This would be a good time to start rethinking all that, yes?
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Fear doesn't travel well; just as it can warp judgment, its absence can diminish memory's truth. What terrifies one generation is likely to bring only a puzzled smile to the next. --Arthur Miller, "Why I Wrote 'The Crucible'", The New Yorker, October 21, 1996
All opinions here are the brain-wrackings of Sabina C. Becker, unless otherwise credited. If you cite them, please give credit where due.
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Meta
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.
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.