Senator Marco Rubio was the target of an assassination plot launched by one of Venezuela’s most powerful leaders, according to a report from the Miami Herald.
According to an intelligence report obtained by the U.S. last month, Diosdado Cabello, a former military chief and a member of the United Socialist Party of Venezuela, issued an “order to have Senator Rubio assassinated” and may have contacted “unspecified Mexican nationals” in order to carry out the deed.
The report added that “no specific information regarding an assassination plot against Senator Rubio has been garnered thus far,” and the U.S. has been unable to verify the threat.
Senator Rubio has been a vocal critic of Venezuela’s socialist regime. In the past, he has called for sanctions against Cabello–who is known as the Pablo Escobar of Venezuela–as well as other regime figures.