yubi or another manufacturer, enrolling in the program takes less than five minutes.

03/31/20

FBI Abuse Of FISA Much Worse Per New Report

By: Denise Simon | Founders Code

FBI problems with FISA warrants extend beyond Russia case, DOJ watchdog warns

The Justice Department’s chief watchdog issued an extraordinary warning Tuesday that the FBI is failing to follow its own rules when pursuing surveillance warrants in sensitive intelligence and terrorism cases, confirming that problems first exposed in the Russia collusion probe extend to other cases.

Among the problems cited was a failure by agents to substantiate allegations submitted to courts, similar to the missteps the FBI made in failing to ensure allegations in the Steele dossier back in 2016 were verified before securing a FISA warrant targeting the Trump campaign and former adviser Carter Page.

The report found that investigators:

  • could not review original Woods Files for four of the 29 selected FISA applications because the FBI has not been able to locate them and, in 3 of these instances, did not know if they ever existed;
  • identified apparent errors or inadequately supported facts in all of the 25 applications we reviewed;
  • identified deficiencies in documentary support and application accuracy;
  • interviewed FBI officials who indicated to us that there were no efforts by the FBI to use existing FBI and National Security Division oversight mechanisms to perform comprehensive, strategic assessments of the efficacy of the Woods Procedures or FISA accuracy.

Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, a senior member of the Judiciary Committee who played a key role in exposing FISA abuses during the Russia probe, said Horowitz’s memo shows the problems first exposed with the faulty Carter Page warrant were “just the tip of the iceberg.”

“Not a single application from the past five years reviewed by the inspector general was up to snuff. That’s alarming and unacceptable,” Grassley said.

“The FBI has an important job to protect our national security, but it does not have carte blanche to routinely erode the liberties of Americans without proper justification. Oversight mechanisms like the Woods Procedures exist for a reason, and if the FBI wants to restore its reputation among the American people, it had better start taking them seriously,” he added.

Sally Moyer not ‘Agent 5’ in IG report on FBI

The final report just issued in .pdf is found here.

Additionally, NR has this summary in part:

Horowitz’s office said in a report released Tuesday that of the 29 applications — all of which involved U.S. citizens – that were pulled from “8 FBI field offices of varying sizes,” the FBI could not find Woods Files for four of the applications, while the other 25 all had “apparent errors or inadequately supported facts.”

“While our review of these issues and follow-up with case agents is still ongoing—and we have not made materiality judgments for these or other errors or concerns we identified—at this time we have identified an average of about 20 issues per application reviewed, with a high of approximately 65 issues in one application and less than 5 issues in another application,” the report reveals.

The Woods Procedure dictates that the Justice Department verify the accuracy and provide evidentiary support for all facts stated in its FISA application. The FBI is required to share with the FISA Court all relevant information compiled in the Woods File when applying for a surveillance warrant.

“FBI and NSD officials we interviewed indicated to us that there were no efforts by the FBI to use existing FBI and NSD oversight mechanisms to perform comprehensive, strategic assessments of the efficacy of the Woods Procedures or FISA accuracy, to include identifying the need for enhancements to training and improvements in the process, or increased accountability measures,” the report states.

The OIG concludes by recommending that the FBI “systematically and regularly examine the results of past and future accuracy reviews to identify patterns or trends in identified errors” relating to the Woods Procedure, as well as double-checking “that Woods Files exist for every FISA application submitted to the FISC in all pending investigations.”

In a letter acknowledging the audit, FBI Associate Deputy Director Paul Abbate said that the issues “will be addressed” by the Bureau’s already-issued correctives after the Carter Page review, and added that “the FBI fully accepts the two recommendations.”

McCabe admitted in January that the FBI has an “inherent weakness in the process” of obtaining FISA warrants.

03/30/20

How Trump is Taming the Bureaucracy and Saving Lives

By: Cliff Kincaid

From the start of the crisis, President Trump has been trying to figure out — and cut through — the bureaucracy. His latest victory is the decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to accept 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate and one million doses of chloroquine phosphate for possible use in treating patients hospitalized with COVID-19 or for use in clinical trials. Trump understands that America cannot wait for a possible vaccine and that patients and their doctors need the freedom now to try alternative treatments.

In this context, the tragic death of former Senator Tom Coburn is a reminder that the federal health care bureaucracy has been characterized by slow-moving efforts that are sometimes marked by corruption or incompetence. His sad passing is an occasion for remembering that, as a Senator and medical doctor, he released a major study, “CDC Off Center,” about how the federal agency wasted hundreds of millions of tax dollars and has been ineffective in controlling diseases. A case in point is the billions wasted on more than 30 years of research into an HIV/AIDS vaccine.

A strong conservative, Coburn was willing to challenge the bureaucracy and expose its malfeasance. He exposed what critics have called the “Medical Deep State.”

We saw the bureaucracy in action in 2014 when the Obama Administration failed to impose a travel ban and prevent disease carriers with the deadly Ebola virus from coming into the United States. The Obama administration actually allowed a carrier of Ebola from Africa, where it originated, into the United States, where he infected two nurses, one of whom had been allowed by the Centers for Disease Control to travel on a plane. He died. The CDC says the outbreak ended with more than 28,600 cases and 11,325 deaths. In the U.S., however, we were fortunate to escape a major outbreak.

Obama’s CDC director, Dr. Tom Frieden, actually wrote an article, “Why I don’t support a travel ban to combat Ebola outbreak.” He is now a leading medical “expert” at the Council on Foreign Relations, a major source of anti-Trump commentaries.

My coverage of this disease at the time questioned why Obama opposed a common-sense ban on travel to the U.S. by people from Ebola-infected countries. He also kept the southern border wide open. Simply put, Obama viewed restrictions on African travel to the U.S. as racist. He was giving black Africa special access to the U.S., and putting their interests ahead of America’s.

On another level, it seemed as if Obama, a globalist, didn’t mind if people in the U.S. were to become infected. In his mind, there would be more pressure to find a “cure,” or at least a vaccine. But who knew how many would die in the process? At the time, we didn’t know. It could have been hundreds, or thousands, or more.

A poll from The Washington Post and ABC News showed that 67 percent of people supported a travel ban.

To make matters worse, Obama appointed Ron Klain, an Obama insider and Joe Biden chief-of-staff, as his “Ebola Czar.” He had no experience in the health field. He is now a leading critic of Trump’s handling of the coronavirus but outlets like CNBC fail to note that he worked for a president who knowingly permitted Ebola to take root on American soil.

In regard to coronavirus, Trump has broken decisively with the Obama policy and has forced the health care bureaucracy to come over to his way of thinking. His ban on travel from China, where the virus originated, has saved countless lives. In effect, Trump has been taming the bureaucracy to put America and Americans first.

I believe the president’s decision to accelerate the use of anti-malaria drugs to treat coronavirus reflects his skepticism of the bureaucracy’s heavy emphasis on vaccines to “solve” the problem of infectious disease. The failed development of an HIV/AIDS vaccine demonstrates that the Medical Deep State cannot be trusted and relied on in this case.

Since the beginning of the HIV/AIDS epidemic in 1981, more than 700,000 American lives have been lost to HIV.  President Trump’s plan, “Ending the HIV Epidemic: A Plan for America,” emphasizes drugs as treatments for HIV/AIDS. He promises hope – not false hope.

In the case of Ebola, the CDC quickly announced human testing of an “investigational vaccine to prevent Ebola virus disease” and a so-called “fast-tracking” process was underway. It looked like the CDC was much faster in approving human trials of a vaccine than in stopping Ebola from coming into the U.S. in the first place. Ultimately, however, the first FDA-approved vaccine for the prevention of Ebola wasn’t announced until the end of 2019. But questions remain and it has not been licensed for widespread use. It was another false hope that took too many years to develop through the bureaucracy. It was years too late.

Hundreds of people got neurological disorders and several dozen died from a swine flu vaccine before it was withdrawn in 1976. The CDC Director at that time, Dr. David J. Sencer, was fired. Yet, the CDC museum is named after him. In addition to the 1976 swine flu debacle, there were several vaccine scandals involving children during the Clinton administration. A hepatitis B vaccine was withdrawn because it contained a toxic substance, and a vaccine against diarrhea was withdrawn because it, too, was dangerous to children.

As the feds scramble for another risky and mandatory vaccine, in the case of coronavirus, remember that Congress pass the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Act of 1986, which created a National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, for a reason. Vaccines can be dangerous and backfire.

The Association of American Physicians and Surgeons argues that “we need the right to try” alternative drugs and treatments, such as the anti-malarial drugs chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine. The group notes that an early version of these drugs may have been a key factor in General George Washington’s victory over the British in the Revolutionary War.

In the spirit of George Washington, President Trump is meeting the challenge.

Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s Survival, Inc. www.usasurvival.org.

03/30/20

Coronavirus Causing a Right Turn

By: Lloyd Marcus

My brother who lives in Baltimore is a fellow black Christian conservative Republican. He phoned to warn me not to mention Trump to a senior relative. Fake news media’s corona-madness has driven her hatred to the extreme. Now, she wants him dead!

Our relative’s irrational hatred for Trump is exactly what Democrats/fake news media still strive to create since the day he was elected.

However, whenever Trump speaks directly to the American people, they believe him, gravitate to him, and love his America first agenda.

This is why Democrats/fake news media continuously seek to block Trump from communicating directly to We the People. Absurdly, they claim his tweeting is an impeachable crime. The Democrats’/fake news media was thrilled when coronavirus hit our shores, giving them an opportunity to demand that Trump stop holding rallies. The mega thousands who attend Trump rallies include a growing number of Democrats eager to jump aboard the Trump Train. 

To further block the people from hearing Trump, fake news media has outrageously decided to stop broadcasting Trump’s coronavirus update press conferences.

Fear not, folks. Every sinister scheme against Trump has failed and corona-madness will fail also. Millions are praying for our president. “No weapon formed against you shall prosper.” Isaiah 54:17

Laser-focused on the emotional and financial well-being of each and every American, Trump is seeking to get relief funds into their hands ASAP.

Insidiously evil Nancy Pelosi held up the process. She is callously exploiting the suffering of Americans to force Trump to sign a relief bill with funding for unrelated radical leftist agenda items. Pelosi wants wind and solar tax credits, mandates on corporate board diversity, advancing abortion, mandating the LGBTQ agenda, the Green New Deal and much more. Sen. Ted Cruz’s response was, “What in the hell does that have to do with this crisis?!”

I pray that Democrat party loyalists will finally realize that their party as they knew it is gone. It has morphed into an anti-Christian and anti-American enemy within, driven by a spirit of anti-Christ. The only thing, I repeat, the only thing Democrats care about is transforming America into their socialist/communist dream. Our economy, healthcare, emotional well-being and the loss of American lives are deemed acceptable collateral damage on the road to creating their anything goes sexually and totally government-controlled new America. Therefore, Pelosi and her minions do not give a rat’s derriere about you.

Remember that song, “A Little Good News”? I would like to thank businesses across America who are stepping up, producing hand sanitizer, masks, and providing much-needed goods and services. This is who we are folks. We are Americans.

My buddy alerted me to this good news that you will not hear reported by fake news media. Dennis Prager reported that a few weeks ago, Neil Ferguson of the UK’s Imperial College said that half a million would die of coronavirus in the UK and two to three million in the U.S. These scary numbers empowered leftists to demand that everything close down. Now, the scientist is saying 20,000 will die in the UK, not 500,000.

More good news is seeing commercials for Christian programming during secular TV shows. The Bible tells Christians to be salt. Salt makes a difference. I have criticized churches for behaving in a cowardly manner, not adding salt to our culture. During the corona crisis, more and more pastors are speaking out about how our culture has gone down the wrong road. It is funny how trouble always brings us back to God and on our knees.

It is good news that God has blessed us with Donald J. Trump in the Oval Office. Democrats/fake news media believe no cost is too high to end Trump’s presidency. This includes collapsing the U.S. economy and destroying and even ending American lives.

Despite Democrats/fake news media launching a tidal wave of false reporting, claiming he is willing to murder Americans to profit his big-business buddies, Trump is remarkably unaffected. Behaviorally, Trump says, “Screw their false reporting! I’m going to do what is best for the American people. They want to get back to work. They want their lives back.”

Our courageous president has announced plans to cautiously begin reopening America in various sectors ASAP. Optimism is contagious. Trump believes our economy will bounce back stronger than ever. I agree.

We are witnessing a slight “right turn” in America, back to God, family, patriotism, principles, and values which have made America great. I say, “Praise the Lord!”

Lloyd Marcus, The Unhyphenated American
Help Lloyd Spread the Truth
https://www.trumptrainusa2020.com/
http://LloydMarcus.com

03/29/20

Have They No Shame? American Communists Exploit CCP Virus to Propagandize for Their Chinese Masters

By: Trevor Loudon | The Epoch Times

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Geng Shuang speaks during a daily briefing at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs office in Beijing on March 18, 2020. American journalists were expelled from China in retaliation for a new limit imposed by the Trump administration on visas for Chinese state-owned media operating in the United States. (Andy Wong/AP Photo)

Several of this country’s many communist parties are loyal to the Chinese regime rather than to the United States of America. Consequently, it’s not surprising that some American communists are closely echoing the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) propaganda line over the coronavirus pandemic.

The United States’ main pro-CCP communist parties—Freedom Road Socialist Organization (FRSO), Communist Party USA (CPUSA), and Liberation Road—are disseminating three major propaganda themes:

Today’s News Updates

Firstly, deflect blame for the pandemic away from the CCP. Promote the lie that the CCP is leading the world in virus containment, even though the disease gained an international foothold precisely because the Chinese regime covered up and lied about the seriousness of the outbreak—and is probably still doing so.

Secondly, hew to the “line” that socialist health care systems and planned economies are far superior at containing epidemics than is heartless “capitalism.” The rich are profiting off the poor and the middle class and only socialism can bring justice.

Thirdly, defend the CCP at all costs from any accountability or shame for its negligence (or worse). Paint “China” as a victim of U.S. aggression and prepare to defend Beijing from Western sanctions or even U.S. military attack. Divert as much blame as possible onto President Donald Trump and the U.S. government.

Even a cursory reading of American communist websites will soon reveal consistent propaganda patterns.

Minneapolis-based FRSO leader Steff Yorek extolled the virtues of Chinese socialism in a March 18 FightBack! News article.

“As the number of confirmed cases of the viral illness COVID-19 approaches 200,000 worldwide, we can already see how differently issues of public health and human needs are treated in socialist countries vs. capitalist countries.

“COVID-19 was first detected in Wuhan, a major city in the People’s Republic of China. Local officials took three to four weeks to recognize its significance. Once the threat was clear, the whole of the country and vast resources were mobilized. Everything was shut down to stop the virus in its tracks. People were quarantined at home as new hospitals were constructed, some in as little as ten day’s time, to manage the large numbers of sick people.

“Because there is a cradle-to-grave social safety net in socialist China, people could be quarantined at home, with neighbors assigned to check on each home, identify needs and find solutions. China shut down the country for eight weeks for the singular purpose of saving lives.

“As of today, most of the deaths from COVID-19 are outside China, and the epidemic in China is essentially under control. All those wealthy countries, even those with national health systems, have not been as effective as China in combatting the disease. This shows the superiority of a socialist society, where serving the wealthy is not the first priority of the government.”

In a March 17, FightBack! report, an unnamed FRSO cadre wrote from Guangdong, China, on the situation on the ground there. He or she makes some very unflattering and completely untruthful comparisons between the CCP response to the pandemic and that of President Trump and the U.S. government.

“There is chaos in America right now surrounding COVID-19. Americans are receiving conflicting information every day about the virus, with no direction from the Trump administration. The Trump administration has decided that the best course of action is to do nothing, with Trump himself declaring ‘I don’t take responsibility at all.’ …

“At the same point of the virus’s timeline that we’re now at in the United States, China already had entire cities under quarantine. … Trump has already said that even if a vaccine were to be released, our for-profit system wouldn’t guarantee it would be available to everyone. Without access to guaranteed sick leave, working-class people are forced to make the difficult choice between remaining at work and exposing themselves to the virus or staying at home with their families while earning no income. …

“The United States’ messy capitalist system has made it so that there is no such widespread and effective campaign designed to protect working-class people. As such, many are without guidance at the moment. In a return to an almost feudalistic society, states and cities are left to fend for themselves and make up their own public safety policies. …

“In China, its socialist system provided a meticulous, centrally planned response that completely suffocated the epidemic and protected its people. Things are finally returning to normal here only because of the carefully organized actions from the government. Meanwhile, in the U.S., its capitalist system continues to haphazardly and inefficiently combat the outbreak which is quickly spiraling out of control. The U.S. would be well served in following the shining example from China and developing a universal healthcare system that puts the needs of its people over the profits of wealthy corporations.”

C.J. Atkins is the managing editor of the CPUSA’s People’s World website. In a March 18 article, Atkin’s interviewed “Lupin,” a young man recently returned to Wuhan from working in Canada:

“Trump and his coronavirus point-man, Vice President Mike Pence, parade corporate CEOs at televised press conferences and present the private sector as savior. China has taken the opposite stance. ‘China nationalized this crisis from the beginning and made it the country’s priority above everything else,’ Lupin asserts. ‘With the solidarity of 1.4 billion people and the entire machinery of the Communist Party of China engaged, we came through the darkest moment.’ …

“Lupin says he has ‘witnessed the extent of efforts the Chinese government and its citizens have made.’ Looking West, he believes ‘the things the U.S. and Canada are doing so far are nowhere close to it yet.’ …

“‘A month ago, many countries mocked the situation in China as if it will never become a “First World” countries issue. Now, these same countries are hoping China will come to their rescue’—which is precisely what is happening in Italy, where teams of Chinese experts have arrived to help.”

Ian Goodrum is a CPUSA member working as a writer and digital editor for China Daily in Beijing. He is upset with President Trump for quite rightly pinning the blame for the pandemic on the CCP. Writing in the People’s World:

“Previous presidents were more sophisticated in their efforts against China, ‘pivoting to Asia’ and drafting trade agreements to box the country out; Trump uses the blunt instrument of tariffs and calls COVID-19 the ‘Chinese virus.’

“This serves several purposes. First, it creates a distraction from the abysmal U.S. response to the outbreak, which has left tens of thousands of probable cases untested, likely more. The population isn’t ready to weather this imminent calamity, despite the time afforded them by the control measures taken by China and other countries months ago. That is criminal negligence. …

“Second, it makes the virus someone else’s problem. If COVID-19 can be successfully branded a uniquely Chinese phenomenon, then the blame doesn’t fall to him. Never mind that the intense focus on China during the early weeks of the epidemic minimized the threat the virus posed to the rest of the world and made many in other countries complacent—shifting responsibility and rescuing what’s left of his image is all that matters to an egotist like Trump.

“Finally, and most troubling of all, it opens a new front in the ongoing anti-China offensive waged by the U.S. government and media. The rest of the planet is waking up to the fact China has done its best in a difficult moment and come out the other side with valuable experience. They’re asking for help in handling their own outbreaks after seeing what China has been able to accomplish, and China has been happy to provide it. The U.S. sees this as a loss of ground and is wildly striking wherever it can to win back terrain in an imagined battle for hegemony.

“Trump thinks this will help the U.S. back to the top in an influence game only he is playing.

“He couldn’t be more wrong. If the U.S. wanted to win some global goodwill, it could put aside these petty squabbles and get to work solving a crisis—not a ‘Chinese crisis’—that puts the whole world at risk.”

Chicago activist Tobita Chow is more closely affiliated with Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), but he wrote a March 18 article for the Liberation Road-linked website Organizing Upgrade. Chow explicitly called on American leftists to protect “China” from American sanctions or even military action.

“The current progressive response to the coronavirus has focused on solutions to the coronavirus like Medicare For All and paid sick leave and solutions to the recession like a Green New Deal stimulus package. While this is part of what we need, it is not sufficient to counter this emerging rightwing nationalist strategy and the militarism that it is leading us towards. A race-neutral response focused only on the domestic economy will leave untouched the racism, xenophobia, and nationalism that are coming at us. Antiracism and internationalism must play a much more central role in our counter-narratives than they have so far. …

“The antiwar movement must prepare for potential escalation with China, and the rest of the progressive movement infrastructure must get ready to back them up, in a way that we weren’t when we were on the brink of war with Iran less than three months ago. And we need to pick and escalate our own fights that demonstrate to the whole country where the real battle lines lie, fights that clarify that the greatest threat to us is not any other country, but our own unaccountable elites within the Trump administration and the corporations that seek to profit off of this crisis.”

America’s pro-CCP communists are propagandizing for an enemy nation on U.S. soil. They are effectively soldiers in an international information war designed to move U.S. public opinion toward socialism and to disguise and obscure CCP responsibility for this hugely damaging pandemic.

While these groups are clearly acting in line with CCP policy, it’s unclear whether any of them are registered as Chinese government agents under the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA).

Is the State Department investigating any of these organizations for possible FARA violations? If not why not?

Trevor Loudon is an author, filmmaker, and public speaker from New Zealand. For more than 30 years, he has researched radical left, Marxist, and terrorist movements and their covert influence on mainstream politics. He is best known for his book “Enemies Within: Communists, Socialists and Progressives in the U.S. Congress” and his similarly-themed documentary film “Enemies Within.” His soon-to-be-published book is “White House Reds: Communists, Socialists & Security Risks Running for U.S. President, 2020.”

03/27/20

One-Worlders Exploit Pandemic for Global Government

By: Cliff Kincaid

Since “climate change” has not ushered in a world government, the global health crisis will have to do. Hence, Greta Thunberg has announced it’s “extremely likely” she has had coronavirus. She wasn’t tested but quickly recovered, she says. Now, we are told, the world has to come together to create a global government financed by global taxes to deal with future pandemics.

“Gordon Brown calls for global government to tackle coronavirus” is the British Guardian headline over a story about the former Labor prime minister.

Globalist organizations led by the World Federalists are leading the charge. This year, however, they think the timing is on their side. Their “UN2020” movement is taking advantage of this year being the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. They believe the coronavirus can be exploited to get the nations of the world united behind the push for “another, better path for humanity.”

Their “plan of action,” as set forth in a draft of their “People’s Declaration,” is unfolding mostly behind-the-scenes as the 75th anniversary of the United Nations “provides a much-needed opportunity for system-wide stocktaking, strengthening and renewal.”

The World Federalists are sometimes regarded as small and without much influence, but the fact is that prominent personalities such as Walter Cronkite, the former CBS Evening News anchorman, were world federalists. What’s more, President Clinton and then-First Lady Hillary Clinton endorsed the group’s activities during the time of the Clinton Administration.

Former Clinton official Strobe Talbott wrote a book, The Great Experiment, describing his own background in the pro-world government World Federalist Movement and naming a network of friends and close associates that included billionaire leftist hedge fund operator George Soros. The purpose of Talbott’s book was to promote “global governance,” a euphemism for world government, and was defined in the subtitle as “The Quest for a Global Nation.”

With a pandemic sweeping the globe, they think this is their time to strike. A draft of their declaration urges mechanisms such as an “Independent Commission on Global Governance” or a “United Nations Parliamentary Assembly” to be pushed by sympathetic governments.

“Far quicker than most of us could have imagined, a world-encompassing health crisis…has shaken the global order to its core,” it says, adding that “…no longer can we behave as if our current institutions are sufficient to secure our future…To meet growing demands, a revitalized UN system would need a reliable source of funding.”

Entitled “Humanity at a Crossroads: global governance at a time of global uncertainty,”  the document calls for consideration of proposals such as an international carbon tax, a fossil fuel consumption tax, a global tax on select mineral resource extraction or usage, a minimum international corporate tax, a financial transaction tax, and “other fiscal policy options.”

But here’s their bottom line, in their own words: “A global tax body to enforce these options should also be considered.”

My 1997 book, Global Taxes for World Government, available for free at my America’s Survival website www.usasurvival.org, describes this movement.

On Capitol Hill, Senator Edward J. Markey, member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, has been joined by other liberals in calling on President Donald Trump to introduce a United Nations Security Council resolution that declares pandemics a clear threat to international peace and security. As part of this resolution, they want to “Mandate that, in the event of a declared health emergency, all countries ensure on-the-ground access by World Health Organization (WHO) officials, as well as require that all countries transparently disseminate timely public health information to the WHO and to their own people.”

Of course, the U.N.s World Health Organization has been widely accused of a pro-China bias and stalling on the declaration of a public health emergency surrounding coronavirus. Equally significant, its director-general, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus,  was a member of the “High-Level Task Force for Innovative Financing for Health Systems,” a group which recommended global taxes for the U.N. They call them “solidarity levies” on airline tickets, tobacco, and currency transactions.

Tedros’s praise for President Trump, saying he is doing a “great job” in fighting the pandemic, is a recognition of reality. Tedros understands that Trump’s leadership has more than compensated for the lack of expertise from the WHO and the Centers for Disease Control. Tedros’ job is on the line, as an online petition with 563,013 signatures as of Thursday afternoon is urging his resignation.

Whether that resignation comes or not, it will be important for President Trump to continue to resist calls for more globalism to fix the problems caused by globalism.

*Cliff Kincaid is president of America’s Survival, Inc. www.usasurvival.org.

03/26/20

Banner Waving

By: T.F. Stern | Self-Educated American

My son came up to visit and brought me a Trump flag/banner to display from my house up here in Buffalo, Texas.  He didn’t want to attach it to the house in Houston, fearing it might bring out the worst in some folks who lack civility at most any level.  Can’t say I blame him, having seen some of the nonsense that’s been going on in our country.

So here’s the Trump banner, proudly waving in the breeze as it’s wedged in between the top railing of my porch and the roof overhang.

I’m not sure I like Trump as much as so many of his supporters, but at least he loves America and is doing what he can to expose the ugliness of the folks in Congress who keep trying to destroy this nation.

Several years ago when Obama was running for the presidency, a good friend of mine, Terrell Hunt, (may he rest in peace), was backing Obama’s candidacy and put up a huge ‘Obama for President’ banner to hang from the entryway to his house.  I was on my way home in the evening and noticed it; how could you not notice it?

Terrell and I didn’t see eye to eye on most anything political, but we were brothers in the gospel of Jesus Christ and treated each other with the highest respect and love.  Lucy and I would go over and visit with the Hunt family regularly and joke about our differences, chiding each other here a bit and there a bit; but always knowing our friendship was more important than any political issue.

I decided to call Terrell in the morning to chide him about the ‘Obama for President’ sign.  When he answered the phone I explained, “Someone vandalized your house last night.”

Terrell was a bit angry as he replied, “They sure did…they wrote nasty stuff all over my brand new ‘Obama for President’ banner.”  Turns out someone had actually ‘vandalized’ his home by spray painting across his political hero’s banner.

His response caught me completely off guard, and from the way he paused, let me know that perhaps he considered me the culprit since I knew about it as the sun was coming up.  I assured him I had no idea someone had spray-painted his Obama banner; that I was joking with him for having put the banner up in the first place.

Timing is a funny thing and it’s a shame Terrell passed away a couple of years ago; he was a true friend, and I can’t say that about too many folks who claim to be Democrats…

Terrell’s probably looking down from the Heavens at my house here in Buffalo, Texas, wishing he could call me on the phone, “Hey, Brother Stern, someone came by your house and vandalized it.”  Yes, I can see him laughing into the phone and wondering if I too have a sense of humor big enough to let him get away with such a line.

03/26/20

Nicolás Maduro, 14 Other Officials Charged with Narco-Terrorism, Corruption

By: Denise Simon | Founders Code

Department of Justice
Office of Public Affairs
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Venezuelan Officials Say President Nicolás Maduro Is ...

Thursday, March 26, 2020
Nicolás Maduro Moros and 14 Current and Former Venezuelan Officials Charged with Narco-Terrorism, Corruption, Drug Trafficking and Other Criminal Charges
Maduro and Other High Ranking Venezuelan Officials Allegedly Partnered With the FARC to Use Cocaine as a Weapon to “Flood” the United States

Former President of Venezuela Nicolás Maduro Moros, Venezuela’s vice president for the economy, Venezuela’s Minister of Defense, and Venezuela’s Chief Supreme Court Justice are among those charged in New York City; Washington, DC; and Miami, along with current and former Venezuelan government officials as well as two Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) leaders, announced U.S. Attorney General William P. Barr, U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman of the Southern District of New York, U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan of the Southern District of Florida, Assistant Attorney General Brian A. Benczkowski of the Justice Department’s Criminal Division, Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa D. Erichs of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations (HSI).

“The Venezuelan regime, once led by Nicolás Maduro Moros, remains plagued by criminality and corruption,” said Attorney General Barr. “For more than 20 years, Maduro and a number of high-ranking colleagues allegedly conspired with the FARC, causing tons of cocaine to enter and devastate American communities. Today’s announcement is focused on rooting out the extensive corruption within the Venezuelan government – a system constructed and controlled to enrich those at the highest levels of the government. The United States will not allow these corrupt Venezuelan officials to use the U.S. banking system to move their illicit proceeds from South America nor further their criminal schemes.”

“Today we announce criminal charges against Nicolás Maduro Moros for running, together with his top lieutenants, a narco-terrorism partnership with the FARC for the past 20 years,” said U.S. Attorney Geoffrey S. Berman. “The scope and magnitude of the drug trafficking alleged was made possible only because Maduro and others corrupted the institutions of Venezuela and provided political and military protection for the rampant narco-terrorism crimes described in our charges. As alleged, Maduro and the other defendants expressly intended to flood the United States with cocaine in order to undermine the health and wellbeing of our nation. Maduro very deliberately deployed cocaine as a weapon. While Maduro and other cartel members held lofty titles in Venezuela’s political and military leadership, the conduct described in the Indictment wasn’t statecraft or service to the Venezuelan people. As alleged, the defendants betrayed the Venezuelan people and corrupted Venezuelan institutions to line their pockets with drug money.”

“Over the last decade, corrupt Venezuelan government officials have systematically looted Venezuela of billions of dollars,” said U.S. Attorney Ariana Fajardo Orshan. “Far too often, these corrupt officials and their co-conspirators have used South Florida banks and real estate to conceal and perpetuate their illegal activity. As the recent charges show, Venezuelan corruption and money laundering in South Florida extends to even the highest levels of Venezuela’s judicial system. In the last couple of years, the US Attorney’s Office in South Florida and its federal law enforcement partners have united to bring dozens of criminal charges against high-level regime officials and co-conspirators resulting in seizures of approximately $450 million dollars.”

“These indictments expose the devastating systemic corruption at the highest levels of Nicolas Maduro’s regime,” said DEA Acting Administrator Uttam Dhillon. “These officials repeatedly and knowingly betrayed the people of Venezuela, conspiring, for personal gain, with drug traffickers and designated foreign terrorist organizations like the FARC. Today’s actions send a clear message to corrupt officials everywhere that no one is above the law or beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. The Department of Justice and the Drug Enforcement Administration will continue to protect the American people from ruthless drug traffickers – no matter who they are or where they live.”

“The collaborative nature of this investigation is representative of the ongoing work HSI and international law enforcement agencies perform each day, often behind the scenes and unknown to the public, to make our communities safer and free from corruption,” said HSI’s Acting Executive Associate Director Alysa D. Erichs. “Today’s announcement highlights HSI’s global reach and commitment to aggressively identify, target and investigate individuals who violate U.S. laws, exploit financial systems, and hide behind cryptocurrency to further their illicit criminal activity. Let this indictment be a reminder that no one is above the law – not even powerful political officials.”

A four-count superseding indictment unsealed today in the Southern District of New York (SDNY) charges Nicolás Maduro Moros, 57; Diosdado Cabello Rondón, 56, head of Venezuela’s National Constituent Assembly; Hugo Armando Carvajal Barrios aka “El Pollo,” 59, former director of military intelligence; Clíver Antonio Alcalá Cordones, 58, former General in the Venezuelan armed forces; Luciano Marín Arango aka “Ivan Marquez,” 64, a member of the FARC’s Secretariat, which is the FARC’s highest leadership body; and Seuxis Paucis Hernández Solarte aka “Jesús Santrich,” 53, a member of the FARC’s Central High Command, which is the FARC’s second-highest leadership body. The case is pending before U.S. District Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein.

The U.S. Department of State, through its Narcotics Rewards Program, is offering rewards of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Maduro Moros, up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Cabello Rondón, Carvajal Barrios, and Alcalá Cordones, and up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Marín Arango.

Maduro Moros, Cabello Rondón, Carvajal Barrios, Alcalá Cordones, Marín Arango, and Hernández Solarte have each been charged with: (1) participating in a narco-terrorism conspiracy, which carries a 20-year mandatory minimum sentence and a maximum of life in prison; (2) conspiring to import cocaine into the United States, which carries a 10-year mandatory minimum sentence and a maximum of life in prison; (3) using and carrying machine guns and destructive devices during and in relation to, and possessing machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, the narco-terrorism and cocaine-importation conspiracies, which carries a 30-year mandatory minimum sentence and a maximum of life in prison; and (4) conspiring to use and carry machine guns and destructive devices during and in relation to, and to possess machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of, the narco-terrorism and cocaine-importation conspiracies, which carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. The potential mandatory minimum and maximum sentences in this case are prescribed by Congress and provided here for informational purposes only, as any sentencing of the defendants will be determined by the judge.

According to the allegations contained in the superseding indictment, other court filings, and statements made during court proceedings:

Since at least 1999, Maduro Moros, Cabello Rondón, Carvajal Barrios and Alcalá Cordones, acted as leaders and managers of the Cártel de Los Soles, or “Cartel of the Suns.” The Cartel’s name refers to the sun insignias affixed to the uniforms of high-ranking Venezuelan military officials. Maduro Moros and the other charged Cartel members abused the Venezuelan people and corrupted the legitimate institutions of Venezuela—including parts of the military, intelligence apparatus, legislature, and the judiciary—to facilitate the importation of tons of cocaine into the United States. The Cártel de Los Soles sought to not only enrich its members and enhance their power, but also to “flood” the United States with cocaine and inflict the drug’s harmful and addictive effects on users in the United States.

Marín Arango and Hernández Solarte are leaders of the FARC. Beginning in approximately 1999, while the FARC was purporting to negotiate toward peace with the Colombian government, FARC leaders agreed with leaders of the Cártel de Los Soles to relocate some of the FARC’s operations to Venezuela under the protection of the Cartel. Thereafter, the FARC and the Cártel de Los Soles dispatched processed cocaine from Venezuela to the United States via transshipment points in the Caribbean and Central America, such as Honduras. By approximately 2004, the U.S. Department of State estimated that 250 or more tons of cocaine were transiting Venezuela per year. The maritime shipments were shipped north from Venezuela’s coastline using go-fast vessels, fishing boats, and container ships. Air shipments were often dispatched from clandestine airstrips, typically made of dirt or grass, concentrated in the Apure State. According to the U.S. Department of State, approximately 75 unauthorized flights suspected of drug-trafficking activities entered Honduran airspace in 2010 alone, using what is known as the “air bridge” cocaine route between Venezuela and Honduras.

In his role as a leader of the Cártel de Los Soles, Maduro Moros negotiated multi-ton shipments of FARC-produced cocaine; directed that the Cártel de Los Soles provide military-grade weapons to the FARC; coordinated foreign affairs with Honduras and other countries to facilitate large-scale drug trafficking; and solicited assistance from FARC leadership in training an unsanctioned militia group that functioned, in essence, as an armed forces unit for the Cártel de Los Soles.

DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit, New York Strike Force, and Miami Field Division conducted the investigation. This case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Amanda L. Houle, Matthew J. Laroche, Jason A. Richman, and Kyle A. Wirshba are in charge of the prosecution.

* * *

An indictment unsealed today in the District of Columbia charges Vladimir Padrino Lopez, 56, Minister of Defense of Venezuela. The indictment alleges that from March 2014 until May 2019, Padrino Lopez conspired with others to distribute cocaine on board an aircraft registered in the United States.

Padrino Lopez, who holds the rank of General in the Venezuelan armed forces, held the authority for interdicting aircraft, many of which are registered in the United States, suspected of being used to traffic drugs from Venezuela to countries in Central America. On numerous occasions, Padrino Lopez ordered or authorized the Venezuelan military to force suspected trafficking aircraft to land or to shoot down the aircraft. However, Padrino Lopez allowed for other aircraft whose drug trafficking coordinators paid bribes to him to safely transit Venezuelan airspace.

On Sept. 25, 2018, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) included Padrino Lopez on its Specially Designated Nationals List. Pursuant to the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, this means that his assets are blocked and U.S. persons are generally prohibited from having financial transactions with him.

The DEA Orlando District Office led the investigation, which was supported by the Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force program and the Criminal Division’s Office of Enforcement Operations. Acting Deputy Chief Charles Miracle and Trial Attorneys Michael Christin and Kirt Marsh of the Criminal Division’s Narcotic and Dangerous Drug Section are prosecuting the case.

* * *

Maikel Jose Moreno Perez, 54, current Chief Justice of the Venezuelan Supreme Court, was charged via a criminal complaint in the Southern District of Florida with conspiracy to commit money laundering and money laundering in connection with the alleged corrupt receipt or intended receipt of tens of millions of dollars and bribes to illegally fix dozens of civil and criminal cases in Venezuela.

The complaint alleges, for example, that the defendant authorized a seizure and sale of a General Motors auto plant with an estimated value of $100 million in exchange for a personal percentage of the proceeds. Similarly, the complaint alleges that the defendant received bribes to authorize the dismissal of charges or release against Venezuelans, including one charged in a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme against the Venezuelan state-owned oil company.

According to the criminal complaint, in or around October 2014, Moreno Perez told U.S. authorities in a visa application that he earned the equivalent of about $12,000 per year from his work in Venezuela. From 2012 to 2016, the defendant’s U.S. bank records show approximately $3 million in inflows to the defendant’s accounts, primarily from large round-dollar transfers from shell corporations with foreign bank accounts linked to Co-Conspirator 1, who is a former criminal defense attorney in Venezuela that currently controls a media company in Venezuela.

As set out in the criminal complaint, the defendant’s bank records allegedly show that from 2012 to 2016, the defendant spent approximately $3 million, primarily in the geographical area of South Florida. For example, bank records allegedly show that Moreno Perez spent about $1 million for a private aircraft and private pilot, more than $600,000 in credit or debit card purchases at stores primarily in South Florida (including tens of thousands of dollars at luxury stores in Bal Harbor, such as Prada and Salvatore Ferragamo), about $50,000 in payments to a luxury watch repair store in Aventura, and approximately $40,000 in payments to a Venezuelan beauty pageant director.

HSI’s Miami Field Office conducted the investigation. Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael N. Berger of the Southern District of Florida is in charge of the prosecution.

* * *

A separate superseding indictment unsealed today in the Southern District of New York charges Tareck Zaidan El Aissami Maddah, 45, Venezuela’s vice president for the economy, Joselit Ramirez Camacho, 33, Venezuela’s superintendent of cryptocurrency (Sunacrip), and Samark Lopez Bello, 45, a Venezuelan businessman, with a series of crimes relating to efforts to evade sanctions imposed by OFAC against Maduro Moros, El Aissami Maddah, and Lopez Bello.

The indictment alleges that from February 2017 until March 2019, El Aissami Maddah and Ramirez Camacho worked with U.S. persons and U.S.-based entities to provide private flight services for the benefit of Maduro’s 2018 presidential campaign, in violation of OFAC’s sanctions targeting Maduro after he organized elections for the illegitimate National Constituent Assembly that Cabello Rondon now leads.

The U.S. Department of State, through its Narcotics Rewards Program, is offering a reward of up to $10 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of El Aissami Maddah.

HSI’s New York Field Office conducted the investigation. This case is being handled by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York’s Terrorism and International Narcotics Unit. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sam Adelsberg and Amanda L. Houle are in charge of the prosecution.

* * *

Other individuals charged in separate indictments include:

Luis Motta Dominguez, 67, Former Minister of Energy, was charged in the Southern District of Florida for his alleged role in laundering the proceeds of violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) in connection with his alleged receipt of bribes to award Corpoelec business to U.S.-based companies;

Nestor Reverol Torres, 55, former General Director of Venezuela’s La Oficina Nacional Antidrogas (ONA) and former commander of Venezuela’s National Guard and Edylberto Jose Molina Molina, 57, former Sub-Director of Venezuela’s ONA and currently Venezuela’s military attaché to Germany, were charged in the Eastern District of New York with participating in an international cocaine distribution conspiracy where they allegedly assisted narcotics traffickers in importing cocaine into the United States;
Vassyly Kotosky Villarroel Ramirez aka “Mauro” and “Angel,” 47, a former captain in the Venezuelan Guardia Nacional, was charged in a third superseding indictment in the Eastern District of New York with participating in an international cocaine distribution conspiracy between Jan. 1, 2004, and Dec. 1, 2009;

Rafael Antonio Villasana Fernandez, 48, a former officer in the Venezuelan Guardia Nacional, was charged in the Eastern District of New York with participating in an international cocaine distribution conspiracy between Jan. 1, 2004, and Dec. 1, 2009. According to court documents, Kotosky and Villasana allegedly used official government vehicles to transport more than seven metric tons of cocaine from the Colombian border to various airports and seaports in Venezuela for ultimate importation into the United States;

Nervis Gerardo Villalobos Cardenas, 52, former Vice Minister of Energy of Venezuela, was charged in a 20-count indictment in the Southern District of Texas with conspiracy to commit money laundering, money laundering and conspiracy to violate the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA) for his alleged role in an international money laundering scheme involving bribes paid by the owners of U.S.-based companies to Venezuelan government officials to corruptly secure energy contracts and payment priority on outstanding invoices; and Oscar Rafael Colmenarez Villalobos, 51, former Venezuelan Air Force Officer, charged in the District of Arizona with violations of the Arms Export Control Act. He allegedly conspired with others, including individuals associated with an aviation company in Arizona, to smuggle from the United States to Venezuela T-76 military aircraft engines used on OV-10 Bronco aircraft to individuals in Venezuela and allegedly made false and misleading statements on shipping and export control documents to conceal the prohibited activities and transactions from detection of the U.S. government.

An indictment is merely an allegation and all defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.