During the «Con el Mazo Dando” (Hitting with the hammer) program, the Secretary General of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela (PSUV), Diosdado Cabello Rondón, emphasized that there have never been political prisoners in Venezuela, «but rather gangsters who handed out letters (permits) and were charging for each letter.»
Cabello read a sample of the letter they used to defraud people, “signed by Luis Somaza (alleged director of the Presidential Office), who is currently in custody.»
He noted that «Everyone from the network of coyotes (human traffickers) are falling down. They thought it was over, because it happened in 2022. (Somaza) is not missing, he is detained for being part of a human trafficking network.»
«Here there were no political prisoners, but rather a massive operation to defraud people. This lasted until December 2022. Since this wasn’t working for them, they turned to the most barbaric mechanism, the Darién jungle. And they still charged them,» he emphasized.
He also criticized David Smolansky’s attitude, saying: «I was surprised because I saw Smolansky talking about the Venezuelans who are returning as if he were doing something there (in the US) to make these transfers of compatriots possible”.
During the 521st broadcast of his program, Cabello showed a video, in which can be heard an audio recording where is revealed «the modus operandi at that time of a man, tired of being scammed, recorded it and sent it to a friend of mine (himself, as Minister of the Interior).»
He explained that the audio shows the narrative of how the alleged political asylum in the United States was handled by right-wing extremists to encourage mass migration of Venezuelans. The goal was for the affected countries to label Venezuela a threat and bring about the fall of the Bolivarian Revolution:
«One of the organizers is Juan Guaidó’s little brother (Gustavo Guaidó),» he said.
In that context, Cabello commented that Juan Guaidó “came out to deny his little brother… you are a vagabond, a crook, and your brother and you are big criminals. You defrauded a lot of people and took their money.»