Venezuela considers shooting down drug planes

[Judi Lynn]

Source: Associated Press

Venezuela considers shooting down drug planes
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
01/16/2011 00:46


Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez says he is considering letting the military shoot down planes loaded with illegal drugs if they ignore orders to land.

Chavez says he doesn't necessarily like the idea, but lawmakers should debate it.

Venezuela is a major hub for traffickers smuggling Colombian cocaine to the United States and Europe.

The president told lawmakers Saturday that drug smugglers often ignore air force orders to land, with some openly mocking such commands over the radio.



Read more: http://www.jpost.com/Headlines/Article.aspx?id=203749

[Rex]

1. Better clear that with the CIA first.

Thanks.

[HankyDubs]

2. wow

that's exactly what I was gonna say.

[LawnKorn]

3. They won't shoot them all down - just the ones that didn't pay bribes to the right people

Venezuela does not allow free lance drug smuggling. They have standards you know.

[HankyDubs]

5. right

It's the venezuelans who are corrupt, but not the columbians or the 'Mericans.

[hack89]

11. No - there is enough drug money to corrupt them all. nt

[Red1]

18. Hit The Nail on the Head

[The abyss]

4. Recommend...

Venezuela has threatened/warned they will defend their air space no differently than the US claims to protect their own.

Venezuela of course has that right, and I sure as hell wish they would start blasting apart anything that is not cleared once crossing over their borders!

The US gov is not going any where near Venezuela, the US gov lacks the boots on the ground, ships on the sea and somewhere near zero support in LA for an invasion (Colombia upon waking after a wet dream may have a few flashing fantasies :)

The Venezuelan government has put paid to more international/ Interpol listed drug smugglers AFTER kicking out the US DEA than any other nation on this planet.

Chavez can shoot anything down crossing his borders and no one is going to counter that situation. In Venezuela there lies a rifle behind every blade of grass.

Stop talking about it and start doing it.

Edit for spelling

[Judi Lynn]

14. Colombia and the US both have had planes invading Venezuelan air space.

They claim simple "mistakes" and expect them to do absolutely nothing about it.

The US planes were based in Curacao, I believe, claiming to be on routine maneuvers and ended up in Venezuela. Tacky. Way out of line.

No reason Venezuela doesn't have every right to its own air space, just as the US demands. You are absolutely right.

[DissedByBush]

6. Ask yourself

What would your response have been if Bush had said he's shooting down unarmed aircraft that were thought to be smuggling drugs?

This would be a death sentence imposed immediately with no trial, no jury, no chance for a defense.

[EFerrari]

12. In American airspace?

What do you suggest the Air Force do?

[saras]

15. Who said 'unarmed'?

And who said 'thought to be'?

[Judi Lynn]

17. "CIA watched as missionaries shot down in Peru in 2001"

CIA watched as missionaries shot down in Peru in 2001
Published On Thu Feb 4 2010

Cathal Kelly
Staff Reporter

The CIA sat by as the Peruvian air force shot down a plane carrying a family of American missionaries, according to dramatic surveillance footage obtained by ABC News.

The incident took place above Peru’s jungle canopy in 2001. Two people — Veronica Bowers and her infant daughter, Charity — were killed when the plane crash-landed into a muddy river.

The video contains chatter between a CIA spotter plane and Peruvian military as they try to figure out if the single-engine float plane spotted below them is being piloted by drug smugglers.

In fact, the plane contained American missionaries Jim and Veronica Bowers, their two children, along with a pilot, Kevin Donaldson. The Bowers were flying back from a trip to Brazil when they attracted the attention of the military operation.

More:
http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/760463--cia-watched-as-missionaries-shot-down-in-peru-in-2001

~~~~~
WASHINGTON, Dec. 11, 2008
CIA Helped Shoot Down 15 Civilian Planes
Report Points To Cover-Up Of '90s Anti-Drug Program; Criminal Charges Possible

(CBS/AP) With the help of CIA spotters, the Peruvian air force shot down 15 small civilian aircraft suspected of carrying drugs, in many cases without warning and within two to three minutes of being sighted, a U.S. lawmaker said Thursday.

It was the first public disclosure of the number of planes shot down between 1995 and 2001 as part of the Airbridge Denial Program, a CIA counternarcotics effort that killed an innocent American missionary, Veronica Bowers, and her infant daughter in 2001. A State Department investigation at the time said that Peruvian fighter jets forced another 23 planes to land.

Michigan Rep. Pete Hoekstra, senior Republican on the Intelligence Committee of the House of Representatives, told The Associated Press most of the 15 planes shot down with the help of the CIA crashed in the jungle. The wreckage has not been or could not be examined to ascertain whether narcotics were aboard the aircraft.

"The Bowers could have gone in the same category if they had crashed in the jungle," Hoekstra said, speaking of the missionary family from Hoekstra's state, Michigan.

More:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/12/11/world/main4664791.shtml

[DissedByBush]

19. You appear to not approve of that n/t

[Hulk]

7. You mean, "just say no" didn't work?

This is a war. Thanks to our insatiable appetite for cocain and other illicit drugs, Mexico is now a war state, especially on the borders. I think it is past time we look at this whole issue as "a war".

Get our troops home from across the world, and address the real war that has been waging over here for the past 30+ years now!

[Judi Lynn]

8. Venezuelan police detain drug suspect wanted in US

Venezuelan police detain drug suspect wanted in US
The Associated Press
Updated: 01/14/2011 11:19:14 PM CST


CARACAS, Venezuela—Venezuelan police have captured a drug suspect alleged to belong to Mexico's Zetas drug gang.
The Interior Ministry said in a statement Friday that 56-year-old Gloria Rojas Valencia was detained in Caracas this week.

It said she is a reputed member of the Zetas drug gang and is wanted by a U.S. court in New York for trafficking cocaine. The statement did not provide any other details.

Officials described Rojas as the partner of Colombian drug suspect Luis Frank Tello Candelo, who was captured in Venezuela last year and deported to the United States.

Traffickers regularly use Venezuela as a route for smuggling Colombian cocaine, and the Interior Ministry said the Zetas have been involved in moving drugs to Honduras and Mexico.

http://www.twincities.com/national/ci_17099668?nclick_check=1

[Imajika]

9. Good for Chavez...

While it is ultimately American demand for illegal drugs that causes so much of this problem, these powerful drug cartels are responsible for incredible amounts of carnage and bloodshed.

If these planes do not respond to orders to land, Chavez is completely correct that they should be shot down.

The claims that Chavez has been "lax" against drug traffickers is not supported by any evidence I've seen.

[w4rma]

10. What? You mean Venezuela is really only a pass through for drugs being made in other nations to get

to even different nations?

[Forkboy]

13. Wrong thing, imo.

[David__77]

16. They'd better have clear procedures for this, and document any action very well.

They need to be wary of provocation by hostile forces who would seek to manipulate that policy toward foul ends.