A powerful lawmaker in Venezuela has reportedly been engaging in a public feud with Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) over the senator's views against the actions of President Nicolas Maduro's regime. They both recently traded shots via Twitter where Sen. Rubio called Diosdado Cabello, "the Pablo Escobar of Venezuela", a famous drug kingpin in Colombia. Cabello responded by calling the Florida Senator "Narco Rubio".

Putting 'pressure' on Maduro

With Maduro's government rapidly seizing control of the country, in recent months, the U.S.

threatened to slap Venezuela with sanctions and Sen. Rubio also threatened to enforce a ban of oil exports to the U.S. from the Latin American country. Republican lawmakers who support Rubio's hard line have said that such an effort would force the Maduro regime to "restore democracy" to the country. When Maduro's regime finally seized control of parliament last month, the U.S. Treasury Department didn't waste any time to sanction them immediately.

But it the sanctions were reportedly on President Maduro's assets in the U.S. The sanctions are also for those who may want to do "business" with the Venezuelan leader. The threat of sanctions also extends to members of his party such as Cabello, who was reportedly behind a potential assassination plot against Rubio.

The Miami Herald reported in an article titled: "Powerful Venezuelan lawmaker may have issued death order against Rubio" that U.S. authorities shared a memo which they say could be a potential plot to assassinate the Florida senator. As a result, Sen. Rubio was escorted by security for an extended period of time.

Venezuela is a 'narcostate'

Last week, President Trump threatened Venezuela with military action in the same week that he had also threatened North Korea. The Maduro regime responded saying that the U.S. president was talking crazy. It was reported in May that the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) had reason to believe that with the help of Cabello, Venezuela had acted as a transfer point for drug trafficking or rather, had essentially become a narcostate.

The investigation also involved prosecutors in Florida and was confirmed by the Wall Street Journal in May in an article titled: "Venezuelan Officials Suspected of Turning Country into Global Cocaine Hub".

Newspapers in Venezuela have also reported on the investigation and as a result have been sued by Cabello. One report by the Miami Herald titled: "Feds widen probe of drug smuggling allegations against Venezuelan leaders" states that reporters in the country felt vindicated for the WSJ taking up the story. Diosdado is the vice president of the Venezuela's socialist party and a member of the armed forces. He was reportedly involved in defending former President Chavez against a coup attempt in the nineties.

It's been said that he would have taken Chavez's place when he died as President but it was already held for Maduro.

Sen. Rubio and other U.S. lawmakers have threatened to block oil exports to the U.S. coming from Venezuela which much like President Trump's threats, many have argued that such a ban would make the issues in Venezuela even worse. While Venezuela trades oil with other countries, those other countries only provide money that is either from loans or trade for other things. The U.S. pays hard currency and therefore reportedly provides support for 75 percent of the country.
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