Venezuelan official calls U.S. drug agency a 'new cartel'

[Purveyor]

Source: Associated Press

CARACAS, Venezuela – Venezuela on Monday said it will not allow U.S. agents to carry out counter-drug operations in the country, accusing the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration of being a “new cartel” that aids traffickers.

Justice Minister Pedro Carreno said the South American nation suspended cooperation with the agency in 2005 after determining that “they were moving a large amount of drugs.” President Hugo Chavez at the time also accused the DEA of spying.

“The United States with its DEA monopolizes the shipping of drugs like a cartel,” Carreno told reporters. “We determined that we were evidently in the presence of a new cartel.” He did not elaborate.

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“The Venezuelan government doesn't accept blackmail,” Carreno said. Security agencies are willing to follow up on any information provided to track down traffickers, he added, but “what we will not permit them to do is carry out operations in our territory.”

Read more: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20070507-1439-venezuela-us-drugs.html

[Algorem]

1. funny how if you want coke in U.S.,you can get it easily.

despite all of these decades of "drug war".golly,how odd.

[RL3AO]

2. Sometimes the Venezuelan Gov't says some decent stuff, and sometimes they say stupid stuff like this

[leQ]

4. i find what they say a bit confusing; like he plays the media. i tend to judge him on his

actions, not his words. in other words, if half of congress had the cojones this guy's got, maybe we'd have a congress that could put bush in his place. like, a slap upside his head once in a while thing.

[killbotfactory]

6. Yeah, that was waaaayyyy back in the 80's under Reagan

I'm sure they stopped since nothing happened to the perps.

[JackRiddler]

9. Sometimes they say some decent stuff, and sometimes...

They hit the forbidden truth dead on, as in this case.

The drug war is the drug industry. It has always been so. Elements of the DEA, CIA, Customs and the police have always been involved. They are at the center of it.

[bemildred]

3. Hey, no drug war, no DEA. You do the math. nt

[ProudDad]

5. The phony "war on drugs"

is just that, PHONY!

Like abortion, gay marriage, anti-immigration it's a fucked up bit of rhetoric to help the inadequate and ignorant get elected.

One edit: the number one solution to the "drug problem" and to the problem of the gun carnage on our urban streets is to de-criminalize!

[Vincardog]

7. EGGZACTLY

[bread_and_roses]

8. Right . Unbelievable to me that there are still those - even here-

who support maintaining this fraudulent, racist, oppressive front for the prison industry and the ever-increasing erosion of civil liberties.