Tag Archives: Colombia

Apr
1
2011
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WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Senate and House Foreign Relations Subcommittees on Western Hemisphere
March 31, 2011 Hearings

“We should immediately focus on replacing the oil from autocrats like Hugo Chávez in Venezuela for that of stable and trustworthy allies like Canada… [The dependence on Venezuelan oil] makes the State Department a hostage when they should be denouncing the Chávez regime for its broad violations of human rights and its support of terrorism.”
Florida Congressman Connie Mack

“My own view and the figures and statistics I have read suggest an explosive growth in the movement, the transit, principally of cocaine and coca-related products through Venezuela on their way to market, a growth of somewhere between 500% and 1,000% over the last seven or eight years. Logic and geography suggest that much of that pushing out through Venezuela heads through Eastern Caribbean and then across the Atlantic to West Africa and to markets in Europe…”

“It is my opinion, which I believe has been expressed by a number of senior U.S. government officials across the last two or three years, that a substantial amount of the senior FARC leadership, three members of its seven-member secretariat, do in fact have near-permanent presence on the Venezuelan side of the border.”
Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield
U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela (2004-2007

“Venezuela, for example, reportedly has maintained an unofficial friendship with Colombia’s FARC guerrillas who have sustained their struggle to overthrow the Colombian government mostly through drug trafficking. In 2010, much of the suspect air activity departing South America to Central America and the Caribbean came from Venezuela’s southwest border with Colombia, as tracked by the U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South. Currently, a Venezuelan businessman is being held in Colombia in connection with 5.5 tons of cocaine that turned up in Campeche, Mexico, in 2006.”
Steven Johnson, Director of the Americas Program,
Center for Strategic and International Studies

 
Apr
1
2011
Posted by
editor
Comments

WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING

Senate and House Foreign Relations Subcommittees on Western Hemisphere
March 31, 2011 Hearings

“We should immediately focus on replacing the oil from autocrats like Hugo Chávez in Venezuela for that of stable and trustworthy allies like Canada… [The dependence on Venezuelan oil] makes the State Department a hostage when they should be denouncing the Chávez regime for its broad violations of human rights and its support of terrorism.”
Florida Congressman Connie Mack

“My own view and the figures and statistics I have read suggest an explosive growth in the movement, the transit, principally of cocaine and coca-related products through Venezuela on their way to market, a growth of somewhere between 500% and 1,000% over the last seven or eight years. Logic and geography suggest that much of that pushing out through Venezuela heads through Eastern Caribbean and then across the Atlantic to West Africa and to markets in Europe…”

“It is my opinion, which I believe has been expressed by a number of senior U.S. government officials across the last two or three years, that a substantial amount of the senior FARC leadership, three members of its seven-member secretariat, do in fact have near-permanent presence on the Venezuelan side of the border.”
Assistant Secretary of State William Brownfield
U.S. Ambassador to Venezuela (2004-2007

“Venezuela, for example, reportedly has maintained an unofficial friendship with Colombia’s FARC guerrillas who have sustained their struggle to overthrow the Colombian government mostly through drug trafficking. In 2010, much of the suspect air activity departing South America to Central America and the Caribbean came from Venezuela’s southwest border with Colombia, as tracked by the U.S. Joint Interagency Task Force South. Currently, a Venezuelan businessman is being held in Colombia in connection with 5.5 tons of cocaine that turned up in Campeche, Mexico, in 2006.”
Steven Johnson, Director of the Americas Program,
Center for Strategic and International Studies

 
Mar
3
2011
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Venezuela’s Increasing Drug Problem

In its 2011 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report (INCSR) released today, the U.S. government dubs Venezuela one of the “principal drug-transit countries in the Western Hemisphere.” According to the yearly report, drug cartels have taken an interest in what Venezuela has to offer – weak anti-money laundering laws, limited bilateral cooperation with other countries, corruption in law enforcement, and its strategic location near drug-producing countries. In short, Venezuela has become a haven for drug traffickers seeking to strengthen their distribution and money laundering operations. The report asserts that corruption plays a big role in Venezuela’s role in drug trafficking. Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index for 2010 ranks Venezuela 164 out of 178 countries.

When it comes to an indictment of Venezuela for their actions – or lack thereof – in drug trafficking, there is perhaps no more interesting case study than that of Walid Makled. The Venezuelan kingpin was arrested in August 2010 by Colombian authorities now considering his extradition to the United States.

In an interview last year with Colombia’s RCN TV, Makled said he “gave [drug] money to 15 Venezuelan generals” and implicated at least four high-level ranking officers: General Hugo Carvajal, Director of Venezuela’s Military Intelligence; General Henry Rangel Silva, Operations Commander for the Venezuelan Armed Forces; General Luis Mota, National Guard Commander; and General Nestor Reverón, Head of Anti-Drug Office.

“As evidence of what I’m saying, I have vouchers, account numbers where I have deposited money in the name of wives, brothers and sisters” of “ministers, generals, admirals, colonels and five deputies of the National Assembly,” said Makled.

Chávez has pleaded with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to send the Venezuelan national home. Coincidence? We think not.