[R-G] Venezuela Says U.S. Uses Anti-Drug List as “Weapon of Domination”

[Anthony Fenton]

Venezuela Says U.S. Uses Anti-Drug List as “Weapon of Domination”
September 17th 2008, by James Suggett - Venezuelanalysis.com
http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news/3807

Mérida, September 17, 2008 (venezuelanalysis.com)-- Venezuelan  
government officials rejected the U.S. government's renewed placement  
of Venezuela and the addition of Bolivia to a list of principal  
countries where illegal drugs are transported or produced, calling it  
a political maneuver meant to weaken the Venezuelan and Bolivian  
governments at a time when both are confronting potential coup d'états  
waged by domestic opposition groups.

A press release from the White House on Tuesday named 20 countries  
which "failed demonstrably" over the past year to comply with  
international drug control agreements.

"They are trying to de-legitimize and discredit the governments which  
are not in agreement with them," said the former Venezuelan Ambassador  
to the United States, Bernardo Alvarez. "It is an absurd policy that,  
instead of resolving the problem of drugs in the world, increases it,"  
said Alvarez.

Alvarez left the U.S. last week after Venezuela expelled U.S.  
Ambassador in Venezuela, Patrick Duddy, for suspected involvement in  
coup plots in Bolivia and Venezuela. Bolivia also expelled U.S.  
Ambassador Philip Goldberg from its country last week on suspicion  
that Goldberg was helping to coordinate the violent destabilization  
campaign underway in eastern Bolivia.

Bolivia was the only country the U.S. added to its list this year.  
Venezuela has been on the list since 2005, the year it cut off  
relations with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on suspicion  
that DEA agents were spying.

Although the U.S. government authorizes itself to deny aid to  
countries it places on the list, Tuesday's press release assured that  
aid to Venezuela and Bolivia will continue, because "support for  
programs to aid Venezuela's democratic institutions and continued  
support for bilateral programs in Bolivia are vital to the national  
interests of the United States."

The press release did not specify the destination of funds to be sent  
to Bolivia and Venezuela. In past years, the U.S. congress-funded  
National Endowment for Democracy and the U.S. Agency for International  
Development (USAID) have given funds to organizations that supported  
the coup against President Chavez in April 2002.

David Johnson, Assistant U.S. Secretary of State for the Bureau of  
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, denied that the list  
reflected ulterior political motives and told reporters that adding  
Bolivia to the list "was not a hasty decision."

The director of the Venezuelan National Anti-Drug Office (ONA), Nestor  
Reverol, said the list violates the United Nations Charter of Economic  
Rights and Duties of States, which was passed by the U.N. General  
Assemly in 1974.

Article 32 of the Charter establishes that states do not have the  
right to employ economic measures which coerce another state to  
subordinate its sovereign rights, Reverol pointed out.

The Venezuelan Minister of the Interior and Justice, Tarek El-Aissami,  
who recently replaced former Minister Ramon Rodriguez Chacin, called  
the list a "weapon of domination."

"We are a country with clear policies based on the principle of co- 
responsibility with other countries," said El-Aissami in a press  
conference. He said Venezuela is willing to share its experiences in  
anti-drug trafficking techniques, but "we are not going to permit the  
United States to impose on us policies that are not precisely for the  
fight against drug trafficking."

Cocaine seizures in Venezuela increased during the first five years of  
the administration of President Hugo Chávez, and have decreased since  
2005. Venezuelan officials say the decrease reflects a drop in the  
quantity of drugs passing through Venezuela, while the U.S. holds that  
drug transport through Venezuela has increased.

Bolivian Government Minister Alfredo Rada commented Tuesday, "This  
anachronistic, unilateral mechanism of certification, which does not  
correspond to the times in which Latin America is living, is an  
ineffective measure."

Bolivian President Evo Morales supports the cultivation of the coca  
leaf, which can be processed into cocaine, for traditional, legal use,  
recognizing the crop's cultural and economic importance for Bolivia's  
majority indigenous peasant population.

Morales also cited government intelligence reports this week that show  
that the separatist governor in the wealthy eastern province of Pando  
hired drug traffickers and paramilitary troops to carry out the recent  
massacre of 16 indigenous peasants as part of a campaign to  
destabilize the federal government that began last month.

Other countries that appeared on the U.S.'s list on Tuesday were  
Afghanistan, the Bahamas, Brazil, Burma, Colombia, Dominican Republic,  
Ecuador, Guatemala, Haiti, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria,  
Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, and Peru.