US trial to air allegations of Venezuelan military's drug trafficking ties

By Luc Cohen

NEW YORK, Nov 27 (Reuters) - A trial starting on Monday of a man accused of shipping tens of thousands of kilograms of cocaine into the United States will focus on suspected ties between drug traffickers and leaders of Venezuela's military.

Federal prosecutors in Manhattan accuse Venezuelan Carlos Orense of paying millions of dollars in bribes to senior military officials to protect cocaine he imported from neighboring Colombia for shipment to the United States.

A cooperating witness is also set to testify that a former chief executive officer of U.S. refiner Citgo Petroleum - which is owned by state-owned oil company Petroleos de Venezuela - helped Orense launder money in the mid-2000s, according to court records and a lawyer involved in a parallel case.

Orense has pleaded not guilty to three counts of narcotics importation conspiracy and criminal weapons possession.

Citgo declined to comment. Venezuela's information ministry did not respond to a request for comment.

U.S. accusations of official Venezuelan complicity in the drugs trade have long been a source of tension in the frosty relationship between Washington and the socialist-run OPEC member. President Nicolas Maduro himself was indicted in 2020 on U.S. "narcoterrorism" charges, which he called false and racist.

Two nephews of Maduro's wife, Cilia Flores, were convicted in 2016 by a Manhattan jury of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States. They were sentenced to 18 years in prison, but freed last year as part of a prisoner swap deal with Caracas to free seven Americans.

Orense's trial is set to include detailed testimony about how traffickers influenced Venezuela's military during the tenures of Maduro and his predecessor and mentor, Hugo Chavez.

"The defendant's narcotics loads moved into, out of, and around Venezuela with impunity due to support from Venezuelan officials and the Venezuelan military," prosecutors wrote in a Nov. 4 court filing.

Orense's lawyers have said the case is built on "rumors" and that there was no direct evidence he bribed officials.

They are also expected to attack the credibility of at least one prosecution witness, who law enforcement officials have described in court papers as a former member of Orense's cartel from 2003-2010. He was convicted of federal fraud charges in 2015 and is being paid to cooperate with the government.

Prosecutors have said Orense worked closely with a former chief of Venezuela's military intelligence agency who was indicted alongside Maduro and extradited to the United States from Spain earlier this year.

They did not identify the former chief, but the description matches that of Hugo Carvajal, who pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking charges in July. Carvajal's lawyer confirmed that prosecutors were referring to his client.

(Reporting by Luc Cohen in New York; editing by Grant McCool)