The official website of the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service (ICE) shows Tareck El Aissami and your financial operator Samark José López as “captured”, but this classification is not new nor does it respond to recent movements after the capture of Nicolás Maduro in Caracas on January 3.
As explained by the verification portal Fake News Hunters this February 21, although both profiles appear with the label “captured”, this does not prove that they have been detained in the United Statesnor that they have been extradited to that country, as has been stated on social networks.
In fact, categorization has been present at least from September and October 2025. An X user noticed the same tag on September 29, 2025, and records the archive website on the Internet Wayback Machine on October 9, 2025 confirm that both El Aissami’s and López’s files already showed the same condition on that date.
ICE maintains drug trafficking designations
The Immigration and Customs Enforcement Service recalls in El Aissami’s file that in fIn February 2017, he was declared a Specially Designated Drug Trafficker (SDNT) by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of the Department of the Treasury.
According to the organization, The former Oil Minister facilitated narcotics shipmentssupervised shipments exceeding 1,000 kilos and used high-power positions to participate in international drug trafficking.
The United States also offered a reward of 5 million dollars for the capture of Samark López, whom the Treasury considers El Aissami’s front man.
Pressure from Washington
The public reappearance of both as “captured” coincides with new pressure from Washington on the interim government of Delcy Rodríguez, after the capture of Maduro.
According to him ABC of Spain, the US administration demands allowing investigations into nine senior officialsamong them Nicolás Ernesto Maduro Guerra, Walter Jacob Gavidia Flores, Alex Saab y Raul Gorrinin addition to El Aissami and López Bello, to advance in the dismantling of corruption networks.
El Aissami’s fall from grace began in March 2023, when he resigned following the scandal called PDVSA-Cripto, which involved embezzlement estimated at more than $21 billion through the irregular marketing of crude oil and the use of crypto assets.
Since then, he was out of the public eye until, according to prosecutor Tarek William Saab, he was arrested on April 9, 2024 along with Simón Zerpa and Samark López, accused of the crimes of treason, appropriation of public assets, money laundering and criminal association.
Independent verifications and historical records show that the “captured” label in ICE It is not linked to events in 2026 nor to the reconfiguration of power after the fall of Maduro. This is a mark visible on the profiles for at least a year and a half, which does not confirm arrest in the United States or new judicial operations.
