Last Sunday, the State Department announced that it intends to designate the Cartel de los Soles as a Foreign Terrorist Organization (FTO), effective November 24, 2025. The announcement accuses Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro and other high-ranking members of his regime of leading of the Cartel de los Soles to corrupt the Venezuelan government and of being “responsible for terrorist violence throughout our hemisphere and of trafficking drugs into the United States and Europe, together with other designated FTOs including Tren de Aragua and the Sinaloa Cartel.”
There is a lot of conflicting information out there about this, arising from bribery, threats and opposing political agendas, so I’ve taken a stab, here at coming to a clear understanding of what’s really going on.
For example, French state media, France24 reports that Venezuela and Colombia insist there is “no such thing” as the Cartel de los Soles, noting that last March, “The latest US State Department report on global anti-drug operations made no mention of the ‘Cartel de los Soles’ or any connection between Maduro and narco trafficking.”
In his appearance on The Alex Jones Show last Friday, the GrayZone‘s Max Blumenthal said:
“They’re lying about Venezuela being a narco-cartel government. The cocaine and fentanyl is not coming from there. It’s coming from the West Coast, from countries that are allied with the US. And they’re going to bring real cartels there from Colombia, flooding Venezuela. It’s going to be a disaster…
“People are not trusting the official story. They know that if Trump attacks Venezuela, it’s on the basis of lies. They know that the cartel that Nicolas Maduro is said to be in charge of, Cartel of the Suns, was actually created by the CIA in the early ‘90s, in order to ship drugs into the United States on behalf of the DEA.“
VIDEO: “Max Blumenthal on Venezuela” – Pub. Nove 17, 2025 by ForbiddenKnowledgeTV.net
Max Blumenthal’s wife, longtime pro-Palestine activist, Anya Parampil is the author of ‘The Corporate Coup: Venezuela and the End of US Empire’ and Max may have drawn from her work in that statement. It also appears that both he and his wife are very ideologically-driven towards the Left and that they’re unaware of the soon-to-be-released findings about the MI6-CIA-G2–MOIS–MSS vote theft operation in 72 countries.
They ignore how the Bolivarian Revolution has destabilized all of South America and it has seriously degraded the quality of life for everyday people there by inviting Iran’s Hezbollah to provide training, arms and logistical support to Latin American crime cartels and gangs, including Mexican groups (e.g., Sinaloa, Zetas), Colombian FARC dissidents, Brazilian Comando Vermelho (CV), etc and Venezuelan Tren de Aragua, via the corrupt military network of the Cartel de los Soles. This is to say nothing of the 1 million+ killed Stateside over the past decade.
Communist Brazilian CV gang bangers in Rio now have machine guns, bazookas, rocket launchers, drones – plus training in their use – courtesy of Hezbollah and Venezuela’s Chavista regime. I am a dual citizen of Brazil who lived there during the last days of the military dictatorship and who has been travelling there for over half a century and I can confirm that this amount of weaponry and violence never previously existed in Brazil.
VIDEO: “Communist Gangster Fires Machine Gun at Residents’ Homes in Rio, Killing Innocents” – Pub. Nov 17, 2025 by ForbiddenKnowledgeTV.net
Nicolás Maduro is widely seen to have stolen the 2024 election by most countries, including by Chile’s Socialist President Gabriel Boric but France24 and Max Blumenthal seem to overlook this – and perhaps they can be forgiven, because questioning Smartmatic voting technology can cost you billions of dollars, if you ask Sidney Powell, NewsCorp and others.
All kidding aside, Max Blumenthal is a steadfast advocate for the policies of Iran, Russia and Venezuela that are causing great harm to people throughout the Western Hemisphere. Does he not understand that these sanctioned governments are just as much a part of the global crime syndicate that controls this planet as the “imperialists” that he fights daily?
The Latin American narco trafficking model of today is a continuation of the British East India model and the drug money is laundered through City of London banks, like HSBC. The narcos are the Empire!
VIDEO/ARTICLE: “The HSBC-Cartel Ourobouros” – Pub. Oct 15, 2025 by ForbiddenKnowledgeTV.net
British and American Blue Blood families made fortunes in the opium trade during the early 19th century. Historians looking back at our time may even determine that we’re now living through to be the Third Opium War.
It’s time to come clean about the longstanding role of narco trafficking in the global economy and about the history of the CIA’s involvement in narco trafficking and about the history the CIA, itself.
The CIA was created with the help of Nazi intelligence officer, Reinhard Gehlen. The international cocaine trade was founded by Nazi SS Officer Klaus Barbie with Pablo Escobar during this same period and it has gone on to finance the Deep State-Black Budget-Breakaway Civilization that is attempting to exterminate most of humanity via Nazi organs like the UN, the EU, the WEF, NATO and Big Pharma.
The cocaine money was orignally – and is still – laundered through the Vatican Bank, which is how the Black Nobility (administered by the CIA) came to control and industrialize the the drug cartels that have since expanded into organ- and child-sex trafficking and the largest human trafficking operation in human history under President Joe Biden.
Last September, Juan O Savin said very plainly: “American intelligence created the six cartels and then reduced it down to five, centralizing the drug trade to Colombia.”
Many of us have heard about the Medellín Cartel and other Colombian cartels. We’ve heard about the Sinaloa, the Jalisco Nueva Generación, Los Zetas, the Gulf Cartel and others in Mexico but most of us had never heard about the Venezuelan Cartel de los Soles (CdS) until recently.
Through Patrick Byrne, Gary Berntsen and Ralph Pazzullo, we’ve heard that CdS is supposedly running all the above cartels and that they’ve been leading the ground invasion of and the criminal insurrection in America and how they’ve led a two-decade’s long vote-theft operation in 72 countries around the world.
So, how is it that we’ve never heard that the Venezuelan government were the Über-Cartel of all the cartels until now?
I asked Grok yesterday and the results led me to a greater understanding of how the world really works, which I think is important for all of us (see below). It’s interesting to note that Grok disagreed with Partick Byrne’s claim that the Chavista regime’s Cartel de los Soles controls all the other major cartels. He may be proven right but Grok didn’t find that; however, Grok did paint a clear picture of the alliance between Venezuela, Cuba, Iran and Russia – countries sanctioned by the US – and how China is financially enabling, profiting and participating in their hybrid warfare against the US.
This is confirmed by military contractor, Erik Prince in his recent appearance on Bannon’s War Room, who says that most of the cartel assassinations of 27 conservative Mexican political candidates after President Claudia Sheinbaum entered office were funded by the Chinese Communist Party, in their bid to capture Mexico and to cement its status as a narco state.
A couple of weeks ago, President Sheinbaum announced that fighting the cartels is “Not an option” and that it is “Outside the framework of the law” and that those calling for kinetic action against the cartels are “Authoritarians” and “Fascists”.
Sheinbaum’s announcement was followed by protests over the weekend that looked like so many Astroturf events that we’ve seen. A retired military contractor friend of mine confirmed that indeed, the recent Mexico City protests were staged and that President Sheinbaum has already made a deal with the Trump administration. Presumably, this means that there will be covert action against the Mexican cartels, at the very least.
Prince also explains that Colombian President Gustavo Petro got elected because of a lot of narco money from Venezuela, adding, “Petro is a bad guy. He is formerly from M19, which was effectively the Colombian Communist Party. They used to call him ‘The Sh**’ – sorry – because he used to defecate on the hostages in the jungle camps, when they were being held in holes. He’s a bad guy. He has a major cocaine addiction, has a tranny boyfriend. He’s a deviant in all ways.”
I don’t want to see the sovereignty of Latin American nations violated and I completely undertand the position of the current Socialist government of Brazil, that opposes a terrorism designation for their violent criminal organizations, because under international law, classifying them as such would allow other countries to militarily intervene in Brazil.
However, the sad truth is that Latin America has already had its sovereignty violated. China and Iran have already intervened. I agree with Prince that these narco regimes are threatening the future existence, not just the success of these nations. The same is true of the US, as we have seen with the stolen elections and the ground invasion, both facilitated by them during the Biden Regime.
Prince has been demonized for decades, so I was surprised to find his assessment of what’s happening in Latin America to be unbiased and fair.
The full transcript of that segment appears beneath the video and article, HERE.
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GROK QUERY SESSION
Question #1: What is the relationship of Venezuela’s Cartel de los Soles and the governments of Russia, Cuba, Iran and China?
Grok: The Cartel de los Soles (CdS) maintains symbiotic ties with these governments. These relationships are rooted in geopolitical alliances under the Maduro regime, providing CdS with military, intelligence, and logistical support amid US sanctions. Cuba acts as a foundational enabler, Iran as a narco-terror partner, Russia as a military backer, and China as an economic lifeline. These ties form an “axis of malign actors” (US framing), with CdS as a hub for hemispheric destabilization. Recent US naval deployments (August 2025) target CdS-linked trafficking, escalating tensions.
While not direct operational control, these states facilitate CdS’s drug trafficking and evasion tactics, often through state entities. Critics, including Venezuelan officials, dismiss CdS as a US fabrication, but US indictments and sanctions (e.g., July 2025 SDGT) substantiate regime complicity.
Key Aspects of Relationships
• Cuba: Deep advisory and structural role: Cuban intelligence (G2) and military advisors helped create and consolidate CdS post-Chávez, providing repression techniques, social control and intelligence to sustain the “narco-state.” Havana guarantees political/military cover, enabling alliances with Russia/Iran/China. GAESA (Cuba’s military conglomerate) links to CdS via drug routes and money laundering. Key Examples/Evidence: Cuban “mafia state” model exported to Venezuela; Fidel Castro’s mediation in 1980s drug deals (e.g., Medellín Cartel via Noriega); 46,000 Cuban infiltrators in Venezuelan regime (OAS estimate, 2018, ongoing). [Sources: Cuba Siglo 21 dossier, 2025; US Senate hearings, 1989-2012]
• Iran: Narco-terror financing and logistics: Iranian Quds Force/Hezbollah integrate with CdS for cocaine smuggling (e.g., via Venezuela to Europe/Middle East), arms/drone tech exchanges, and training. Maduro’s regime issues passports to Hezbollah operatives; Tareck El Aissami (ex-VP) laundered for them. Key Examples/Evidence: Hezbollah-CdS cocaine ops fund Iran proxies; 2025 U.S. strikes target nexus; Iran-Venezuela pacts evade sanctions, build drone factories. [Sources: US Treasury/DOJ, 2020-2025; Atlantic Council, 2020; RAND, 2024].
• Russia: Military-technical aid and shielding: Russia provides weapons, training, and diplomatic cover (e.g., vetoing UN actions); Maduro requested emergency aid in 2025 amid U.S. pressure. Ties amplify via Wagner/PMC recruitment of criminals for Ukraine ops, indirectly linking to Latin narco-networks. Key Examples/Evidence: Logistical support for Venezuelan maneuvers (La Orchila island, 2025); Putin-Maduro “perfect harmony” in anti-US strategy; Russian vessels exchange arms for cocaine (historical, ongoing). [Sources: US State Dept, 2025; Americas Quarterly, 2025; Brookings, 2024].
• China: Economic enabler and indirect facilitation: Beijing’s loans/investments (e.g., oil-for-loans) sustain Maduro, allowing CdS ops; Chinese firms in Venezuela aid logistics. No direct CdS ops, but broader anti-sanctions pacts. Key Examples/ Evidence: Inclusion in Venezuela’s 2025-2031 plan; Chinese underground banks launder CdS-linked funds globally. [Sources: Center for Maritime Strategy, 2025; Reuters, 2020-2025].
Question #2: Are Russia, Cuba, Iran, and China Involved in Criminal Activities with Latin American Crime Cartels?
Grok: Yes, all four governments engage indirectly or through proxies/state actors in criminal activities with Latin American cartels, primarily drug trafficking, arms smuggling, money laundering, and narco-terrorism. Involvement ranges from facilitation (e.g., safe havens) to direct alliances, driven by anti-U.S. geopolitics and profit. Evidence from US indictments, seizures, and intelligence highlights these as enablers rather than primary operators, amplifying cartel violence and fentanyl flows.
These activities fuel the US opioid crisis (e.g., fentanyl via Sinaloa-China precursors) and regional violence, with US sanctions (e.g., FinCEN 2025 advisory) targeting networks. Independent analysts note exaggeration risks for geopolitics, but DOJ/DEA evidence confirms the scale.
Key Aspects of Involvement
• Russia: Arms/drug exchanges and state-criminal hybrid ops: Russian mob allies with cartels (e.g., Sinaloa, Cali) for cocaine-to-Europe routes, supplying AK-47s/RPGs. Kremlin taxes smuggling (e.g., tobacco/drugs) for covert funds; Wagner recruits cartel-linked criminals. Key Examples/Evidence: 2024 FSB seizure of 570kg Cali cocaine ($55M); 1990s-2000s sub deals with Colombians; 2018 arms plot for cartels to down US helicopters (Hungary extradition block). [Sources: CBS News, 2024; Washington Post, 1997; Newsweek, 2018, 2025].
• Cuba: Historical transshipment and advisory: 1980s-90s, Cuban officials/Ministry of Interior smuggled 6+ tons cocaine via Medellín Cartel (America Department ops); post-1989 purges distanced but ties persist via GAESA/Mariel port for FARC/CdS routes. Key Examples/Evidence: 15 ops earning $3.4M (1980s); Vesco-Lehder-Castro mediation; current FARC/ELN links. [Sources: PBS Frontline, 1991; FPRI 2009; Cuba Center, 2025].
• Iran: Hezbollah-cartel narco-terror nexus: Hezbollah (Iran-backed) partners with Sinaloa/Zetas/FARC/ELN/PCC for cocaine (e.g., Tri-Border ops); launders via charcoal (”black cocaine”); trains on explosives/tunnels. Funds attacks (e.g., 1990s Argentina bombings). Key Examples/Evidence: 2021 Colombia plot vs. Israelis; 2017 Bolivia explosives seizure; $48M laundered (2016-2017). [Sources: Atlantic Council, 2020; Hudson Institute, 2023; Small Wars Journal, 2023].
• China: Money laundering dominance: Chinese brokers (underground banks) launder $50B+ annually for Sinaloa/CJNG via “mirror transactions,” fei ch’ien, and trade-based schemes (e.g., electronics imports). CCP elites/officials implicated in some ops. Key Examples/Evidence: Operation Fortune Runner (2024): $50M Sinaloa fentanyl proceeds; Xizhi Li’s chain (U.S.-China-LatAm). [Sources: ProPublica, 2024; Reuters, 2020; DOJ, 2025; NBC, 2024].
Question #3: Is the Cartel de los Soles hierarchically above and in control of the Sinaloa Cartel?
Grok: No. There is no evidence of hierarchical control or subordination. The Sinaloa Cartel operates as a decentralized network of factions with significant autonomy, driven by profit rather than top-down authority. US sanctions explicitly frame Cartel de los Soles as a supporter (”materially assisted, sponsored, or provided… support”) to Sinaloa, not its superior. Even in US portrayals, the relationship is one of mutual benefit in a loose alliance, not command. Analysts emphasize that Cartel de los Soles lacks the organizational rigidity to exert control over a powerful entity like Sinaloa, which has thrived independently for decades. This dynamic reflects pragmatic criminal partnerships in the global drug trade, not a parent-subsidiary structure.
Question #4: What is the relationship between the Sinaloa Cartel and the Cartel de los Soles?
Grok: The Sinaloa Cartel (based in Mexico) and Cartel de los Soles (based in Venezuela) are distinct criminal organizations with a cooperative relationship centered on drug trafficking. According to US government assessments, Cartel de los Soles—described as a network of high-ranking Venezuelan military and government officials—provides material support to the Sinaloa Cartel, facilitating the movement of narcotics like cocaine from South America through Venezuela toward Mexico and ultimately the United States. This partnership is part of broader alliances involving other groups, such as the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, aimed at flooding the US with illegal drugs. However, independent analyses and even some US reports question the formal existence of Cartel de los Soles as a structured entity, portraying it instead as a loose system of corruption rather than a centralized cartel.
Question #5: Has the Chavista Venezuelan government facilitated the training and arming of Latin American cartels by Iran’s Hezbollah?
Grok: Yes, substantial US indictments, sanctions, and intelligence reports substantiate claims that the Chavista governments (under Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro) have enabled Hezbollah—backed by Iran—to provide training, arms, and logistical support to Latin American cartels and gangs, including Mexican groups (e.g., Sinaloa, Zetas), Colombian FARC dissidents, and Venezuelan TdA via the Cartel de los Soles (military-corrupt network). This facilitation stems from ideological alignment against the US, with Venezuela offering safe havens, passports, ports, and military infrastructure for Hezbollah’s “franchising” model of narco-terrorism. Proceeds from cocaine trafficking (e.g., via “Operation Titan”) fund Hezbollah, while training focuses on asymmetric warfare, explosives, and money laundering. Critics, including Venezuelan exiles and some analysts, argue the scale is exaggerated for geopolitical leverage, but evidence from DOJ cases and Treasury designations (e.g., 2020-2025) shows direct regime complicity, including by figures like Tareck El Aissami.
Training Programs: Hezbollah set up camps in Venezuela for militias and cartel recruits, teaching guerrilla tactics, IEDs, and drone ops. Iranian Quds Force flights deliver trainers; Maduro regime provides cover. Sinaloa Cartel members reportedly trained in Iran on weapons/explosives [Sources: US Senate Hearing, 2012; Center for Security Policy, 2018].
Arming and Logistics: Venezuela supplies weapons/ammo to Hezbollah via ports (e.g., 2009 Francop ship from Guanta to Syria). Cartel de los Soles protects cocaine shipments with Hezbollah laundering proceeds; ties to FARC for arms/drugs. Iran builds drone factories in Venezuela [Sources: US House Hearing, 2011; AS/COA Explainer Security & Defense, 2020].
Key Facilitators and Networks: El Aissami (ex-VP) launders for Hezbollah, issues passports to 300+ members; Adel El Zebayar indicted for narco-terror with Maduro/FARC/Mexican cartels/Iran. Ghazi Nasr al-Din (diplomat) funnels funds. TdA works with Cartel de los Soles/Hezbollah for narco-finance [Sources: Atlantic Council, 2020; RAND, 2024; Fox News, 2025; Iran International, 2025].
Geopolitical Context: Chávez/Maduro hosted Hezbollah/Hamas leaders (2010 summit); Iran-Venezuela pacts evade sanctions, fund proxies. US views this as “narcoterrorism” threat to homeland (e.g., 2020 Barr indictment of Maduro).
Question #6: What is the relationship between the Venezuelan crime gangs and Brazilian crime gangs, like Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital?
Grok: TdA maintains “business ties” with both PCC and CV for cocaine transport from Venezuela/Colombia through Brazil to Europe/US markets. Venezuelan groups like TdA, Tren de Guyana, and Sindicato coordinate actions in Boa Vista neighborhoods, including drug sales and prostitution, under PCC/CV influence. PCC recruits Venezuelan migrants in prisons for protection, turning them into operatives [Sources: Folha de S. Paulo, 2025, InSight Crime, 2023, The Guardian, 2023].
These networks fuel Brazil’s violence (e.g., 2016 attacks killed 564) and regional instability, with PCC estimated at 40,000 members + 60,000 contractors. TdA’s growth (designated FTO by US in 2025) amplifies this, blending migration with crime [Source: UK FFM report GOV.UK, 2025].
This nexus has global reach: Hezbollah uses Venezuelan hubs for Tri-Border Area ops (Argentina/Brazil/Paraguay) and funds attacks via narco-profits (e.g., 1990s Argentine bombings). US actions (sanctions, indictments) aim to disrupt it, but Maduro’s ties to Iran (e.g., 2025 fuel/drone deals) sustain the network. Independent sources like RAND and Atlantic Council affirm the regime’s enabling role, though quantifying exact training/arming scale remains challenging due to opacity.
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Steve Bannon was joined by private military contractor Erik Prince on Monday to discuss the troop movements around Venezuela and rumors of imminent “kinetic” (private military) action against narco cartels in Mexico.
TRANSCRIPT
Steve Bannon: Erik, you’ve been an advocate for a while about kinetic activity, particularly in northern Mexico against the fentanyl, against the Chinese Communist Party’s partners, the big cartels in northern Mexico. Does what happened yesterday change your opinion that we should maybe expedite this?
I know we got an Amphibious Ready Group off of Venezuela, we’ve now added a Carrier Strike Group. I think we have 12 to 15,000 troops, fleet marines and sailors, off the coast of Venezuela.
But now, should we really focus and target a kinetic strike into northern Mexico to assist the people that are in the streets rioting against a failed narco state and a narco-controlled government, Sir?
Erik Prince: Well look, what Mexico needs is a change of leadership. It needs a leader like Bukele, who had the same problem, albeit at a smaller scope. Five and a half million people, completely overrun by cartels, by the MS-13 gang. And he said, “Enough of this.”
Steve Bannon: Yeah, but Erik, the young mayor…was Bukele. He was their guy saying, “Hey, we have to take on the Cartel,” It’s his plan. So if he gets assassinated, and you know the state’s looking the other way, every new Bukele, I mean, Bukele is such a godsend. We were so lucky about that, correct? For a guy to actually exist and the cartels couldn’t take him out? In Mexico, when these Bukeles come up and say, “Hey, I want to lead the Mexican people,” and you see the young generation says, “Yes! We’re finally going to get our freedom!” What do they do? Bang! They’re done right away, correct?
Erik Prince: Not just that. When Sheinbaum was elected, they killed 27 different conservative candidates, largely assassinated by the cartels. And in many cases, it was funded by the Chinese Communist Party, because they’re trying to do state capture of Mexico with the fentanyl, with the other drug trafficking, and with other aspects of trade, the CCP is trying to put their hooks in at all levels of the Mexican society.
That becomes a huge problem for the United States. And again, I’m not advocating an 1845-style invasion at Veracruz again. We need to push for leadership change. Maybe the United States starts doing it at a governor level, where a state governor says, “I’m ready to take this on,” and we support them that way, with kinetic strikes, with covert action, with the means to overmatch the cartels.
I feel terrible for the average cop, the good cop, that tries to do the right thing in Mexico, because they’re immediately met by overwhelming force, which wipes out not just them, but their family, and it kills their entire family ugly.
At some point, some greater force is going to have to be unleashed. You’d be surprised, because of the work we’re doing in Haiti, how many other governments are reaching out saying, “Can you please come in and help us break the back of this international, very well supplied, organized crime, to put them back in a box?”
Steve Bannon: So talk to me about what’s going on in Haiti. Why is that a model for how we go forward, Sir?
Erik Prince: So we got involved in Haiti about six months ago, when the government was very close to falling, where the gangs control about 90% of Port-au-Prince and about 70% of the countryside.
There, the government was ready to fall, and literally capitulation to have it run completely by not just drug gangs, but basically cannibal, narco, zombie gangs. They kill police, they part them up. I have some horrific video.
(So do I):
VIDEO: “HAITI – Cannibal Gangs Have Taken Over and Are Eating People” – Pub March 11, 2024 by ForbiddenKnowledgeTV.net
They called and said, “Please help us push back.”
Steve Bannon: Oh, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. You just can’t skip over that one. You mean zombie cannibal gangs? Is this Barbecue and the crowd? What do you mean? Give me an example. What do you mean by that? A zombie cannibal gang?
Erik Prince: The Wednesday after Easter, I was out there with the guys and three policemen were ambushed and murdered. And within minutes, they were beheaded, castrated, their body cavities were opened up and their organs were harvested for sale to zombie witch doctors. So they’re not just killing cops, they’re killing them and eating them and all levels of bad.
So the government wanted some help to enable to overmatch the gangs. And at that point, their superior firepower. Now, the Haitian police have become much more capable, much more ascendant. And now there’s a next phase rolling out, which will be bigger ground operations to clean out neighborhood by neighborhood, all the Haitian gangs.
The most important aspect of this is that there’s no US taxpayer money funding this. This is the Haitian government with very minimal funds paying Western professionals to help enable their police. So I think it’s a model that will work in other places, as well.
Steve Bannon: We’ve gone from over the weekend late last week when they’re briefing people on Capitol Hill about a potential strike in the secretary where Hegseth is walking through a huge range of alternatives to now President Trump says when he gets off the plane last night that Maduro’s all over him. They want to talk about a deal. And President Trump says, you know, “I’m willing to listen and talk.”
What is what has changed? Is it that the Ford showed up with a strike group? And now you have instead of 4000 fleet Marines and sailors, you’ve got, I don’t know, 12,000 to 15,000. Is that is that what got their attention? Did they take your advice and put the $50 million on him dead or alive? Why we had looks like a sea change in the last 72 hours?
Erik Prince: Perhaps there are some covert actions that worked. But to me, this is not solved by by carrier air wings and B-52s. This is done by making people change their minds, really at the margin. And it’s really Maduro, Diosdado Cabello, Jorge and Delcy Rodriguez, Padriño, the head of the military – until they drive all those folks out, I don’t think Maduro himself is going to leave, because the other people won’t let them leave if they don’t get the same deal.
So look, you have a a narco captured state with enormous oil wealth as well. And it is a very malign influence on the rest of Latin America. So President Trump is right to actually push for the legitimate government to be restored, which which won the election a year ago July.
But again, I wish our CIA was much more active and much more kinetic, because it saves the policymakers the difficult decision of having to deploy lots of conventional force, at great cost and at much greater risk.
Steve Bannon: OK, so let’s tie this together. You’ve got Colombia, a narco state. You got Venezuela, a narco state. You got Bukele in Central America as a ray of hope. But he’s surrounded, right? Essentially, you’ve got some coming our way. Then, you’ve got Mexico, a total narco state.
So from Colombia all the way up, you’ve got these guys in business with the Chinese Communist Party. This is the second Opium War, because they got a chemical warfare attack on the United States, taking hundreds of thousands of casualties and costing us a fortune and destroying rural America. So the overall plan is to is to basically tell these guys, “You got to change your government peacefully, that we oversee and supervise or we’re going to go kinetic.”
And why do you wait on going kinetic? Isn’t it a better way just to strike, take out some of the cartels, take out some of the political leaders and just clean this thing up quickly, Sir?
Erik Prince: When you start deploying massive military force into Mexico, that comes with all kinds of secondary and tertiary consequences; that Mexico is, I think, our largest or second largest trading partner. So, we would have massive upheaval in trade.
And again, in Mexico, almost like in Haiti, we are protecting 99% from the 1% massive criminal, feral gangs. And in all these places, where they’ve allowed crime and drugs to make so much money that they start to overmatch the state, it becomes impossibly difficult.
The United States has invaded Mexico twice. I don’t think it has to be a third time. There’s lots of ways to help them at a covert level to deliver overmatch capability for the Mexican state – whether they want it or not – without having to resort to massive US military conventional footprint, which would have all kinds of secondary pushback, as well.
I don’t think that all the Mexican kids in the streets protesting against their super corrupt president would want to see 10,000 or 50,000 American soldiers inside Mexico, either.
Steve Bannon: Do you think the covert action then can also be the way to get to some resolution to make sure that these may be failed states or states that are trying to turn themselves around, but they’re not narco states in Colombia and in Venezuela, that covert action can do that, also?
Erik Prince: Yes, I think so. Look, Petro was elected in Colombia because of a lot of narco money from Venezuela that came across the border. Petro is a bad guy. He is formerly from M19, which was effectively the Colombian Communist Party. They used to call him the sh** – sorry – because he used to defecate on the hostages in the jungle camps, when they were being held in holes.
He’s a bad guy. He has a major cocaine addiction, has a tranny boyfriend. He’s a deviant in all ways.
Covert action is the way to kind of mow the weeds and to overmatch these narcos and prevent them from literally threatening the future existence, not just success of those states.
Steve Bannon: Another constant that you mentioned here, Eric, is the Chinese Communist Party, whether it’s in Venezuela for the resources or in Mexico, because they’re driving the fentanyl traffic. And I realize that Kash got the deal, where they’re going to identify this, but the Chinese Communist Party has never lived up to anything.
Saudi Arabia is, I think, tomorrow and Wednesday in Washington, DC, they’re going to be at the White House. Both Semaphore and the Financial Times had huge articles last week of how the shifting economics of the Persian Gulf, the Middle East, that now the Chinese Communist Party, China is a much bigger user, purchaser of their oil than the United States, as President Trump drives for Full Spectrum Energy Dominance.
They’re there for a couple of days, the Saudis, for advanced weapons deals. I guess they want both the Qatar deal and the Turkey deal, but one on weapons, the other on economic opportunity. And it’s being pushed as this is the new architecture of Middle East peace that President Trump has worked on. Can you walk us through that? And particularly, you know, this is driving the Two-State Solution.
People just have to understand it. And I keep telling the Israel First guys, “You brought this on by overplaying your hand on this Greater Israel. This is where we are now. Whether you like it or not, this is reality.” Erik Prince.
Erik Prince: Look, for the Saudis, it’s all about buying the newest, shiniest, most unique tech. Whether they had to have F-15s before, now they want F-35s to feel relevant. The fact is, they’ve never fully utilized any of the military equipment that they’ve actually bought. But it’s like they have to buy the nicest Ferrari or Lamborghini or whatever.
So yes, they do love to buy high-dollar stuff, because they’ve mistaken buying stuff with buying capability. And they’re ignoring the fact that it takes heartware, not just hardware, to make a great military, something that our Department of War has gotten back to, to focus on lethality and merit as the basic underpinnings of what makes a successful military.
The fact is, because of Texas and because of fracking, America is energy independent. And so, we are not buying a lot of hypercarbons anymore from the Middle East. So China is. So China weighs in, in those markets a lot more.
I don’t know, maybe Trump holds the F-35 over the heads of Saudi, unless they join the Abraham Accords. That’s really why the UAE recognized Israel, in Trump 45, was to get access to the F-35, which they’ve still been thwarted by, by the Biden administration.
So I’m not sure how those will all play out. But for all those countries, they are trying to buy the newest, greatest and most expensive technology.
Steve Bannon: Don’t they have the wolf by the jaws in that one regard, the Muslim Brotherhood and the radical clerics, their number one enemy is really the monarchies of the Gulf Emirates and in Saudi Arabia.
And at the same time, they look the other way and/or either give them cash so they can expand in Europe and the United States, Sir?
Erik Prince: Well, when MBS became the crown prince, they really cracked down on the super ideological funding of the Muslim Brotherhood, and he got rid of the religious police and started to open up Saudi society.
The fact is, Qatar is the main funder of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood, nefarious activity, still going in the UK and especially in the United States, when you see that many mosques are going up in Texas, there’s a huge amount of Qatari money underpinning that.
Steve Bannon: But Qatar, correct me if I’m wrong, in the architecture we have now, Qatar is writing the checks for the redevelopment of Gaza, correct?
Erik Prince: Maybe so, and they’re doing that to buy acquiescence on all the other Muslim Brotherhood funding that they’re doing everywhere else in the world. The bad Muslim Brotherhood, bad Islamic school funding that the Saudis did in the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, that has now been replaced and enhanced significantly by Qatar.
Influence operations, schools; the single largest international donor to American universities, Qatar.
Steve Bannon: And that comes with a price, folks. Eric, I know you’re busy. Thank you for taking time to do this.
One more time, this operation in Haiti, which will go viral because of your description of the zombie cannibal leaders of Barbecue and his team. Why is this not, I think people are confused, why is this not costing the American taxpayer a penny to clean up a place that needs cleaning up?
Erik Prince: The US has spent tens of billions of dollars in Haiti in previous decades. In this case, the Haitian government came to my team and said, “Please help.” And they are paying directly, no US money at all. So not from the State Department, not from DOD, not from CIA, nothing.
It’s taken from their tax revenue. And so our long-term role is to collect taxes on the imported goods. So our incentives are aligned with the state. The sooner we can restore Haiti to a normal functioning economy, more tax revenue, that’s how we get paid.
We’re looking 300 years back to look forward. It’s the model that’s worked in the past, performing a functional government, assisting trade in difficult places and provide overmatch when necessary. And the gangs were overmatched this last weekend. And stay tuned, they will be getting a whole lot more.
Steve Bannon: This was your proposal back in 2017 on Afghanistan that we should have hit the bid on, because it would have worked.
Eric Prince, I know you’re not doing the podcast anymore. Unplug your phone that you worked on. Where do people go right now, War Room Posse, where do they go to get one of your phones?
Erik Prince: They go to unplugged.com/WarRoom. We’ve completely redesigned the operating system. It’s open source now. It is exceedingly easy to use.
We’ve literally got a senior guy that joined us from Apple, Joe Wiles, our CEO. So again, open source, it’s very secure. And we’ve made it extremely easy to cross over. When you buy an unplugged phone, you get an hour of technical support to make it easier to transfer your contacts, your emails, your photos, all the stuff.
And the next tranche of phones, we will plan to make in America.
Steve Bannon: Sir, thank you so much for taking time away today while you’re overseas to join us.
Erik Prince: You bet, Steve. Keep in the fight.