Marco Rubio certainly looks like he could be facing a death threat from a Venezuela politician who the U.S. senator from Florida described as the "Pablo Escobar of Venezuela," according to reporting by the Miami Herald.
A security detail has been guarding Rubio in Washington, D.C. and in Miami for several weeks after uncorroborated threats against the senator were uncovered by U.S. intelligence, the Herald said.
Venezuelan legislator Diodado Cabello, who has been in a public spat with Rubio, was reportedly behind the death threat, per the Herald. Cabello was a former military chief in the country before becoming a politician, and had suspected ties to drug trafficking there, per the newspaper.
Last month, Rubio called out Cabello during the U.S. Senate hearing. Cabello later called Rubio "Narco Rubio" in a tweet, the Herald said.
A Department of Homeland Security memo said Cabello, who is believed to control Venezuela's security forces, began actively discussing a plot to kill Rubio last month and may have wanted to use Mexican nationals for the assassination plot, Politico reported.
Politico said Rubio increased his verbal attacks on Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro and has called for more sanctions against the Venezuelan government. Cabello has denied that he is involved in drug trafficking in the Central American government, per Politico.
Violence has broken out in Venezuela since an election last month allowed Maduro to seize power while the country's constitution is being rewritten, National Public Radio said. The United States, in turn, hit Maduro with individual sanctions along with other members of his regime, Politico said.
The disputed election allowed Maduro to dissolve Venezuela's National Assembly and create a new National Constituent Assembly to help redo the constitution, NPR said.
Nikki Haley, the U.S. enjoy to the U.N., went to Twitter to speak out against the election.
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