'Judicial Terrorism': Venezuela Rejects US Drug Charges Against National Guard Chief

Venezuela accused the United States on Thursday of "judicial terrorism" and double standards in response to an indictment against a senior military official for drug trafficking.

Nestor Reverol, a former interior minister and head of the country's anti-drugs agency who now runs the Venezuelan National Guard, is accused of taking payments from traffickers and alerting them to raids, according to a person with knowledge of the case.

Another official, Edylberto Molina, a former deputy head of the anti-narcotics agency and currently a military attache posted in Germany, is also named in the indictment.

"Venezuela totally rejects US foreign policy which, through judicial and police terrorism from national agencies and using global media campaigns, pursues, threatens and pressures the exercise of authority in Venezuela," a statement said.

Reverol, who would be one of the highest-ranking Venezuelan officials to face US drug charges, had a distinguished record in the drug fight, the communique added.

"Under this senior Venezuelan official's management, major successes have been achieved in the control and prevention of the evil business of illicit drug-trafficking," it said.

Related: No One in Venezuela Is Talking About Maduro's Relatives Who Were Busted on Drug Charges

Reverol has not commented on the case, but has previously rejected accusations that Venezuela failed to curb illicit drug shipments and has touted the National Guard's success in cracking down on the flow of cocaine from neighboring Colombia.

The National Guard issued a series of tweets in Reverol's defense on Tuesday night using the hashtag #NestorReverolSoldierOfTheFatherland, saying that he should be praised for capturing more than 100 drugs bosses.

"We reject the campaign from the fascist right against our Commander General," one said.

Venezuela's Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino also weighed in. "Stop the campaign to tarnish the Bolivarian Armed Forces and their leaders. Let the truth come out!" he tweeted.

The indictment pending in federal court in Brooklyn, New York, is expected to be unveiled in January, according to people familiar with the case.

US prosecutors have unsealed indictments charging at least five former Venezuelan officials with drug trafficking crimes over the past four years, according to records from Florida and New York district courts.

Long accused of complicity in the drug trade, the governments of President Nicolas Maduro and his predecessor Hugo Chavez have said that such charges are part of an international right-wing campaign to discredit socialism in Venezuela.

In another high-profile case, two nephews of Venezuelan first lady Cilia Flores were arrested in Haiti last month and indicted in Manhattan on cocaine trafficking charges. Diosdado Cabello, the speaker of the Venezuelan National Assembly, is also reportedly being investigated by US authorities for ties to drug trafficking.

Citing Afghanistan as an example, Venezuela's government statement said that US agencies were known for manipulating and applying double standards to the issue of drugs in order to violate the sovereignty of other nations.

Venezuela has in recent years become a major shipment route for Colombian cocaine to US and European markets.