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<h1 class="gmail-reader-title">Venezuela and Fentanyl: Dismantling the US Narrative With Data From the US Government</h1>
<div class="gmail-credits gmail-reader-credits">Misión Verdad</div>
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<div class="gmail-reader-estimated-time" dir="ltr">October 1, 2025</div>
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<div class="gmail-moz-reader-content gmail-reader-show-element"><div id="gmail-readability-page-1" class="gmail-page"><div><p><img width="395" height="263" src="https://orinocotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/Fentanyl-1024x682.webp" alt="A vial of fentanyl citrate, used as pain medication in the US. Photo: Joe Amon/Getty Images." class="gmail-moz-reader-block-img" style="margin-right: 0px;"></p>
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A vial of fentanyl citrate, used as pain medication in the US. Photo: Joe Amon/Getty Images.</p>
<p></p></div><div id="gmail-content"><div><p>By Misión Verdad \u2013 Oct 1, 2025</p><p>Amid
political rhetoric that has sought to link Venezuela to the fentanyl
crisis in the United States, a recent official document from the US
government itself categorically refutes that accusation.</p><p>The <a href="https://www.state.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/03/2025-International-Narcotics-Control-Strategy-Volume-1-Accessible.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">International Narcotics Control Strategy Report 2025</a>
(INCSR), published in March by the US State Department\u2019s Bureau of
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, makes clear that
Mexico is the sole significant source of illicit fentanyl and its
analogues that have affected the United States in 2024.</p><p>This
finding is conclusive: Venezuela is not mentioned as a producer country,
a transit route, or a relevant actor in the trafficking of fentanyl
into US territory.</p><p>Moreover, the report underscores that according
to seizure data and police investigations, the competent
authorities\u2014including the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration)\u2014agree
that the entire illicit fentanyl supply chain originates in Mexico,
where synthetic pills and powders are manufactured using chemical
precursors primarily sourced from China.</p><p><strong>The contradiction between the political narrative and the technical facts</strong><br>
Recently, US President Donald Trump has tried to link Venezuela to
fentanyl trafficking, even justifying military operations in the
Caribbean\u2014such as precision strikes against small vessels\u2014as part of a
supposed anti-drug strategy.</p><p>However, none of these claims is
supported by the US government\u2019s own technical reports and official
classifications. The INCSR 2025, which relies on intelligence, joint
operations, and forensic analysis, entirely omits Venezuela from the
fentanyl map.</p><p>This discrepancy between political rhetoric and
institutional evidence raises doubts about the true motives behind the
accusations against Venezuela, as it amounts to a weaponization of the
drug problem for geopolitical purposes. Or does it reflect a dangerous
oversimplification that ignores the complexity of global drug
trafficking? It would hardly be the case.</p><p>The truth is that, when
comparing public statements with official documents, a deliberate
discrepancy becomes evident between what is said in the political arena
and what is acknowledged in technical offices.</p><p><strong>Venezuela\u2019s structural absence from the fentanyl market</strong><br>
Apart from what the US report states, there are structural reasons why Venezuela is not involved in fentanyl trafficking:</p><ol><li><strong>Lack of chemical infrastructure:</strong>
Fentanyl is a synthetic opioid that requires sophisticated laboratories
and access to highly regulated chemical precursors. Venezuela, with its
pharmaceutical and chemical industries dedicated to national
development efforts, lacks the technical and logistical capacity to
produce it on a large scale. There are no indications of existence of
clandestine laboratories specializing in synthetic opioids in the
country, not even in areas where organized crime exists.</li><li><strong>Geography and drug trafficking routes:</strong>
Fentanyl routes to the US are primarily overland, crossing the US
southern border from Mexico. The Caribbean, although historically used
for cocaine trafficking, is neither an efficient nor a common route for
transporting fentanyl, which is a high-value drug that is moved in small
quantities, making it ideal for smuggling by land or by mail. Small
vessels\u2014which Trump has attributed to transporting fentanyl from
Venezuela\u2014make no logistical sense in this context: fentanyl does not
need to be transported in large volumes, and its <a href="https://misionverdad.com/globalistan/fase-zombi-de-la-american-way-life-abre-las-puertas-al-fentanilo-en-eeuu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">massive entry</a>
into the US market is primarily carried out via parcel delivery,
private vehicles, or established distribution networks in border cities.</li><li><strong>Historical pattern of Venezuelan trafficking:</strong>
Venezuela has never been associated with synthetic opioids. Fentanyl is
neither grown nor refined, unlike cocaine. The production of fentanyl
is industrial and highly specialized, something foreign to the drug
trafficking model in the Andean and Caribbean regions. Venezuelan
criminal organizations, when they have engaged in drug trafficking, have
done so within the Colombian cocaine trade (<a href="https://misionverdad.com/venezuela/desmontando-la-gran-farsa-del-narcoestado-venezolano" target="_blank" rel="noopener">on a very small scale</a>), not in the manufacture of synthetic substances.</li></ol><p><strong>The weight of institutional evidence</strong><br>
The INCSR 2025 is the US government\u2019s most comprehensive and
authoritative annual report on the global state of drug trafficking. Its
preparation involves multiple agencies: the DEA, the Department of
Justice, the Department of Homeland Security, and US embassies around
the world. Its conclusions guide resource allocation, international
cooperation, and diplomatic decisions in drug enforcement.</p><p>The
fact that Venezuela is not even mentioned in this document in connection
with fentanyl is a deliberate decisioin based on years of monitoring,
interceptions, and intelligence analysis.</p><p>Moreover, the report not
only identifies Mexico as the sole significant source but also details
US\u2013Mexico bilateral cooperation mechanisms, regulatory measures on pill
manufacturing machines, and joint efforts to control chemical
precursors.</p><p>This shows that the US anti-drug strategy is focused
on the Mexico\u2013US axis. Venezuela is not part of that axis; it is not
even on the fringes.</p><p><strong>Political consequences</strong><br>
When Trump attributes complex problems to the wrong origin, he not only
distorts reality but also generates practical consequences. For example,
military operations in the Caribbean, justified under the false premise
that Venezuelan fentanyl is being intercepted, divert resources from
genuine lines of action.</p><p>Furthermore, they fuel misconceptions in public opinion, making it difficult to develop effective, fact-based policies.</p><p>Even
worse, these unfounded accusations undermine US credibility in
international forums. If a country accuses another of illicit activities
without presenting verifiable evidence\u2014and, worse, in contradiction to
its own official reports\u2014its moral and diplomatic standing is weakened.</p><p>The fight against drugs requires cooperation, transparency, and technical rigor. The politicization of information weakens it.</p><p><strong>Towards a fact-based drug policy</strong><br>
The case of fentanyl and Venezuela illustrates that US drug policies are
not based on evidence but on convenient political narratives. It is a
distortion of reality that diverts resources, attention, and cooperation
from the true sources of the problem in order to forcibly bring about
regime change in a country.</p><p>The United States suffers an overdose epidemic that in 2024 alone <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/05/14/fentanyl-overdose-deaths-decline/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">claimed more than 80,000 lives</a>
due to fentanyl overdose. To tackle it effectively, the United States
must focus on strengthening cooperation with Mexico, better regulating
chemical precursors globally, and addressing the <a href="https://orinocotribune.com/the-fentanyl-epidemic-driven-by-profit-made-in-usa/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">root causes of addiction within its own borders</a>: access to fentanyl, mental health crisis, inequality, and social despair.</p><p>Meanwhile,
Venezuela has been exonerated\u2014by the very most authoritative US
sources\u2014of any involvement in fentanyl trafficking; it is not part of
the fentanyl supply chain.</p><p>Trump is only arguing about this issue
because he is constantly being provoked, especially by the State
Department, that he must launch a violent military campaign against
Venezuela.</p><p>(<a href="https://misionverdad.com/venezuela/venezuela-y-el-fentanilo-desmontando-mitos-con-datos-de-eeuu" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Misión Verdad</a>)</p><p>Translation: Orinoco Tribune</p><p>OT/SC/SL</p><div><p><span><img width="150" height="150" src="https://orinocotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/D-fi4iQXUAEvvf5-e1562097727116-540x359-150x150.jpg" alt="D-fi4iQXUAEvvf5-e1562097727116-540x359"></span></p><div><p></p><h5><span>Misión Verdad</span></h5><p></p><p>Misión
Verdad is a Venezuelan investigative journalism website with a
socialist perspective in defense of the Bolivarian Revolution</p></div></div><h2></h2></div></div></div></div>
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