Too true to be truly funny

2 Responses to Too true to be truly funny

1. Rroja says:

   April 24, 2006 at 8:26 PM

   Bina; I write to you on Malloy but it’s a dead link now (?)..
   A neocon sent me this… thought you’d be interested
   The Venezuela Connection
   By Aleksander Boyd
   On April 11 2006, Mexican authorities seized 5.5 tonnes of high purity
   cocaine in Ciudad del Carmen’s airport. On August 3 2005, Dutch tax
   authorities and the sea harbour police seized 4.6 tonnes of cocaine in
   Rotterdam, the largest ever haul in the Netherlands. On October 13
   2005, Spanish police seized 3.5 tons of cocaine in a fishing boat
   bound for Spain. On September 16 2005, 691 kilograms of cocaine were
   seized in the Tuscan port of Livorno, Italy. On December 14 2004,
   1.141 tonnes of cocaine were seized in two separate operations in
   Kenya, the largest ever seizure in Africa. On May 16 1999, a Saudi
   prince, Nayef bin Sultan bin Fawwaz Al-Shaalan, smuggled 1.993 tonnes
   of cocaine into Paris on his personal aircraft under diplomatic
   immunity.
   Aside from these major drug hauls, in most cases the greatest ever
   made in each of the countries, countless individuals have been
   arrested in European and North American airports for attempting to
   smuggle drugs. It is by no means coincidence that all the
   aforementioned cargos, huge or modest, originated in Venezuela;
   neither is it the periodicity of the apprehensions, which are in an
   ever augmenting curve.
   (Embedded image moved to file: pic24350.gif)
   Venezuela, under Hugo Chavez’s tenure, has become, for all intents and
   purposes, a gangster’s paradise. Drug traffickers, wanted terrorists
   and criminals seem to be able to live quite comfy under the lenient
   watch of a Venezuelan administration that has characterized itself for
   being totally immersed in the destruction of the country’s
   institutions and international agreements to which it once formed
   part. As Chavez’s savage political discourse rules the official
   agenda, activities destined to arrest activities of organized crime
   are nearing irrelevancy. For instance the Drug Enforcement Agency
   (DEA) was kicked out of Venezuela on August 2005, under the spurious
   and unsubstantiated charges that its staff was a) spying and b)
   involved in drug trafficking, as denounced by Hugo Chavez himself.
   Since 1999, military and DEA over flights are forbidden in Venezuela.
   Arguing violations to the country’s sovereignty, the president
   suspended monitoring of drug trade activities by US agencies.
   Statistics reveal a correlation between Venezuela’s lax policies
   vis-à-vis drug trafficking and the substantial increment of large
   seizures of narcotics by international authorities. It seems that the
   Chavez administration is hell bent in providing safe haven and support
   to Colombian narco-guerrillas, which some believe have succeeded the
   former cartels in the production, trans-shipment, international
   commercialization and related operational aspects of the drug trade.
   The capture in Caracas of FARC leader Rodrigo Granda on December 13
   2004 shed light upon the rather cozy relationship between top
   guerrilla leaders and Venezuelan officials. Granda, who was granted
   Venezuelan citizenship by the present administration according to
   former president of Congress Cristóbal Fernández Daló, had been, at
   the time of capture, living in Venezuela for a while. His wife and
   step-daughter entered Venezuela thanks to the assistance and explicit
   orders of former Chavez’s Minister of Interior, Ramón Rodríguez
   Chacín. It is worth bearing in mind that Colombia is, after the US,
   Venezuela’s second largest commercial partner. That fact
   notwithstanding, Hugo Chavez brought diplomatic and commercial
   relationships to a halt over the capture of Granda.
   As drug shipments originating in Venezuela are increasingly seized by
   law enforcement authorities the world over, governments would do well
   in re-examining the role that the Venezuelan State, its Executive,
   military and officials have on this issue. It can not be rationally
   argued that Venezuelan authorities are merely overwhelmed by a surge
   of drug trafficking activities, for for said activities to augment
   there must be a well-oiled operational mechanism, employing a great
   deal of people, behind it. Tonnes of drugs just not materialize in
   ports, secret hangars or abandoned airstrips across the country, much
   less in purportedly well manned international airports. Success in
   drug trafficking requires a level of official support, or at the very
   least, leniency from authorities. Hence my conclusion that many
   government officials from the Chavez administration are deeply
   involved.
2. Bina says:

   April 24, 2006 at 8:46 PM

   Wow. What a load of BS.
   He should read Vheadline or Venezuelanalysis (your neo-con friend, I mean; Boyd is a hopeless, insane hack.) Then he’d realize that not only is Venezuela NOT a gangster’s paradise under Chavez; he’s actually done more to clean the place up than many of his predecessors combined.
   You’ll never hear THAT from a neo-con, though.

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