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Chávez: DEA "Supports Narco-Trafficking" in Venezuela
Venezuela President Hugo Chávez, after voting today in municipal elections (5,999 municipal council seats, plus one regional governor's post are at stake: pro-Chávez candidates are widely expected to sweep what will be, now, the ninth national vote since Chávez's 1998 electoral victory), explained, in more detail, why Venezuela has launched an investigation into the conduct of officials of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in national territory.
Associated Press reports (so far in Spanish only http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.es.hts/sp/nws/3299951 ) that Chávez told reporters:
"The DEA was using the fight against narco-trafficking as a mask to, among other things, support narco-trafficking, in order to conduct intelligence operations against the government."
The Venezuelan president said that in the coming days he will announce a decision about future cooperation with the US drug enforcement agency.
More at the jump...
Chávez continued:
"It's necessary to remember that the top drug consumer in the world is the United States, and that the governments and institutions of the United States do little to stop the consumption of drugs."
Chávez, according to AP, said that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) don't attack the financing and profits from drug trafficking:
"How strange that they don't discover it! With so much intelligence capacity, intelligence agencies like the CIA, no? It's able to divine that there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq!"
Venezuelan prosecutors have accused the DEA of "illegal operations" in the country, and have announced that changes are coming in what the Venezuelan government will tolerate in terms of DEA activity, and what it will not.
And so, once again, the dichotomy between democracy and the drug war flares up. This time, though, it might even happen on TV (see http://narconews.com/Issue38/article1392.html ).
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/8/7/161354/7903
"The DEA was using the fight against narco-trafficking as a mask to, among other things, support narco-trafficking, in order to conduct intelligence operations against the government."
The Venezuelan president said that in the coming days he will announce a decision about future cooperation with the US drug enforcement agency.
More at the jump...
Chávez continued:
"It's necessary to remember that the top drug consumer in the world is the United States, and that the governments and institutions of the United States do little to stop the consumption of drugs."
Chávez, according to AP, said that the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) don't attack the financing and profits from drug trafficking:
"How strange that they don't discover it! With so much intelligence capacity, intelligence agencies like the CIA, no? It's able to divine that there are weapons of mass destruction in Iraq!"
Venezuelan prosecutors have accused the DEA of "illegal operations" in the country, and have announced that changes are coming in what the Venezuelan government will tolerate in terms of DEA activity, and what it will not.
And so, once again, the dichotomy between democracy and the drug war flares up. This time, though, it might even happen on TV (see http://narconews.com/Issue38/article1392.html ).
http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/8/7/161354/7903
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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - President Hugo Chavez on Sunday accused the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of using its agents for espionage, and said Venezuela was suspending co-operation with the agency.
Chavez, who regularly accuses the U.S. government of plotting against him, said "the DEA isn't absolutely necessary for the fight against drug trafficking."
U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said last week that the United States had hoped to maintain co-operative anti-drug efforts in Venezuela, and that without them "there is only one group that wins, and that group is the drug traffickers."
But Chavez maintains that the DEA has been using the fight against drugs as a pretext to gather intelligence on Venezuela.
"The DEA was using the fight against drug trafficking as a mask, to support drug trafficking, to carry out intelligence in Venezuela against the government," Chavez said.
"Under those circumstances we decided to make a clean break with those accords, and we are reviewing them," Chavez said, referring to the co-operative agreements under which the DEA has operated in the South American country.
Prosecutors last month opened an investigation into the DEA in Venezuela.
"We have detected intelligence infiltration that threatened national security and defence," Chavez said.
He acknowledged that Venezuela is a major transit point for cocaine moving from Colombia to the United States and Europe. But he said Venezuela's own armed forces have made important advances against trafficking.
As for the DEA, he said specifics of his government's decisions will be announced soon. Chavez's comments were the most specific to date on the accusations against the DEA.
Chavez criticized U.S. policy on drugs, saying that while the United States is the world's top consumer of drugs, its government does little to try to lessen consumption.
He also criticized the CIA and FBI of not doing enough to catch major drug kingpins in the United States. "How strange they don't find them," he said.
http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.html?id=e15c5402-339c-4abb-875e-9b595edfbfec
Chavez, who regularly accuses the U.S. government of plotting against him, said "the DEA isn't absolutely necessary for the fight against drug trafficking."
U.S. Ambassador William Brownfield said last week that the United States had hoped to maintain co-operative anti-drug efforts in Venezuela, and that without them "there is only one group that wins, and that group is the drug traffickers."
But Chavez maintains that the DEA has been using the fight against drugs as a pretext to gather intelligence on Venezuela.
"The DEA was using the fight against drug trafficking as a mask, to support drug trafficking, to carry out intelligence in Venezuela against the government," Chavez said.
"Under those circumstances we decided to make a clean break with those accords, and we are reviewing them," Chavez said, referring to the co-operative agreements under which the DEA has operated in the South American country.
Prosecutors last month opened an investigation into the DEA in Venezuela.
"We have detected intelligence infiltration that threatened national security and defence," Chavez said.
He acknowledged that Venezuela is a major transit point for cocaine moving from Colombia to the United States and Europe. But he said Venezuela's own armed forces have made important advances against trafficking.
As for the DEA, he said specifics of his government's decisions will be announced soon. Chavez's comments were the most specific to date on the accusations against the DEA.
Chavez criticized U.S. policy on drugs, saying that while the United States is the world's top consumer of drugs, its government does little to try to lessen consumption.
He also criticized the CIA and FBI of not doing enough to catch major drug kingpins in the United States. "How strange they don't find them," he said.
http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.html?id=e15c5402-339c-4abb-875e-9b595edfbfec
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