U.S. says Venezuela no longer ally in war on drugs

HighRising · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 5:58 am Post subject:

"Venezuelan Vice President José Vicente Rangel said of the annual certification process required by U.S. law, "We reject it. ... it's infantile."

"At the U.N., Chavez denounced the U.S.-led war in Iraq on and told world leaders they should consider moving the U.N. headquarters out of the United States because of it, noting that some have suggested Jerusalem as a new home.

World leaders had been asked to speak for five minutes, and when Chavez kept talking, the presiding diplomat passed him a note that his time was up. Chavez threw it on the floor and said if Bush could speak for 20 minutes at Wednesday's opening session, so could he."

While Chavez has said some things I haven't agreed with, I love his 'take no shit' attitude.
And he is right, having the headquarters of an organisation that is meant to represent internation justice and liberty situated in America... it seems quite contradictory to me. I don't think America has earnt the privellige.
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**Brother Adam** · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 8:18 pm Post subject:

Pepper · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:28 pm Post subject:

http://narcosphere.narconews.com/story/2005/9/16/17445/5596

U.S. Decertifies Venezuela on Drug Control
By Dan Feder,
Posted on Fri Sep 16th, 2005 at 05:44:05 PM EST
The Cubanization of United States policy toward Venezuela has begun in earnest. Yesterday, President George W. Bush released his findings on drug war “certification” – the highly politicized list the White House has produced since the mid-1980s of which countries are doing their part in “international” drug control efforts, and which have “failed demonstrably.”
Only two countries did not make the cut this year. The first was perennially-decertified Myanmar (Burma). The second was, as the State Department threatened last month, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela…

From yesterday’s presidential determination:

Pursuant to section 706(2)(A) of the FRAA, I hereby designate Burma and Venezuela as countries that have failed demonstrably during the previous 12 months to adhere to their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements and take the measures set forth in section 489(a)(1) of the FAA. Attached to this report (Tab A) are justifications for the determinations on Burma and Venezuela, as required by section 706(2)(B).
I have also determined, in accordance with provisions of section 706(3)(A) of the FRAA, that support for programs to aid Venezuela's democratic institutions, establish selected community development projects, and strengthen Venezuela's political party system is vital to the national interests of the United States.

(The “justifications” mentioned are not attached to the online version and, as far as I can tell, are not available anywhere online.)

In the last two months, the State Department has mentioned a few areas of “concern” at its daily press briefings: Venezuela’s slowness on passing an organized crime bill that the U.S. supports, and its unwillingness to sign on to an international agreement on monitoring aircraft. Pretty minor stuff compared to Venezuela’s neighbor, staunch U.S. ally Colombia, where sections of the Army are major players in the cocaine and heroin trade and impunity, despite a few high-level arrests now and then, essentially rules.

A key point to note in the presidential determination is the waiver that allows support for Venezuela’s “democratic institutions” to continue. This is important because a drug war decertification generally implies blocking a country from international aid and loans. So, while aid to Venezuelan “democracy” (code for funding the opposition to President Chávez, most recently seen in the National Endowment for Democracy’s $107,000 grant to Súmate this week) Wink

will be allowed to continue, Venezuela will most likely be cut off from other forms of aid and loans from institutions like the World Bank.

It would seem, then, that the White House and State Department are using the drug war pretext to begin what could evolve into a Cuba-style economic blockade of Venezuela. At the very least, they are employing a tool that in the past has been quite effective for the political isolation of other countries, and, in the case of Panama in 1989, was part of the run-up to U.S. military invasion.

**Ferre** · Posted: Sat Sep 17, 2005 9:37 pm Post subject:

Funny that, how the American administration is funding right wing opposition in Venezuela in an attempt to overtrow the DEMOCRATICALLY ELECTED president. Funny how the Amerikkkan administration acts as if they do not know that Venezuela already is a democracy, in fact president Chavez is a lot more popular with his own population than Bush will ever be in America.

Chavez didn't need to fraud the elections, unlike Smirk.
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**Brother Adam** · Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 4:09 am Post subject:

Chavez haz pizzed ov de fuhrer!!
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“Knowledge will forever govern ignorance; and a people who mean to be their own governors must arm themselves with the power which knowledge gives.”

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Police officers acquitted for beating a 64 yr old man recently in New Orleans. In the words of their defense attorney "all he had to do was comply"....and they wouldn't have fractured his face.

**aeroplane** · Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 12:58 pm Post subject:

Why does Amerika need to extend it's reach outside of the country for a problem that is entirely inside it's own borders? What if another world leader said that America was contributing to his country's problem of say... acid rain? Would that give this other world leader the right to keep troops and support opposition within Amerika's borders until the problem is quashed?

As the past 25 years of the "War on Drugs" have proven, Amerika's drug problem is not out there, it's inside Amerika's borders and always has been.
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"Penalties against the possession of a drug
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than the drug itself."

US President Jimmy Carter

**Ferre** · Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 1:45 pm Post subject:

Don Quixote · Posted: Sun Sep 18, 2005 7:01 pm Post subject:

viva Hugo Chavez

i got family in venezuela and i can tell you for a fact that before president Chavez took power (by popular demand) the vast majority of people had to watch their children go to bed hungry every night.

they didnt have health care , schools , the vote or even shoes.they lived in poverty in shacks.all this in one of the worlds biggest oil producers.

the vast majority of people were , of course indigenous indians.the country was run by american and british 'oil interests' through decendants of the european conquerors from the 16th and 17th century.

now old Hugo is using some oil money to improve the welfare of his people.the oil corporations are choking on the fact that 'their' oil is being used to improve the welfare of the poor.

so they have sent the CIA terrorists in to get rid of seneor Chavez 'by any means available'.you know , blowing up school busses and hospitals and killing nuns etc ... etc ... like they did in Nicaragua.

its inevitable.he is a dead man and he knows it.when it happens i am going to forget i am a pacifist.

Brother Ferre is absolutely right , the biggest group of terrorists on earth are the british and american 'intelligence' services and the corporate bastards they work for.

peace ... for now at least.

**aeroplane** · Posted: Mon Sep 19, 2005 9:00 pm Post subject: