Carlos Orense Azocar, identified as a major cocaine trafficker with connections to high-ranking Venezuelan officials, has been sentenced to life plus 30 years in prison. The sentencing follows his conviction on charges of conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and related weapons offenses after a two-week trial in December 2023 before U.S. District Judge Vernon S. Broderick.
“Carlos Orense Azocar is one of the most prolific cocaine traffickers ever sentenced in this courthouse, responsible for the distribution of hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States,” said U.S. Attorney Jay Clayton. “Orense Azocar and his co-conspirators, including high-ranking government and military officials, inflicted incalculable damage on this community. Alongside our partners at the Bilateral Investigations Unit of the DEA’s Special Operations Division, we are committed to ending the exploitation of the American people by drug cartels and the governments who enable them.”
DEA Administrator Terrance C. Cole stated: “Carlos Orense Azocar was a criminal kingpin who built an empire on deception, fraud, and bribery. Orense Azocar’s close ties to the Venezuelan government provided resources to help him evade law enforcement and move massive shipments of cocaine across the Western Hemisphere. Today’s sentence sends a clear message: DEA will relentlessly pursue and hold international drug traffickers accountable, no matter how far they run or how powerful they believe themselves to be.”
Court documents revealed that since around 2003, Orense Azocar’s organization moved large quantities of cocaine from Venezuela through various countries using air and maritime routes. He operated ranches in Venezuela equipped with underground storage tanks for drugs and weapons, clandestine landing strips for aircraft transporting narcotics, and maintained security teams armed with automatic rifles and other weaponry.
Orense Azocar worked closely with corrupt Venezuelan officials—military generals, police commissioners, intelligence agents—and paid bribes for protection from raids as well as safe passage for drug shipments. His organization also collaborated with guerrilla groups in Colombia and Venezuela.
The investigation involved several agencies within the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), digital forensic experts from SDNY, as well as cooperation from Italian authorities which led to Orense Azocar’s extradition from Italy in June 2022.
The prosecution was managed by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kaylan E. Lasky, Michael D. Lockard, and Kevin T. Sullivan from SDNY’s National Security & International Narcotics Unit.
