For the third year in a row, the U.S. State Department has named Venezuela one of the world’s two least cooperative countries in the War on Drugs, alongside Myanmar (Myanmar!). Everyone knows, of course, that like everything else the Bush Administration says these days, the designation is just more eye-rollingly politicized jive-turkery. Here’s what the Drug War Chronicle had to say about it last year:
“…the attack on Venezuela, which is neither a major drug producing country nor unusual in the region in being used as a transshipment point for Colombian cocaine, appears to have little to do with its adherence to US drug policy goals and much to do with the increasingly adversarial relationship between Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and the Bush administration.”Gee, you think? It’s sort of worth noting that the U.S.-Venezuela anti-drug “cooperation” originally broke down when the DEA staff in-country turned out to be the ones trafficking the drugs in the first place.
And of course, Condoleezza will once again waive the sanctions the law requires for insubordinate nations, mostly because U.S. “aid” to Venezuela is comprised of funds earmarked for the overthrow of its government, roughly $6 million dollars for FY2007. Hooray, us!
