A guest post by Patrice Johnson, founder of Michigan Fair Elections
In an explosive development that connects multiple national security threats, Hugo Carvajal Barrios—a former three-star Venezuelan general and Director of Military Intelligence—has issued a sweeping confession from federal prison that validates President Trump’s aggressive stance toward the Nicolás Maduro regime.
Carvajal’s testimony arrives as the Trump administration escalates military operations against alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers, with the president announcing this week that strikes will soon expand from maritime targets to land-based operations.
“We know every route, we know every house,” Trump declared Wednesday, signaling imminent action against narco-terrorist infrastructure.
The timing is significant. Carvajal’s statement reveals the Venezuelan regime operates as what the general calls “the Cartel of the Suns,” a state-sponsored criminal enterprise designed to weaponize drugs and other tools against America. Former Michigan Senator Patrick Colbeck characterized the general’s statement as turning state’s evidence.
Carvajal’s statement declares:
“I absolutely support President Trump’s policy towards Venezuela, because it is in self-defense and he is acting based on the truth.”
“The regime I served is not merely hostile—it is at war with you, using drugs, gangs, espionage, and your own democratic processes as weapons. President Trump’s policies against the Maduro criminal regime are not just justified, but necessary and proportionate to the threat.”
Click here to view the full letter.
Since 2021, over 250,000 Americans have died from overdoses, predominantly from fentanyl. The general confirms these deaths are not collateral damage from ordinary trafficking; they’re the result of a deliberate policy coordinated between Venezuela, Cuba, FARC, ELN, and Hezbollah. FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia) and ELN (Ejército de Liberación Nacional) are far-left Marxist-Leninist guerrilla groups founded in Colombia. Hezbollah, based in Lebanon, is a Shiite Muslim political party, militant group, and social movement, according to PBS.
Perhaps most alarming, Carvajal directly addresses election security. He states unequivocally that Smartmatic—a company whose technology is incorporated into Dominion, ES&S, and Hart InterCivic systems —was created as an electoral tool for the Venezuelan regime. All three tabulator systems are used in Michigan elections and nationwide.
“I placed the head of IT of the National Electoral Council in his position, and he reported directly to me,” Carvajal revealed. “The Smartmatic system can be altered—this is a fact.”
While careful to note that he does not claim every election is stolen, the former intelligence chief warned that the software has been used to rig elections. He said the Maduro regime operatives maintain current relationships with American election officials and voting machine companies.
Carvajal’s confession also exposes the Tren de Aragua gang as a deliberate export of Venezuelan state violence. He witnessed firsthand how Maduro exploited open-border policies to flood America with gang operatives who continue operating under regime orders.
PNP agents guard two of the 15 members of the Los Gallegos criminal cell, a faction of the Tren de Aragua, who were arrested in a multifamily house on December 25, 2022, in Lima, Peru. (Photo: Peruvian National Police)
The general’s conclusion is stark:
“The regime I served is not merely hostile—it is at war with you.”
His full-throated endorsement of Trump’s military response—calling it “justified, necessary and proportionate”—comes from an insider with intimate knowledge of the regime’s capabilities.
Trump has labeled various drug-linked cartels as narco-terrorists this year, a move that enabled the U.S. military to target drug smugglers as it would ISIS or Al-Qaeda members.
During a recent trip to China, Trump negotiated the discontinuance of China’s export of precursor drugs necessary for the production of fentanyl. Trump and Xi agree to a one-year trade truce.
Photo courtesy of Xinhua
The Daily Mail reported on December 3 that Trump has issued an ultimatum to Maduro and is preparing land strikes in Venezuela. U.S. warships, submarines, and 15,000 troops have been deployed to the Caribbean as the administration’s military posture intensifies.
Democrats in Congress, led by New York Senator Chuck Schumer, have pushed back on Trump’s strikes on boats. The administration calls them drug-smuggler boats, while some in the news call them fishing boats and claim the strikes could be illegal. A few former military officials, like former Pentagon boss Leon Panetta, agree.
Chuck Schumer
Carvajal’s testimony provides a critical piece in the puzzle surrounding national security action against Venezuela and alleged drug boats. The statement elevates the issue beyond drugs and criminal gangs. It raises the possibility of Venezuela as a hostile state waging asymmetrical warfare. Weapons of choice appear to range from trafficking fatal drugs to illegal-migrant, foreign-controlled gangs, and from espionage to political infiltration. It strikes at the heart of America by manipulating the nation’s election infrastructure.
Patrice Johnson is chair and founder of Michigan Fair Elections Institute, a nonpartisan nonprofit 501(C)(3), and Pure Integrity Michigan Elections, a nonpartisan nonprofit 501(C)(4). She has founded five successful technology companies and served as a senior executive with a Fortune 50 technology company. She authored the national award-winning book, Fall and Rise of Tyler Johnson, the basis of a PBS-contracted documentary film, Finding Tyler. Contactpatrice@mifairelections.org.
Could this be the evidence the Trump administration has long awaited?
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