Venezuelan involvement with drug trafficking/organized crime in the Americas?

How much truth is there to claims of Chavez regime's involvement in drug trafficking/organized crime as well as profiting off such speculated activities throughout the Americas? In addition, is there any validity to the claims that Venezuela has been allowing a base for the operations of and facilitating non-Latin American organizations like Hezbollah?

I'm interested in these claims because like many of the posters and viewers of this site know, much has been voiced in some quarters about the Chavez Regime harboring and facilitating such elements.

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Originally Posted by Kevin23

How much truth is there to claims of Chavez regime's involvement in drug trafficking/organized crime as well as profiting off such speculated activities throughout the Americas?

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Probably some degree of truth to it, the narcotics trade permeates into the power structures of most governments located along trafficking routes.
Venezuela has become a staging area for aircraft trafficking cocaine to West Africa to feed European markets.

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Originally Posted by Kevin23

In addition, is there any validity to the claims that Venezuela has been allowing a base for the operations of and facilitating non-Latin American organizations like Hezbollah?

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Possibly, but I would note previous reports about significant Hezbollah activities in the tri-border area of Paraguay/Brazil/Argentina that proved alarmist.

While there all may be some degree of truth to these accusations, just be aware that there are powerful interest groups that desire to play up the threat of either the Chavez regime or Hezbollah towards the United States.

Try:http://www.douglasfarah.com/article/...vez-mounts.com via CTblog, which has more on crime-terror links.

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Originally Posted by bourbon

While there all may be some degree of truth to these accusations, just be aware that there are powerful interest groups that desire to play up the threat of either the Chavez regime or Hezbollah towards the United States.

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What Interest Groups would these be? They must have a name?

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Originally Posted by William F. Owen

What Interest Groups would these be? They must have a name?

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Both the Israeli government and the American-Israel lobby have the incentive to play up the threat Hezbollah poses to the United States in order to influence policy. I would also include defense contractors who have an interest in aggregating as many threats as possible under the lucrative tent of the Global War on Terrorism.

Interest groups that desire to play up the Chavez threat include but are not exclusive to: large oil companies, oilfield services companies, large financial institutions, conservative Cuban-American groups, Venezuelan expatriates, defense contractors, and contractors involved in counternarcotics programs.

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Originally Posted by bourbon

Both the Israeli government and the American-Israel lobby have the incentive to play up the threat Hezbollah poses to the United States in order to influence policy.

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I talk a great deal to the IDF about Hezbollah.
No one has ever suggested that Hezbollah is a threat to the Continental US. If you know anything about Hezbollah, that is obvious. They are however controlled by, and/or aligned via policy, with Iranian Forces. How does the US view the IRGC? Friendly? Neutral?
Chavez is clearly an enemy of Israel. No need to hype that. It's a fact.

Wilf,

Have a scroll through this blogsite which has many stories on this nexus:http://counterterrorismblog.org

There clearly is a interest group here and I do wonder, nay speculate, that the US DEA has an interest in directing attention to Latin America and that there is a drug-terrorist nexus.

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Originally Posted by Kevin23

How much truth is there to claims of Chavez regime's involvement in drug trafficking/organized crime as well as profiting off such speculated activities throughout the Americas? In addition, is there any validity to the claims that Venezuela has been allowing a base for the operations of and facilitating non-Latin American organizations like Hezbollah?

I'm interested in these claims because like many of the posters and viewers of this site know, much has been voiced in some quarters about the Chavez Regime harboring and facilitating such elements.

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I admit I have not the foggiest, but from an a-priori (however that's spelled) perspective, if I were a drug-trafficker, I'd probably do business with people who scored a little higher in business administration than the Chavez regime, given the desired financial end state. Although, I guess he could just do it to be annoying.

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Originally Posted by davidbfpo

There clearly is a interest group here and I do wonder, nay speculate, that the US DEA has an interest in directing attention to Latin America and that there is a drug-terrorist nexus.

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Maybe. Venezuela is strategically irrelevant to Israel. The Venezuelan community here in Israel hate Chavez and think he's very anti-Semitic. Very probably, but I don't know. - and irrelevant. Chavez to my mind is a US problem.

Hezbollah crop up all over the world. They were big players in Sierra Leone/Liberia, on the back of the "diamond trade." Countering Hezbollah is an Israeli problem. They are mostly irrelevant to the US.
.....of course, if we have a "Global War on Terror" then it's all strategically connected... somehow....

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Originally Posted by William F. Owen

I talk a great deal to the IDF about Hezbollah.
No one has ever suggested that Hezbollah is a threat to the Continental US. If you know anything about Hezbollah, that is obvious. They are however controlled by, and/or aligned via policy, with Iranian Forces. How does the US view the IRGC? Friendly? Neutral?
Chavez is clearly an enemy of Israel. No need to hype that. It's a fact.

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I wasn't only referring to Hezbollah of course, in terms of deals with the Chavez government. I was also referring to other entities like the Russian Mafia, Asian criminal organizations and others speculatively setting up shop with the Venezuelan government, as has been floated around by some.