Former Venezuelan general warns in letter to Trump that Delcy and Jorge Rodriguez are the "real brains" behind the Cártel de los Soles

In an explosive letter addressed to President Donald Trump, former Venezuelan general Clíver Alcalá Cordones -sentenced in the U.S. to 21 years and eight months in prison for collaborating with the FARC—assured that the brothers Delcy and Jorge Rodríguez are the "real brains" behind the Cártel de los Soles and the criminal apparatus that sustains the dictator Nicolás Maduro.

The missive, dated December 8 and published by The Dallas Express, details how Maduro used the Tren de Aragua as a political tool, sending its operators and criminals throughout the region—"including the United States." Likewise, he directly mentions the Rodriguez brothers, who are part of the regime's leadership.

“With a deliberately low and calculated public profile, they are the true Machiavellian masterminds behind the cartel corporation known as the Cartel de los Soles," Alcalá wrote in reference to Delcy and Jorge Rodriguez.

The letter comes at a time when Washington has intensified diplomatic, military and legal pressure on Maduro, whom the Trump Administration openly accuses of leading a regional narcoterrorism structure, the Cartel de los Soles, a designated terrorist organization, just like the Tren de Aragua.

Maduro under pressure and a militarized Caribbean

Alcala's account coincides with the largest U.S. military deployment in the Caribbean since the missile crisis, part of Operation Southern Spear, whose stated objective is to dismantle narco-terrorist networks operating out of Venezuela, including the Cártel de los Soles and Tren de Aragua.

This apparatus, according to Alcala, is not led by Maduro or Diosdado Cabello, but by Delcy Rodriguez, current vice president and key figure in economic and diplomatic policy, and Jorge Rodriguez, president of the Chavista National Assembly and political operator with direct influence in the electoral system.

Alcalá said that these two leaders constitute "the real command" that has kept Maduro in power despite international sanctions, humanitarian crisis and internal fragmentation of Chavismo.

The Tren de Aragua as a criminal arm of the State

One of the most important passages of the missive reconstructs the prison origin of the Tren de Aragua and its transformation into a transnational crime actor.

"Nicolás Maduro, trained and formed in Cuba, used these criminal schemes from the prisons for personal gain, replicating practices he learned in that country. Nicolás Maduro’s government exported this criminal organization to other countries, including the United States of America," said Alcalá.

The former general described in the missive that there was direct coordination between leaders of the Tren de Aragua and Antonio "Potro" Álvarez, a former artist who was appointed Minister of Sports at the time, sent by the late former President Hugo Chávez to the Tocorón prison.

According to the former general, the prison was used as arms depots, command centers and platforms for criminal operations. The manipulation of the prison vote to favor Chavismo was also coordinated.

Smartmatic and electoral fraud

Alcala's letter also warns about the use of parallel voting systems linked to Smartmatic to modify electoral results. According to the former general, the manipulation occurred in places without opposition representatives, and the Rodriguez brothers are the ones who supervised the entire operation.

Alcala also denounced that Venezuela used "parallel systems" and that the technology "can be manipulated," alerting that the systems of this company were used in the United States.

"I am aware of the use of parallel Smartmatic voting systems to alter results, especially in locations without opposition party representatives, making irregularities difficult to detect. This is the same technology used in other countries, including USA by the company Smartmatic. The controllers of this entire system are the siblings Jorge and Delcy Rodríguez."

Links with Iran, Hezbollah and Cuban intelligence

According to Alcalá, dictator Maduro maintained sensitive relations with Iran since his time as Chávez' Chancellor, managing direct contacts with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), Hezbollah and the Cuban Intelligence system. According to Alcalá, Maduro has maintained sensitive relations with Iran since his time as Chávez' Chancellor, managing direct contacts with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC), Hezbollah and the Cuban Intelligence system.

The former general asserted that these strategic alliances consolidated a criminal ecosystem with continental reach, where drug trafficking, illegal mining, propaganda, intelligence operations and massive corruption converge.

"Influence over U.S. congressmen"

Another explosive fragment of the letter is the claim that high-ranking Chavista officials boasted, while he was still in the Army, of having "influence" over certain U.S. lawmakers. Alcala did not mention names but claimed to have learned this information during a military assignment in 2007.

Drug trafficking, illegal mining and ecocide: the Arco Minero as an engine of crime

Alcalá mentioned an organic relationship between drug trafficking and illegal mining in the Arco Minero del Orinoco, an area where criminal groups converge, including Colombian terrorist groups such as the FARC and the ELN, which are disputing known trafficking routes for illicit drugs, gold, diamonds and rare resources used by the Maduro regime as a money laundering mechanism.

According to Alcala, Maduro's son is in the coordination of these operations and the Cártel de los Soles oversees the illicit exports. The former general said he is willing to testify before U.S. authorities on each of these points.

A letter that exposes directly to the New York Times

The missive comes just after The New York Times published a report presenting Delcy Rodríguez as a "moderate" figure capable of leading a post-Maduro transition.

However, the testimony of Alcalá - one of the highest-ranking military officers who has rebelled against Chavismo - contradicts the narrative of the NYT, which has received multiple criticisms in recent weeks for its coverage of the Venezuela case.

According to Alcalá, Delcy is far from being a moderate, being the main architect of the criminal system that keeps Maduro in power.

Spokespersons for the Venezuelan democratic opposition, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner María Corina Machado, have also rejected the idea that Delcy is a viable option for a transition, denouncing her role in repression, torture and extrajudicial killings as proof of this.

Alcala's warning coincides with another letter by Hugo "El Pollo" Carvajal

Alcalá's letter comes a few days after the dissemination of another missive sent by Hugo "El Pollo" Carvajal, former head of Venezuela's military intelligence, also from a federal prison in the United States.

Carvajal, like Alcala, said in a missive that Maduro runs Venezuela "like a criminal organization" and that Chavez himself, Maduro's predecessor, organized criminal gangs inside and outside prisons to protect himself.

In short, Carvajal said that the Tren de Aragua was a tool designed by the Venezuelan State, and it was Maduro who "exported criminality and chaos abroad," including infiltration in the United States.

Both testimonies—coming from two of the most powerful officials of Chavismo—agree that Maduro's regime is not a failed state but a criminal structure in active operation.