Episode 5: What happens when organized crime, authoritarian regimes, and corruption intersect?

Investigative journalist Maybord Petit exposes how Cuba’s influence and a 1994 meeting with Hugo Chávez helped transform Venezuela into a hub of transnational crime, using drug trafficking, human smuggling, and dark money to erode institutions. The episode traces the rise of a criminal ecosystem, the links between Havana and Caracas, and the threat this network poses to democracies and electoral integrity in the Americas.