Is Venezuela a State Sponsor of Terrorism?

The US intelligence community has long considered Tareck El Aissami to be a key figure in the global narcotics trade, with significant ties to Iran. He has overseen massive shipments of drugs from Venezuela to other countries, including the United States, and has issued identification documents to Hezbollah operatives. But El Aissami isn’t an affiliate of Hezbollah or the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC). El Aissami is the vice president of Venezuela. After an extensive Treasury Department investigation spanning several years, the Trump administration levied sanctions against El Aissami last week, freezing his assets in the United States and prohibiting US companies from doing business with him.  More…