Venezuela's Drug-Trafficking Role Is Growing Fast, U.S. Report Says -- Washington PostGovernment Corruption, Aid to Colombian Rebels Are Cited
BOGOTA, Colombia, July 18 -- A report for the U.S. Congress on drug smuggling through Venezuela concludes that corruption at high levels of President Hugo Chávez's government and state aid to Colombia's drug-trafficking guerrillas have made Venezuela a major launching pad for cocaine bound for the United States and Europe.
Since 1996, successive U.S. administrations have considered Venezuela a key drug-trafficking hub, the Government Accountability Office report says. But now, it says, the amount of cocaine flowing into Venezuela from Colombia, Venezuela's neighbor and the world's top producer of the drug, has skyrocketed, going from an estimated 60 metric tons in 2004 to 260 metric tons in 2007. That amounted to 17 percent of all the cocaine produced in the Andes in 2007.
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Previous Post: Venezuela And The Drug Trade
My Comment: As the economy in Venezuela continues its slow decline .... the unemployed and those who seek money are going to go into this growing trade. In addition .... with Venezuela's legal institutions now acting more according to political not legal dictates .... law enforcement has all but disappeared in enforcing anti-drug policy.
Evidence is not yet conclusive that President Chavez is involved in the narcotics trade, but it appears that his lieutenants and close confidants are. Are they doing it for political reasons .... I doubt it. Their motivations appear solely to be based on greed for money.