Large-Scale, Politically-Connected Venezuelan Cocaine Trafficker Sentenced To Life Plus 30 Years in Prison
NEW YORK — Carlos Orense Azocar was sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison for conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and related weapons charges. Orense Azocar was convicted after a two-week trial in December 2023 before U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick for the Southern District of New York (SDNY), who imposed today’s sentence.
“Carlos Orense Azocar is one of the most prolific cocaine traffickers ever sentenced in this courthouse, responsible for the distribution of hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton for the Southern District of New York. “Orense Azocar and his co-conspirators, including high-ranking government and military officials, inflicted incalculable damage on this community. Alongside our partners at the Bilateral Investigations Unit of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)’s Special Operations Division, we are committed to ending the exploitation of the American people by drug cartels and the governments who enable them.”
“Carlos Orense Azocar was a criminal kingpin who built an empire on deception, fraud, and bribery,” said DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole. “Orense Azocar’s close ties to the Venezuelan government provided resources to help him evade law enforcement and move massive shipments of cocaine across the Western Hemisphere. Today's sentence sends a clear message: DEA will relentlessly pursue and hold international drug traffickers accountable, no matter how far they run or how powerful they believe themselves to be.”
According to court documents and the evidence presented at the trial:
Beginning in or about 2003, Orense Azocar and his drug trafficking organization distributed tons of cocaine destined for importation into the United States. Orense Azocar helped transport, receive, and distribute loads of cocaine ranging from hundreds to thousands of kilograms, from Venezuela to Mexico, the Dominican Republic, and elsewhere, using air and maritime routes. Orense Azocar operated fincas, or ranches, in Venezuela, where he stored his cocaine in underground tanks, stored hundreds of deadly weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition, and which had clandestine landing strips from which he dispatched airplanes loaded with cocaine. Orense Azocar also loaded cocaine on “go-fast” boats that sped from the Venezuelan coastline to intermediate delivery points in the Caribbean, including the Dominican Republic and close to Puerto Rico. To aid in his cocaine distribution, Orense Azocar worked with and paid bribes to high-ranking officials throughout the Venezuelan government, including military generals and army officials; national police commissioners; and high-ranking officials in the Venezuelan intelligence agencies. Orense Azocar’s corrupt Venezuelan government connections secured access to military-grade weaponry, protection from military and law enforcement raids, safe passage for Orense Azocar’s cocaine convoys through checkpoints, and fraudulent airplane transponder codes to permit Orense Azocar’s cocaine-laden aircraft to freely depart Venezuela en route to Central America and Mexico. Orense Azocar similarly partnered with armed guerrilla forces operating in Colombia and Venezuela to source cocaine and secure safe passage for his cocaine shipments. Orense Azocar distributed hundreds of tons of cocaine and made tens of millions of dollars through his narcotics trafficking.
To protect and expand his cocaine trafficking organization, Orense Azocar employed high-powered weaponry. He had armed security teams that guarded his finca; traveled in armored vehicles with armed security; and used armed security, military forces, and police to protect his convoys of cocaine. Among other weapons, Orense Azocar employed automatic rifles, submachine guns, handguns modified to operate as machine guns, and a 50-caliber mounted machine gun.
Mr. Clayton praised the outstanding investigative work of the DEA’s Special Operations Division Bilateral Investigations Unit, Rome Country Office, and Miami Field Division, as well as the SDNY Digital Forensics Unit and the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of International Affairs for securing the arrest and June 2022 extradition from Italy of Orense Azocar. Mr. Clayton additionally thanked the Government of Italy for its assistance extraditing Orense Azocar to the United States.
Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kaylan E. Lasky, Michael D. Lockard, and Kevin T. Sullivan for the Southern District of New York’s National Security & International Narcotics Unit are in charge of the prosecution.