VenEconomy: Is Resolution No. 008610 a Cover for Venezuela’s Drug Cartels?

From the Editors of VenEconomy

Venezuela seems not only resting upon an erupting volcano, but violently hit by a hurricane at the same time, even though the country doesn’t have any volcanoes or is a tornado area. The alarming and inexplicable events here happen so fast that is hard for anyone to get the chance to digest and analyze their implications.

On Wednesday, for example, the national and international public opinion was surprised with a report by Spain-based newspaper ABC talking about the defection of Leamsy Salazar Villafaña, a lieutenant commander and former head of security of the late Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, who had allegedly requested asylum in the U.S. and would be testifying as a protected witness of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).

The scandal was made viral by the social networks and the media because of the size of the disclosures Salazar Villafaña would be supposedly making at the DEA on the penetration of drug organizations into the Venezuelan government, directly involving Diosdado Cabello, the head of the Parliament and the ruling party PSUV and, according to the lieutenant commander, the famed "Cartel of the Suns" and its operations of international drug trafficking.

This story is still in full development and no one knows where it will lead. And there is no official confirmation of any U.S. authority that Salazar Villafaña is a protected witness of the DEA so far. What is indeed a fact is that some Venezuelan government officials, such as lawmaker Pedro Carreño, have publicly acknowledged the defection of Salazar Villafaña and that Cabello already announced legal action against ABC and other local newspapers that picked up the story, including El Nacional and TalCual.

The next day, as Venezuelans remained lost in amazement, the independent media, social networks and international press reported another serious complaint from constitutional lawyers and representatives of local Human Rights NGOs: the Resolution No. 008610 from the Ministry of Defense, published in the Official Gazette on January 27, authorizing in its article 22, paragraph 7, that military officers can intervene in demonstrations and use "potentially deadly force that might as well be firearms or another life-threatening weapon," as a last resort to "avoid disturbances, support the legitimately constituted authority and reject any aggression by repelling it immediately with the necessary resources." 

This resolution caused panic among citizens living today amid a climate of social tensions, food shortages, high inflation, rampant insecurity, human rights violations, and a loss of basic civil and political freedoms.

Various specialists in the field have expressed their concern over the implications and consequences of this resolution.

One of them is Rocío San Miguel, a human rights lawyer who said that even though the resolution has positive aspects, it also contains some dangerous inaccuracies with respect to the use of deadly force or firearms. Not only is this prohibited during peaceful demonstrations, she says, but the use of "deadly force" within the Armed Forces, overall, is for specific cases "under very precise and restrictive rules," something that lacks this resolution. 

Furthermore, this resolution constitutes a violation of the new National Constitution, which stipulates that the National Guard is the military component responsible for the security of citizens, thus taking an additional step forward in strengthening the militarization of the country. 

The reality is that Resolution No. 008610 adds a new ingredient to the menu of violence and repression served to the population by the so-called "peaceful-but-armed revolution" that Chávez had once boasted about and where authorities can end up "shooting first and asking questions later."

VenEconomy has been a leading provider of consultancy on financial, political and economic data in Venezuela since 1982.

Noriega: Chavez the Cocaine Capo?

AEI's Noriega in The American: Chávez the Cocaine Capo?

http://www.american.com/archive/2010/november/chavez-the-cocaine-capo

Chávez the Cocaine Capo?

By Roger F. Noriega Tuesday, November 9, 2010

One of the world's top drug kingpins may soon be telling U.S. prosecutors everything he knows about Venezuelan officials who have abetted his cocaine smuggling operations.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez should be very troubled that a man whom President Obama has branded one of the world's most significant drug kingpins, Walid Makled-Garcia, may soon be telling U.S. federal prosecutors everything he knows about senior Venezuelan officials who have abetted his cocaine smuggling operations.
Makled-Garcia's devastating testimony comes on the heels of fresh evidence of Chávez's support for terrorist groups from Spain, Colombia, and the Middle East and his apparent illegal support for Iran's nuclear weapons program. Slowly but surely, Chávez is being unmasked as a mastermind of a criminal regime.
According to a federal indictment unsealed in New York last Thursday, from 2006 through August 2010, Makled-Garcia conspired with Venezuelan officials to ship tons of cocaine from airstrips in that country to Central America, Mexico, and, ultimately, the United States. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara called Makled-Garcia "a king among kingpins." Indeed, the Justice Department has designated him a "priority target," as one of the most dangerous and prolific narcotics traffickers.
Makled-Garcia was once known as one of Venezuela's most wealthy entrepreneurs. He came on to the radar screen of U.S. antidrug authorities years ago, when he was suspected of using his family business operations in the Venezuelan port of Puerto Cabello and his close ties to the Venezuelan military and Colombian narcotraffickers to smuggle cocaine. With the active complicity of dozens of senior Venezuelan authorities, Makled-Garcia allegedly operated a drug smuggling network using airstrips in Venezuelan territory. The family also is suspected of being involved in more than a dozen murders, including those of a respected Venezuelan journalist and a Colombian narcotrafficker.
Based on the U.S. indictment, Colombian authorities arrested Makled-Garcia on August 18, and are currently considering a U.S. extradition request for the notorious suspect. In the meantime, in a jailhouse interview with Colombia's RCN TV last week, Makled-Garcia said he has enough evidence of high-level drug corruption-including videos and bank records-"for the U.S. to intervene and invade Venezuela, as with [Manuel Antonio] Noriega in Panama.
"I gave money to 15 Venezuelan generals," the 41-year-old prisoner told RCN. "If I am arrested for a DC-9 loaded with drugs from the Simon Bolivar Airport, general Hugo Carvajal [director of Venezuela military intelligence], general Henry Rangel Silva [head of internal intelligence], general Luis Mota [commander of the national guard], and general Nestor Reveron [head of the anti-drug office] should be going to jail for that very reason."
In an interview last month with the Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional, Makled-Garcia said, "As evidence of what I'm saying, I have vouchers, account numbers where I have deposited money in the name of wives, brothers and sisters" of "ministers, generals, admirals, colonels and five deputies of the National Assembly."
Acting Administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration Michele M. Leonhart issued a statement last Thursday making it clear that she expects Makled-Garcia to be surrendered to U.S. authorities. "Due to the outstanding work with our partners in Colombia and elsewhere, Makled-Garcia is behind bars and awaiting extradition to the United States for the crimes in this indictment," she said. "He has built a vast global drug trafficking empire on illicit proceeds. His arrest will impact worldwide supplies of drugs, and we are committed to now ensuring he faces justice in the United States."
Of course, Chávez is desperate to get his hands on Makled-Garcia.He pleaded with Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos to send the Venezuelan detainee home, where he would no doubt be silenced by Chavista police and judges. Santos is unlikely to risk his country's long-standing alliance with U.S. law enforcement by sending Makled-Garcia anywhere but the United States. Moreover, as a signatory to the UN Convention Against Torture, the Colombian government also must satisfy human rights concerns by making a determination that Makled-Garcia will not be subject to torture if he is surrendered to Venezuela.
In a televised interview conducted during a visit to Cuba, Chávez said Sunday that he expected the United States to use Makled-Garcia's allegations "against Venezuela and its president" as a pretext "to take Venezuela to the International Criminal Court, to include Venezuela among states that support narcotrafficking and terrorism, as part of the 'empire's' game to mount operations against the Bolivarian Revolution."
Indeed, U.S. law enforcement agents and prosecutors have Venezuela's criminal network in their crosshairs, and Makled-Garcia is ready to implicate senior ministers and military leaders. Some may think that the conspiracy goes no higher than members of Chávez's inner circle. But Chávez appears to know better.
Roger F. Noriega was ambassador to the Organization of American States from 2001 to 2003 and assistant secretary of State from 2003 to 2005. He is a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and managing director of Vision Americas LLC, which represents U.S. and foreign clients.

They are not a revolutionary group. They are terrorists -- terrorists with a capital T

Marc Gonsalves is completly right FARC is a TERRORIST group.
vdebate reporter

They are not a revolutionary group. They are terrorists -- terrorists with a capital T

SAN ANTONIO, Texas (CNN) -- One of three American hostages rescued last week from Colombian rebels said Monday he believes his former captors will retaliate against those still being held.

Marc Gonsalves says FARC, which held him captive, uses revolutionary claims to cover criminal aims.

"Right now, they're being punished because we got rescued," Marc Gonsalves said at San Antonio's Brooke Army Medical Center, where he and fellow ex-hostages Thomas Howes and Keith Stansell have been treated for days.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) had held the three U.S. government contractors since February 2003, after their plane crashed in a remote region of the South American country.
The three were among 15 people -- including Colombian politician Ingrid Betancourt and 11 Colombian national police and military men -- who were rescued Wednesday by the Colombian military.

On Monday, the Americans spoke publicly for the first time since their rescue. Gonsalves, who called his rescuers "heroes," said he fears for the hostages who remain with FARC.
"They're going to get up early tomorrow morning, they're going to put a heavy backpack on their backs, and they're going to be forced to march with [a] chain around their neck while a guerrilla with an automatic weapon is holding the other end of [the] chain like a dog," Gonsalves said.
Gonsalves blasted the leftist rebel group, calling them "terrorists" who pretended to be fighting for the poor of Colombia so they could engage in crimes such as drug trafficking and extortion.
"They say they want equality; they say they just want to make Colombia a better place," Gonsalves said. "That's all a lie ... to justify their criminal activity."
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He said the rebels deprive their captives of basic human rights, adding that hostages were often chained at their necks and held at gunpoint, and that he once saw the rebels keep a newborn in captivity even though the infant was ill. Watch Gonsalves describe hostages' treatment »
"They are not a revolutionary group. They are terrorists -- terrorists with a capital T," said Gonsalves, a Florida resident and Connecticut native.
He said FARC claims it is not a terrorist group, but he said it should prove that claim by freeing its remaining hostages. FARC is believed to hold more than 700 hostages in camps scattered throughout the jungle.
"Don't tell us that you're not terrorists. Show us that you're not terrorists," he said.
He said the majority of FARC forces were poor children or young adults tricked into thinking they were joining a just, revolutionary cause. Later, he said, some would regret their decision to join, but they knew they would be killed if they tried to leave.
"I've seen how their own guerillas commit suicide