Reply #45: Things went to shit after DEA was kicked out in 2005 [View All]

[hack89]

From the report:

The drug trafficking situation in the Bolivarian Republic
of Venezuela appears to be deteriorating. In 2008, the
Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela was fourth in the world
in annual cocaine seizures (34 mt), ahead of Peru and
the Plurinational State of Bolivia. According to the new
Maritime Analysis Operation Centre (MAOC-N), more
than half of all intercepted shipments in the Atlantic (67
incidents between 2006 and 2008) started their journey
in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. Direct shipments
from Colombia, in contrast, accounted for just
5%.7 In addition, many undocumented air flights leave
the country, and all the clandestine air shipments of
cocaine detected in West Africa appear to have originated
in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela. The
country also appears to be the source of cocaine flown to
clandestine airstrips in Honduras, with devastating
effects there (discussed below).

At the same time, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
seems to be experiencing a remarkable upturn in criminal
violence. This trend is difficult to track because the
Venezuelan Government stopped publishing official
crime statistics after 2003, but some institutions continue
to monitor the issue.8

The murder rate in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela
has increased markedly since the end of the Cold War,
but especially since the late 1990s. There may be many
reasons for this, but it happens to have occurred just as
Colombian illegal armed groups' involvement in the
cocaine trade began to pick up. There was a brief drop
after 2003, when Colombia began to reduce the size of
the illegal armed groups, followed by a resurgence afterwards.
Today, there are eight times as many murders as
there were two decades ago, and the murder rate per
100,000 population appears to be in the low 60s, among
the highest in the world. Kidnappings also appear to
have greatly increased, with the areas bordering Colombia
being among the worst affected.

I am not praising the Colombian army - simply pointing out a fact. Their brutality is a large part of why they are kicking the FARC's ass. The FARC and the Colombian army deserve each other - two corrupt and violent organizations. Unfortunately for the FARC the army has better training and weapons.