Sen. Marco Rubio’s fierce criticism of the dictatorship in Venezuela may have led an influential politician there to put out a hit on the outspoken Florida lawmaker.
Rubio, who has long denounced the collapse of democracy seen in Venzuela under former President Hugo Chávez and his successor Nicolás Maduro, has been seen with increased security since mid-July. Now reports say that is because he may have been threatened by a death order.
Capitol police have repeatedly refused to comment on the security detail that now accompanies Rubio, but the Miami Herald reported that the Department of Homeland Security sent a memo to several law enforcement agencies last month.
The Herald said the memo was designated “law enforcement sensitive” but was not classified and described an order to have Rubio assassinated. But it also cautioned that the United States had been unable to verify the threat and that “no specific information regarding an assassination plot against Senator Rubio has been garnered thus far.”
The threat is attributed to Diosdado Cabello, an influential Venezuelan politician who has been a leading figure in the repressive socialist government there. Cabello, a longtime ally of Chávez, led some of the military to support Chávez’s failed 1992 coup.
