Venezuelan drug trafficking threatens U.S. gains in counternarcotics

Venezuela’s cooperation on counternarcotics has deteriorated according to a report released today by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). The report, requested by Senator Lugar in February 2008, is part of an effort to ensure that funding for United States Government policies designed to interdict narcotics being trafficked through Venezuela in transit to the United States are being used effectively.

Senator Lugar asked the GAO to determine

1. What is known about cocaine trafficking through Venezuela,
2. What is known about Venezuelan support for Colombian illegal armed groups, and
3. Tthe status of U.S. Venezuelan counternarcotics cooperation since 2002.

Read the report

In March 2009, the Department of State reported that Venezuela had become a major transit route for cocaine out of Colombia, with more than a fourfold increase in cocaine flow between 2004 and 2007, from about 60 metric tons in 2004 to 260 metric tons in 2007.

"The findings of this report have heightened my concern that Venezuela's failure to cooperate with the United States on drug interdiction is related to corruption in that country's government," Senator Lugar said.

According to the report, hundreds of metric tons of cocaine flow annually from South America toward the United States, threatening the security and well being of U.S. citizens. The report found that Venezuela’s National Guard provides an important “lifeline” to cross border Colombian drug traffickers, and that President Hugo Chavez has decreased counternarcotics cooperation. Since 2000, the United States has provided more than $8 billion to countries in the region to disrupt drug trafficking.