Venezuela Says US DEA Stole Equipment

[sintax]

Venezuela Says DEA Stole Equipment

Thursday, Aug 18, 2005

Caracas, Venezuela, August 18, 2005 —The director of Venezuela’s drug control agency, the National Commission Against Illicit Drug Use (Conacuid), Luis Correa, said that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) removed equipment from the building it shared with Conacuid. Correa said the equipment involved 13 devices for tapping cell phone systems, which the DEA had donated to Conacuid several years ago.

Correa made the accusation to the press and to a National Assembly hearing yesterday. Jesse Chacon, the Minister of the Interior and of Justice, had also mentioned this issue during a press conference he held on Wednesday.

Correa explained that he had sent two letters to the DEA requesting the equipment be returned to his agency, but has so far not received a reply.

The governments of Venezuela and the U.S. have gotten into a dispute recently about their efforts to control drug trafficking in Venezuela. President Chavez accused the DEA of spying and of over-stepping its authority while working in Venezuela. U.S. officials rejected the accusations, charging instead that Venezuela was not cooperating well with DEA agents.


http://www.venezuelanalysis.com/news.php?newsno=1721

[jillan]

1. America the Bully!

Venezuela is full of oil, you can be sure that it is killing bushco not being able to invade.

So glad they are doing these, and making people all over the world love us even more:sarcasm: :banghead:

[Mnemosyne]

2. I'm with you pirhana

:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

[Oerdin]

3. Reportedly, Chavez has been supporting

has been supporting the marxist Rebels in Columbia who make most of their money via the cocaine trade. Reportedly he's been allowing them to base themselves out of Venzeula and attack across the border into Columbia as well as to traffic through Venzeula provided that corrupt officials get a nice fat pay off. It is really not sounding like Chavez is the angle some people here are making him out to be and instead he's sounding more and more like a corrupt bastard who uses puffed up retoric and populism in order to remain well liked.

The non-oil portion of the economy continues to suffer from capital flight and skilled people are leaving the country in droves causing a brain drain. Chavez can pape over that as long as oil prices remain high but the state oil company is reportedly still using 1970's technology (pre-computer based oil field management) and production is declining steadily. With Chavez confiscations of foreign assets and his rigging of the courts it will be very hard to convince foreign firms with modern technology to agree to joint ventures to transfer technology. Venezuela is in for a very rough period if oil prices fall due to a slow down in the world economy.

[CottonBear]

4. "Reportedly" = "some people say" Please provide links or evidence

for your stated position.

Oil prices are not falling (and will not) fall. (Peak Oil + Chinese demand)
Chavez is not a "corrupt bastard."
Chavez has not "rigged the courts"
Venezuela is one of the world's major oil producers and CONTINUES to supply the US with millions of gallons of oil each and every month.

Your stated positions and opinions (unsourced ) are not within DU parameters and rules for Democrats and Progressives.
Please explain.

[marbuc]

5. There is some corruption in the Chavez government

but I haven't heard anything conclusive that he is corrupt himself. I am personally a fan, but I think he is unfairly villified from the right, but also equally naively praised by the left. The fact is he is neither absolutely corrupt or an absolutely selfless "man of the people." He is somewhere in between.

[CottonBear]

11. Chavez is not"naively praised by the left."

We (the "left") know that the * administration attempted to support a coup against Chavez. He is a popular populist leader of an oil rich Soth American country which provides us with millions of gallons of oil every month. Republicans always seek to destabilize non-Republican Friendly governments anywhere south of our border.

We are not naive. We are aware of the world around us and of the geopolitics of oil and the quest for the domination of the oil markets/production.

[1932]

15. English language coverage of Chavez is about nil.

And most of what there is comes from the right.

However, there is an interesting book people should read about Chavez by Aleida Guevara. It's an interview with Chavez. It's very interesting.

[ugarte]

18. The big thing Americans don't get about Chavez

is that his ethnicity is a huge reason for his popularity. Almost all Latin American leaders have been 'white' whereas Chavez is pure 'indio'...

That he should be president of Venezuela is akin to a black president in this country. It's a huge deal and makes the white Venezuelan elites hate and fear him all the more.

[1932]

19. Chavez isn't pure indio. According to the book he's a little of everything

According to the book I mentioned above, Chavez says he has a little indio, a little black, a little spanish...

[ugarte]

21. Believe me, he's 'Indian' enough...I don't mean he's pure to the last drop

'Indio' in the sense I use it is a perjorative term invented by whites to put down non-whites. Latin America is a project in mixed ancestry, but Chavez is non-white and represents the masses of mixed bloods and what is left of the various indigenous populations.

[1932]

22. Oh yes. I agree. I'm only trying to set facts straigh.

Race is almost certainly a part of the landscape, but Chavez is not pure indio.

[ugarte]

23. Understood

We're talking two separate things, but I think we agree.

[1932]

24. We agree.

I'm just dropping tantalizing tidbits from the book to encourage people to read it.

[ugarte]

6. GOP talking points

If what you say is true, they can vote him out of office. It's for Venezuelans to decide, not the USA.

[mirandapriestly]

7. "Reportedly"

The US is more involved in the Venezuelan drug trade than Chavez is.

[Mika]

8. Reportedly Chavez is an elected dictator..

.. on Faux News & and in the (El Nuevo) Miami Herald.



:rofl:

[ugarte]

9. Andres Oppenheimer bullshit in the Herald

Miami Cubans think it's still 1959.

[wli]

12. I can vouch for that one

The Cuban exiles I hear from are stuck in Machado vs. Batista debates and are anti-Castro to the point they openly wish they had the means and bravery to participate in US-sponsored military incursions against Castro. It's really disgusting. There's even a huge racist thing about "moros" and "indios" (aboriginal Carribeans) and Arab descent (from ancient Muslim/Arab conquests of Spain) and what might best be described as some kind of bizarre "Cuban supremacist" ideology.

Definitely not something I want to be involved with or anywhere near.

[IndianaGreen]

10. Thank you for repeating the bullshit spewed by Fox News

Since the Republican Party is a criminal enterprise that should be banned as Al-Qaeda, why should we believe any of the lies that we are told by the rightwing press, even when it is posted in DU?

Bush is quite comfortable with the Venezuelan elites, they are as rich and as white as he is.

[wli]

14. the Republican party *IS* al Qaeda

It's 100% US-sponsored and is literally more of a group of bought-and-paid-for US operatives in the Islamosphere than anything like a foreign threat. It's used as 100% international agitprop.

[saigon68]

16. "if oil prices fall due to a slow down in the world economy"

WTF!!!!

haven't seen that lately

[JDPriestly]

17. What is your source?

Here on DU, we either provide a link or state where we got our information. Unless you are just theorizing, please do the same.

[oasis]

20. Dude, you were asked to provide links two hours ago. What gives?

:shrug:

[ugarte]

25. That word 'reportedly' is pretty handy

It's like Rumsfeld saying that Chavez is giving 'quiet support' to leftist movements in Latin American. By 'quiet support' he means there's no evidence to back it up.

[Occulus]

13. Yeah, um, 'bout that...

Isn't Venezuela the nice, exotic (to us) country The Price is Right sent contestants to back in the '80s and early '90s?

Venezuafuckingela.

Unbelievable.

[drduffy]

26. still no references,

Oerdin? Your credibility is in the toilet.

[IndianaGreen]

27. Turn on Faux News and you will hear the same shit there

about Chavez. What can you expect from people that reject reason and science? Faith-based foreign policy is what got us into the Iraq quagmire, and praying to Jay-Zeus ain't going to get us out of there.

On the same topic, Rumsfeld was accusing Cuba and Venezuela of de-stabilizing natural gas-rich Bolivia, and Rumsfeld also stated that the indigenous candidate for President in Bolivia, Evo Morales, was not legitimate.

[CottonBear]

28. Ah ha! The old "post and run" routine. No facts=no DUcredibility. n/t