Washington Believes That Venezuela Supports Rebel Groups In Bolivia, Ecuador And Colombia

The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) of the United States scrutinizes the Bolivarian intentions of the Venezuelan president, Hugo Chavez, fearing that is proclamations for a Latin American Union transcend the political level and are carried out through economic aid that can be used by rebel, indigenous, and Creole movements of the region.

The firing, last January, of the Venezuela Foreign Ministry's director of information and opinion, Miguel Quintero, seems related to these suspicions, as well as the imprudent closeness of the official with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).

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CARACAS, Venezuela -- Latin American leaders fear that the White House's drug czar is all too right in his expectations for an impending U.S.-backed anti-drug offensive in Colombia: heavy fighting, casualties -- and refugees flooding over the region's remote, often lawless borders.

In Bogota, Colombia's capital, on Nov. 20, U.S. drug chief Barry McCaffrey stressed that Washington was providing $180 million in aid to Colombia's neighbors to deal with those threats. U.S. officials are promising even more aid.

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- Venezuela called home its ambassador to Colombia for consultation Monday, another sign of tensions between the two neighbors that began when a Colombian guerrilla leader was allowed to address the Venezuelan Congress.

Venezuela's Foreign Minister Jose Vicente Rangel recalled Ambassador Roy Chaderton three days after Colombia called home its ambassador to Venezuela, German Bula, to "evaluate the current state of relations between the two countries." Both diplomats were expected to return to their posts within days.

Colombian politicians have condemned Venezuela for allowing Olga Marin, spokeswoman for the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, to speak to the legislature.

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CARACAS, Venezuela, Nov. 27 — Venezuela canceled a Dec. 8-9 meeting of leaders from the Andean region today, citing schedule problems, but the move came amid a war of words with Colombia over its plans to intensify its fight against drugs and Marxist rebels.

The dispute heated up after Caracas served as host last week to a meeting with Colombian rebel representatives. Colombia recalled its ambassador to Venezuela for consultations, a move Venezuela copied today.

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The Foreign Ministry has warned that it will expel "any ship or boat which enters the Gulf of Venezuela, of whatever nationality it may be." The threat follows what Venezuela calls an incursion into its territorial waters last month by a United States Coast Guard vessel on a drug interdiction mission. The State Department says the ship was "operating in accordance with international maritime law" at all times.

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VENEZUELA - Accusing the United States of "contravening international law," the Foreign Ministry has formally protested what it describes as incursions into Venezuela's waters this month by two U.S. Coast Guard vessels, the Reliance and the Gentian. The U.S. Embassy has denied the accusation, saying that both ships, which are used in counternarcotics operations, were "operating in accordance with international maritime law."

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CARACAS, Venezuela -- Hugo Chave Chavez spent his first 18 months as president of Venezuela consolidating his power on the domestic front. Now, with the price of oil nearing $40 a barrel and the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries scheduled to gather here this week for a conference of its heads of state, he is about to step out onto the world stage in a big way.

For those unfamiliar with Venezuela's president, a 46-year-old former paratrooper who in 1992 led an unsuccessful coup attempt, the experience promises to be overwhelming. When it comes to international relations, Mr. Chavez is a whirlwind of ideas, plans and visions (as he is with every other subject that interests him), and many of these are intended to reshape the world order. This leaves him often critical of or even hostile to American positions.

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CARACAS, Venezuela -- Venezuela and Colombia are squabbling over fears that President Clinton's $1.3 billion aid package to help fight drug trafficking in Colombia will escalate military activities and destabilize the region.

President Hugo Chavez has said an encounter between American soldiers and Colombian guerrillas could lead to a "Vietnamization" of the conflict, with repercussions for the entire region.

Mr. Chavez harped on that theme during Mr. Clinton's visit to Colombia at the end of last month and before his visit to a summit attended by South America's 12 presidents in Brasilia.

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An international police operation has resulted in the seizure of 27.5 tons of Colombian cocaine - one of the biggest drug busts on record.

Worth about one billion dollars, the seizure was made from a port on Venezuela's eastern Atlantic coast.

Most of the drug shipment was bound for the European black market, American customs officials said at the weekend.

``We wiped out a sprawling organisation whose tentacles reached around the world,'' Raymond Kelly, head of US Customs, said. ``Massive amounts of cocaine will be kept off the street.''

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Colombian's Freighters Shipped 68 Tons Of Cocaine, Agents Say

WASHINGTON -- A Colombian drug kingpin who used an armada of 10 commercial freighters to ship 68 tons of cocaine to South Florida and Europe is under arrest, federal drug agents announced Saturday.

Authorities described the capture last week of Ivan De La Vega, 48, by police in Venezuela as cutting off ``the head of the snake,'' and said it was a ``major blow'' to the Colombian drug trade, which exports an estimated 300 tons of cocaine each year.

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U.S. Details Aug. 16 Arrest In Venezuela

WASHINGTON -- A Colombian drug kingpin who used an armada of 10 commercial freighters to ship 68 tons of cocaine to south Florida and Europe is under arrest, federal agents announced yesterday.

Authorities described the Aug. 16 capture of Ivan de la Vega, 48, by police in Venezuela as cutting off "the head of the snake," and said it was a "major blow" to the Colombian drug trade, which yearly exports an estimated 300 tons of cocaine.

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UPATA (Venezuela): Venezuelan officials have unearthed another 2.5 tonnes of cocaine in a raid on an isolated farm, bringing the total haul in a week-long operation to nearly 10 tonnes worth more than US$800mil (RM3.04bil) on the streets of Europe, officials said on Thursday.

National Guard officials said the new haul was the third in a series of drug busts that have seen about 20 people arrested from a ring dedicated to smuggling Colombian cocaine to Europe through Venezuela's sparsely populated northeastern seaboard.

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(08-25) 14:40 PDT UPATA, Venezuela (AP) -- For nearly two years, a nondescript abandoned farm house in the remote eastern jungles of Venezuela served as a sanctuary for an international drug gang smuggling Colombian cocaine to Europe and the United States.

This week, Venezuelan and international anti-drug agents finally outwitted the cartel, seizing a record 10 tons of cocaine and arresting at least 16 people in an operation that has been a source of pride for a country at odds with the United States over anti-narcotics flights.

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Security forces seized 2.5 tons of cocaine in a remote jungle corner of northeastern Venezuela during a continuing international drug crackdown that is the largest in the nation's history, officials said.

National Guard officials discovered the haul Tuesday night after a fresh series of raids on businesses in the jungle region along the eastern delta of the Orinoco River.

Last week, Venezuelan and foreign agents recovered a record 5 tons of cocaine in the Orinoco jungle and arrested 14 people in three countries in an international effort to disband the Los Mellizos drug band. The raids are a result of an eight-month investigation, financed in part by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Security forces used telephone bugging equipment, three planes, three helicopters and eight boats.

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CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) - Security forces raided houses, businesses and farms in a remote Venezuelan jungle Monday after intercepting a record five tons of cocaine and arresting at least 14 people in an international drug bust, authorities said.

The National Guard said it could recover more cocaine on a jungle island in the middle of the Orinoco River of eastern Delta Amacuro state. It also said more arrests are possible as efforts to disband the international drug ring Los Mellizos continue.

"At this very moment we are raiding a business in Delta Amacuro. We could have more results tomorrow or the day after. We are only in the middle of the operation," Gen. Antonio Alizo, head of the National Guard's anti-drug unit, told The Associated Press.

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