The United States government has fired two senior officials from the country's National Intelligence Council (NIC) who weeks ago denied the story, embraced by the Donald Trump administration, that the Venezuelan government maintains ties to the now-defunct Tren de Aragua criminal gang.
Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard expelled the acting chairman of the NIC, Michael Collins, and his deputy, Maria Langan-Riekhof, who were responsible for the investigation that debunked the thesis mounted by extremist groups, who did use the services of these criminals, about the gang's ties to the Bolivarian government.
The argument used to dismiss these senior officials is that the results of their work did not support Trump's political agenda of maintaining the false narrative against Venezuela to the bitter end.
A spokesperson for Gabbard's office admitted that the expulsion of Collins and Langan-Riekhof constitutes an effort to "combat the alleged politicization of U.S. intelligence agencies."
At the beginning of May, The New York Times released a memorandum reaffirming the position of U.S. intelligence agencies that Nicolás Maduro "does not direct" the Aragua Train's activities, as Republican leader Donald Trump has claimed.
The document was declassified on May 5 and indicates that intelligence agencies do not believe Maduro has control over the criminal group.
The NIC is the primary agency for analyzing classified intelligence and creating classified reports for the president and other senior officials. Its work is the result of exhaustive investigations related to the immutable national security of the United States.
"Any action that diminishes their independence because politicians don't like the independent conclusions they draw is the definition of the politicization they're condemning. Michael and Maria are incredible leaders and intelligence community professionals, not political actors," said Jonathan Panikoff, deputy national intelligence official for the Middle East.
