William Acosta, CEO of Equalizer Investigations for Poder & Dinero and FinGurú
Introduction
Those who have walked the winding halls of Latin American politics sense that, behind the formal headlines, a much darker and reactive game is being played. The chess match between Havana and Caracas rarely grants a respite to its pawns: here, any alliance is more mystical than eternal, and revolutions, as soon as they are cornered, are ready to sacrifice pieces.
The logic of power that binds Cuba and Venezuela exceeds any cliché. There are testimonies in Havana circles that insist that Maduro's survival ceased to be a priority long before it was imagined outside the island. The reason is as brutal as it is pragmatic: if Maduro falls into American hands, the torrent of uncomfortable secrets—ranging from oil pacts to files on clandestine operations and muted agreements with Iran and Russia—threatens to drag the entire structure of the regime underwater (Infobae, 2025; El País, 2025; Diario Las Américas, 2025).
The Debut and Fall of the Useful Martyr
In the Caribbean, it is said—seldom aloud—that the hired dictator always pays the price for favors received. Maduro embodied docility before Castro; he was the oil channel to the island, the buffer against international sanctions. But today, he is nothing more than a worn-out piece. "Weak, unpopular, and turned into a national security problem for Cubans," his role has been reduced to covering cracks while he was of use. In the optics of Castroism, true survival depends on secrets dying with their keeper. If needed, the story—see Allende, see Ochoa—can always be renewed with another revolutionary martyr.
The Suns, the invisible guillotine, and the Cuban touch
To speak of the Cartel of the Suns, one must know how to read between the lines. Here, power, gold, and cocaine are interwoven in a web of pacts and feared silences. The criminal structure that Maduro has led or tolerated has transformed much of the region into a privileged platform for global narco-trafficking. Cuba, far from being a mere spectator, sets up and modulates routes, provides diplomatic cover, and, when storms intensify, takes action so that the scandal never touches its internal operators (BBC Mundo, 2016; Diario Las Américas, 2018).
When the script requires it, sacrifice is sold as revolutionary action: Castro and his followers have perfected the art of recycling martyrs and burning traitors.
Chronology of Key Events and the Cuba-Venezuela-Iran Triangle
The Real History Was Never Linear, But There Are Clear Milestones:
1960s–80s: Cuba, in the name of the revolution, creates clandestine routes and then executes its pieces when the DEA and the press brush against the elite (Letras Libres, 2016; SciELO, 2005; Amnesty International, 1989).
1990s–2000s: The Cartel of the Suns emerges among Venezuelan commanders, using the Cuban recipe of total infiltration and criminal alliances.
Chávez Era: Cuban intelligence takes shape: customs, military, and repression control in Venezuela. Iran emerges as a logistical and financial ally: special flights, mixed companies, and money triangulation (Infobae, 2025; El País, 2025).
2014–2025: Hezbollah and Iran factors appear. Trafficking networks, gold, and money laundering merge via Iranian banks, concluding in Africa and Europe (Infobae, 2025; Yahoo News, 2025; State Department, 2025).
General Ochoa and the sacrificed
Arnaldo Ochoa is a symbol: a decorated general, purged and executed when the hierarchy's links were exposed. Antonio and Patricio de la Guardia, José Abrantes, all discarded as traitors when they became risky. The system always saves its head at any cost and the exemplary process of Ochoa remains a warning for allies and rivals (Letras Libres, 2016; BBC Mundo, 2016; SciELO, 2005; Amnesty International, 1989).
Maduro: the “useful clown”
The role that Castroism writes for its subordinates always ends the same: execute the script, serve as a screen, accept discredit. Maduro is the “useful clown,” useful until he can no longer contain the secrets; afterward, he will just be another name in the pantheon of the fallen for convenience (Cuba Encuentro, 2015; El País, 2025; Infobae, 2025).
Regional Impact of Venezuelan Drug Trafficking
The triangulation of Cuba-Venezuela-Iran has globalized trafficking: international laundering, migratory flows, increasing strength of mafias, and violence in South America and the Caribbean. Cuba guarantees logistics, Venezuela is the bridge, and Iran finances and launders via Hezbollah. The business corrupts all institutions and keeps the machinery of impunity alive (Infobae, 2025; Yahoo News, 2025; State Department, 2025; Diario Las Américas, 2025; El País, 2025).
Conclusion
It is undeniable that the complexity surrounding the Cuba-Venezuela-Iran triangle goes far beyond the media cliché. What is unsettling is that while official discourses insist on revolutionary legitimacy and the supposed defense of sovereignty, in fact, we find ourselves not only in front of a vast apparatus of impunity but also before a carefully perfected machinery to survive at any cost, forgetting that human stories and social consequences are rarely simple collateral damage.
Each episode analyzed here leaves a bittersweet feeling. Not only because it confirms the ease with which a strategic alliance—built between Caracas, Havana, and Tehran—can contaminate entire systems and compromise generations; but also because behind the epic and slogans lie the swapped lives, recycled accomplices, and, above all, the betrayed. From Ochoa to Maduro, the recurring fable is that of the useful piece: when loyalty ceases to be profitable, its political or literal death is cloaked in martyr rhetoric, while the clandestine machinery continues to turn with new operators.
The most concerning aspect is not just the damage that drug trafficking exports in the form of violence and corruption to the entire region. It is, above all, the price that civil societies, which have had to live with captured states, forced migrations, and impunity-driven crime, pay. The consequences are measured in corroded institutions, fragmented families, and entire countries plunged into spirals of skepticism and despair.
Perhaps the most honest question is what remains to be done when the experience of these regimes teaches that it is always possible to reinvent martyrs and sacrifice pieces, but very rarely to hold anyone accountable to history. Maybe the answer lies in stopping viewing these episodes as isolated anecdotes and starting to think of them as warnings: only real transparency, coordinated pressure, and—no less important—the reconstruction of social ethics will allow breaking the circle of silence and violence.
Looking forward, the lesson is simple and urgent: as long as power believes it can “burn pieces” without real cost, all of us, in one way or another, will continue to be forced spectators in a game that, unfortunately, is still ongoing.
References
Amnesty International. (1989). Urgent Action: Cuba – Arnaldo Ochoa Sánchez. https://www.amnesty.org/es/wp-content/uploads/sites/4/2021/06/amr250071989es.pdf
BBC Mundo. (2016). Fidel Castro: the deaths, disappearances, and detentions that marked his era. https://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias-america-latina-38153673
Cuba Encuentro. (2015). Maduro: the despot and the clown. https://www.cubaencuentro.com/internacional/articulos/maduro-tema-del-despota-y-el-payaso-322377
Diario Las Américas. (2018). Cuba identified as a bridge for FARC money laundering. https://www.diariolasamericas.com/america-latina/senalan-cuba-puente-lavado-dinero-las-farc-n4143797
Diario Las Américas. (2025). The legacy of Raúl Castro: Nepotism, drug trafficking, and repression in Cuba. https://www.diariolasamericas.com/america-latina/el-legado-raul-castro-nepotismo-narcotrafico-y-represion-cuba-n5373190
El País. (2025). The Cartel of the Suns, the criminal network that confronts the United States and Venezuela. https://elpais.com/internacional/2025-09-07/el-cartel-de-los-soles-la-red-criminal-que-enfrenta-a-estados-unidos-y-venezuela.html
Infobae. (2025). How the alliance between Hezbollah, Iran, and Maduro's dictatorship built a drug trafficking empire in Venezuela. https://www.infobae.com/venezuela/2025/09/07/como-la-alianza-entre-hezbollah-iran-y-la-dictadura-de-maduro-construyo-un-imperio-del-narcotrafico-en-venezuela/
Infobae. (2025). Cartel of the Suns: how Maduro's criminal network turned Venezuela into a bridge for drug trafficking. https://www.infobae.com/venezuela/2025/09/06/cartel-de-los-soles-como-la-red-criminal-de-maduro-convirtio-a-venezuela-en-puente-del-narcotrafico/
Letras Libres. (2016). The trial of General Arnaldo Ochoa. https://letraslibres.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/pdf_art_14631_12785.pdf
Martín Noticias. (2018). Cuba helped with drug trafficking for Venezuela to be a failed state. https://www.martinoticias.com/a/cuba-el-narcotrafico-y-venezuela-/178078.html
Ocando, C. (2024). This is how drug trafficking operates from Cuba and Venezuela. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIFfvrF7Yas
SciELO Colombia. (2005). The Cuban connection. Drug trafficking, smuggling, and gambling in Cuba. http://www.scielo.org.co/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0121-47052005000200008
Yahoo News. (2025). Hezbollah and Iran exploit Maduro's Venezuela to profit from cocaine. https://es-us.noticias.yahoo.com/conexi%C3%B3n-c%C3%A1rteles-hezbol%C3%A1-ir%C3%A1n-explotan-100006372.html
State Department. (2025). Designation of international cartels. https://www.state.gov/translations/spanish/designacion-de-carteles-internacionales
Wikipedia. (2022). Drug trafficking in Cuba
https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Narcotráfico_en_Cuba
Wikipedia. (2022). Cartel of the Suns. https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%A1rtel_de_los_Soles
About the Author
William L. Acosta is a graduate of PWU and Alliance University. He is a retired police officer from New York, a former military personnel, and founder of Equalizer Private Investigations & Security Services Inc. Since 1999, he has led complex investigations into drug trafficking and homicide, participating in criminal defense and coordinating operations in the Americas and Europe.
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