Venezuela and Bush

The United States continues to 'not play nice' with the legally elected leader of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez. The D.E.A. is apparently being used as an espionage front to destabilize Chavez's government. Or attempt to do so anyway. And don't forget that the U.S. gets about 10-15% of its oil from Venezuela. Bears a closer glance.

from Venezuelanalysis.com

Vice-President Rangel denied that Venezuela was not doing enough to combat drug trafficking. “It is completely false,” said Rangel, “like never before have drugs been confiscated in Venezuela … For the first time in the history of this country is the fight against drugs taken up as a matter of state policy and witnesses are governments such as those of Great Britain, the Netherlands, France, Spain, which are absolutely identified and recognize the support Venezuela has given in the fight against narco-trafficking.”

In an official statement Rangel’s office released today, he also said, “Already last year 43 tons of drugs were captured, a fact for which Venezuela was congratulated by the U.S. government itself. And for this year, until September, 59 tons of drugs and 72 tons of precursor chemicals have been confiscated. But none of this counts because what is of importance to the U.S. government is the political decertification of Venezuela in the function of future aggressions.”

The decision to decertify Venezuela would normally mean a cut-off of all U.S. aid. However, the Bush administration decided to waive this consequence in Venezuela’s case because, “support for programs to aid Venezuela's democratic institutions, establish selected community development projects, and strengthen Venezuela's political party system is vital to the national interests of the United States.”
...
Venezuela’s government has complained for a long time now that the Bush administration is funding opposition groups in Venezuela, to the tune of over $5 million per year, mostly via the National Endowment for Democracy (NED) and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Last week, the NED decided to provide a grant of $107,200 to the oppositional group Súmate (Join up), which was instrumental in the organization of last year’s recall referendum against President Chavez. The grant is supposed to “strengthen democratic processes in Venezuela.”

The rupture over Venezuela’s cooperation with U.S. drug control efforts began earlier this year, when Interior Minister Jesse Chacon accused the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of using its offices and special privileges of infringing on Venezuelan sovereignty. Later, Chavez announced that his government would cancel all cooperation with the DEA and said that his government also suspected DEA agents of spying on his government and said that DEA agents were themselves involved in drug trafficking.

Venezuelan government officials repeatedly pointed out that drug interdiction has more than doubled during Chavez’s presidency compared to previous presidents and that early in the year it was foreseeable that the Bush administration would decertify Venezuela’s fight against drug trafficking for purely political reasons, which have nothing to do with Venezuela’s fight against drugs.

From the San Jose Mercury News:

United States decertifies Venezuela as ally in war on drugs


President Bush has taken Venezuela off his list of allies in the war on drugs, saying that the government of President Hugo Chavez spurned anti-drug cooperation with U.S. officials and fired its effective law enforcement officers.
But the White House waived the cuts in U.S. foreign aid usually attached to the “decertification” so that it can continue to support Venezuelan pro-democracy groups that oppose the leftist Chavez.
Bush's decision is expected to sharply exacerbate already bitter U.S.-Venezuelan relations roiled by Washington's charges that Chavez is promoting subversion around the hemisphere and the Venezuelan president's allegations that Bush is out to kill him.

From the Guardian

Chavez had no direct comment Thursday on Bush's action but used the occasion of his presence at the United Nations summit of world leaders to take a verbal swipe at Bush.
``Mr. Bush represents the most crude and savage imperialism that threatens the world,'' Chavez said.
Later, Chavez urged other leaders to consider moving U.N. headquarters out of the United States, which he called ``a terrorist state.''
...
Chavez claims that Venezuelan authorities have been very successful in detecting shipments of illegal drugs. He has said the United States, as the world's top consumer of drugs, does little to decrease consumption.
..Colombia has been the world's principal source of cocaine over the years, but the United States has consistently given high marks to President Alvaro Uribe for his counternarcotics efforts.

from the VOA

Venezuela's vice president has compared U.S. counter-narcotics agents in his country to an occupation force, and contested the right of the United States to judge Venezuela's cooperation in combating illegal narcotics. The comments come several weeks after Venezuela suspended bilateral anti-drug efforts with the United States.
...
“Why does this disagreement surface with the United States? Because they [U.S. officials] allow the DEA to act like a type of occupation force - detaining and interrogating Venezuelans,” he said. “We have told the United States that we want to have an accord [for combating narcotics] - but one that is transparent, with equal conditions [for both nations]. Venezuela would never be permitted to have its anti-narcotics agents operating within the United States, and we would never ask for it. But we want the DEA to act in accordance with Venezuelan law. We are working to formulate a new accord on those terms.”

Very interesting indeed.

Pete Guither says it better than your humble narrator, so I'll just quote 'em....

And Rangel is right -- the certification process is infantile. I suspect that this has very little to do with an actual concern on the part of the U.S. regarding drug trafficking -- that's just the excuse. The U.S. was using the DEA as a cover to infiltrate and Chavez knew it. And the fact that the U.S. is decertifying without cutting aid for groups opposing Chavez kind of makes it obvious (since decertification is supposed to stop aid). Could it be that the administration is setting up a scenario where they can justify overthrowing Chavez in order to “protect us from drugs”?

Tags: Politics, /drugs, /Worst_President