Leamsy Salazar
| Leamsy Salazar link (Mariner, Defector) | |
|---|---|
| File:Leamsy-Salazar.png Leamsy Salazar in 2012 | |
| Born | 1974 Caracas, Venezuela |
| Nationality | Venezuelan |
Hugo Chavez bodyguard in the years before his death | |
Leamsy Villafaña José Salazar was a Lieutenant colonel in the Venezuelan Navy who was also the head of security details for Hugo Chávez and Diosdado Cabello.[1][2] Salazar defected to the United States in December 2014 with the assistance of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.[1] He and his family were immediately placed in US Witness protection and, as of March 2016, his whereabouts are therefore unknown.
Official narrative
The Official Narrative of Salazar's defection is that he had discovered that Diosdado Cabello, a close confident of former President Hugo Chavez, was involved in the international drugs trade. Eva Golinger has suggested that Salazar, in company with the US DEA and CIA, was involved involved in the covert assassination of Chavez.[3]