GBRV RESPONDS TO CRITICAL GAO REPORT ON NARCOTICS

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 CARACAS 001073

SIPDIS

HQSOUTHCOM ALSO FOR POLAD

E.O. 12958: DECL: 09/11/2018
TAGS: PGOV PINR PREL SNAR VE
SUBJECT: GBRV RESPONDS TO CRITICAL GAO REPORT ON NARCOTICS
TRAFFICKING

REF: CARACAS 935

CARACAS 00001073 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Acting Political Counselor Darnall Steuart
for Reason 1.4(b) and (d).


1. (C) Summary: Venezuelan Minister of Interior and Justice
(MIJ) Tarek El-Aissami and Director of the National Anti-Drug
Office (ONA),Colonel Nestor Reverol, addressed the
Venezuelan National Assembly (AN) on July 21 following the
release of the GAO report on declining U.S. - Venezuelan
counter-narcotics cooperation. While both officials repeated
the claim that the GBRV was seizing more drugs since breaking
relations with the DEA in 2005. Minister El-Aissami called
the GAO report the cynical and hypocritical product of a
prideful empire. In addition, El-Aissami made the bizarre
claim that marijuana was the most profitable sector of U.S.
agri-business. Reverol used the 2009 United Nations Office
of Drugs and Crime (UNODC) World Drug Report to tout
Venezuela's position as a major force in drug seizures.
Reverol overlooked that the same UNODC report had identified
Venezuela as, "the most important cocaine transit country."
The GBRV selectively interprets UNODC reports and other
non-USG figures. End Summary.

FACTS ALL COME WITH POINTS OF VIEW


2. (SBU) Tarek El-Aissami and Nestor Reverol addressed the
Venezuelan National Assembly on July 21 to denounce the
recently released GAO report on declining bilateral CN
cooperation. These GBRV officials continue to claim that
Venezuelan drug seizures have increased since dramatically
reducing cooperation with the DEA in 2005. El-Aissami, the
more ideological of the two officials, claimed that U.S. drug
seizures have been on a steady decline since the 1990s and
the purpose of the GAO's, "cynical" and "hypocritical" report
was to discredit the sovereign policies of the GBRV. The
reality is that although the U.S. percentage of cocaine
seized has been in a steady decline, it is because partner
nations have been capturing a larger share before it arrives
in the U.S.. Over the last 20 years the U.S. has the seized
the most cocaine in 14 years and had the second largest
seizures in the six other years. Shading the truth even
further, El-Aissami claimed that during the DEA hadn't
detained a single drug trafficker during their last four
years of working in Venezuela, while Venezuela had captured
39 important cartel leaders since the 2005 rupture. This
ignores the fact the DEA has no powers of arrest or detention
in any of the countries where they operate and that during
those four years DEA help build 293 cases against drug
trafficking in Venezuela. El-Aissami then trotted out the
old GBRV canard of marijuana being the largest cash crop in
American agri-business. The most lurid claim by El-Aissami
was of an aircraft graveyard in Nevada where any person could
walk in, buy a plane and fly off without any paperwork or
controls. McCarren airport, in Las Vegas, does operate a
graveyard of sorts for commercial airliners that are out of
rotation or awaiting resale; but it is unimaginable that any
of these multi-million dollar aircraft would be sold sans
paperwork.

FACTS DON'T DO WHAT I WANT THEM TO


3. (SBU) In his address to the AN, more the pragmatic COL.
Reverol of ONA recognized Venezuela's geographic challenges
and tried to dismiss Venezuela's position as a drug transit
country by citing the 2009 World Drug Report that showed 70%
of Colombian cocaine traveling by the eastern Pacific and
only 20% via the western Caribbean. However, Reverol
overlooks the calculus that, based on the same report, a
possible 120 MT are transiting Venezuela. Furthermore, the
report lists Venezuela as, "the most important cocaine
transit country." Reverol proudly points out that Venezuela
has been one of the top seizure countries for the last four
years of the report. While this is true, because of a two
year lag in compiling data, half of those years were when
Venezuela was fully engaged with the DEA. By this year's
report Venezuela, with 31.8 MT, had slipped from third to
seventh place, behind Costa Rica. Reverol claimed that
Venezuela had to invent it's own drug testing kits because
the USG had blocked their sale to Venezuela. DEA Caracas is
unaware of any test kit ban in Venezuela. Tellingly, the
UNODC 2009 report points out, and not for the first time,
that the consumption of heroin and cocaine are on the
increase in Venezuela. The same report shows that, although
not a significant producer of drugs, the GBRV has not
eradicated a single poppy or coca bush since between 2008 and

CARACAS 00001073 002.2 OF 002


2005 when cooperating with the DEA when almost 200 hectare
were destroyed.


4. (C) Comment: Any reports from the United States are
dismissed as imperialistic meddling in their internal
affairs. Although outdated, the UNODC World Drug Report
provides plenty of ammunition to show that Venezuela did a
much better job in CN when it cooperated with the United
States than going it alone.



DUDDY