David Rutherford Show: How Venezuela Became a Launchpad for America’s Enemies
The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show
iHeartPodcasts
4.3 • 11.1K Ratings
🗓️ 12 January 2026
⏱️ 27 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
📍Rick de la Torre, former Chief of Station in Venezuela, joins David Rutherford to expose the hidden intelligence networks, communist expansion, and foreign power operations that turned Venezuela into a criminal state — and a global launchpad for America’s enemies.
From Cuban intelligence control of Maduro, to Russia, China, Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah using Venezuela as a base, this conversation reveals the real shadow war shaping the Western Hemisphere.
Rick explains:
• How Cuba actually runs Venezuela
• Why communism resurged across Latin America
• How oil became a weapon of global power
• Why the U.S. lost focus on the hemisphere
• And why a new geopolitical shift is underway right now
Next Steps:
- 🏫 Get coaching by David Rutherford: https://www.froglogicinstitute.com/
- 📕 Get David's novel, The Poet Warrior: https://www.ballastbooks.com/ballast-bookstore/the-poet-warrior
- 📰 Sign up for David's weekly newsletter for free coaching tips, updates, and more: https://davidrutherfordletter.substack.com/
Timestamps:
00:00 - Who Were Maduro’s 32 Bodyguards?
03:16 - Cuba, Communism & The Venezuelan Shadow Empire
13:47 - Did The US Just Destroy Communism In South America?
16:39 - The Battle For The Western Hemisphere
21:49 - How The Venezuela Op Changed Global Power Structures
23:44 - Marco Rubio & What Comes Next
Follow Clay & Buck on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/clayandbuck
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is an I-Heart podcast. |
| 0:02.3 | Guaranteed Human. |
| 0:04.4 | CEO of Tower Strategy and former Chief of Station in Venezuela, Mr. Rick De La Tori, today on the David |
| 0:13.6 | Rutherford Show. |
| 0:40.0 | Rick, welcome to the show. I'm so privileged and honor to have you on. But, you know, I just want to jump right into it, man. Who are the 32 Cuban bodyguards? And why, like, what security company were they from and why were they a part of Maduro's inner circle? Let's just start there. Sure, sure. So, you know, one of the things that |
| 0:45.5 | the Cuban intelligence apparatus and the Cuban government does in exchange for getting all |
| 0:50.6 | this free oil from Venezuela is provide them with the security that they need |
| 0:55.9 | so that the regime could stay in power, right? |
| 1:00.2 | So over the years, they provided them the tactics and capabilities and the people, as you see here, |
| 1:08.1 | to thin the ranks, to, you know, carry out the totalitarian |
| 1:12.2 | type of Soviet Union style, you know, intelligence apparatus within the country. So Maduro himself, |
| 1:20.4 | knowing that he had been illegitimately put in place, never really trusted anyone to, to handle his personal security. And that's something |
| 1:31.2 | where the Cubans came in and would manage for him. So those that you see dead there, those are |
| 1:36.7 | actually Cuban intelligence officers that were stationed to protect him. |
| 1:45.8 | It's something that they've denied, actually. |
| 1:47.5 | The regime has denied this for years. |
| 1:53.7 | No, no, no, there's no, there's no Cuban military or Cuban intel officers here, you know, part of my group. |
| 1:58.0 | But, you know, 30 of their bodies are there on his rooftop. |
| 1:59.4 | So it shows otherwise. |
| 2:04.4 | Yeah, that makes a lot of sense and for those of you listening or watching um you know uh hugo chavez had a very intimate relationship with fed el castro |
| 2:12.6 | and and so you know i think let's expand it out because your knowledge of the region is, I think, the greatest opportunity for my listeners and viewers to get a grander sense of the context of Venezuela's role in the region and how it kind of shifted away from Castro into Chavez and then Venezuela kind of emerged. |
| 2:37.4 | Can you kind of explain that history of that relationship and the influence of Russia through Castro and kind of the manipulation of the region over the last 50 years? |
... |
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