"The news of the charge against President Nicolás Maduro and the members of his government for drug trafficking left me speechless. Looking at the persecution against Venezuela, I have seen so many things, but I honestly didn't think that the criminal association in power in the United States would go this far.
After stealing $5 billion of Venezuela's financial resources deposited in banks in 15 countries. After establishing a blockade of the country's entire economy through heinous sanctions, with the aim of beating the civilian population to push them to rebel (without success) against their government. And after a couple of failed hit attempts, here's the final shot, the most infamous slander.
The blow is so out of measure that I don't think it has any relevant consequences. Neither the United Nations, nor the European Union, nor most of the states on the planet that voted for Venezuela's current executive and its president during the UN General Assembly last September, will give the slightest weight to this episode of asymmetric warfare.
Nothing will happen because there is no evidence to support the slander that Venezuela has flooded the United States with cocaine in recent years.
I've also been baffled because I've been taking care of drug-fighting for forty years, and I've never met Venezuela on my way. Before, during and after my position as Executive Director of UNODC (1997-2002), the UN's anti-drug program, I have never had the opportunity to visit that country because Venezuela has always been outside the main cocaine trafficking circuits: between Colombia, the main country, producer, and the U.S., the main consumer.
There is, but in the sick fantasy of Trump and his associates, some illegal narcotics trade between Venezuela and the United States. The two most important sources on the subject, the latest UNODC drug report (1) and the latest DEA document, the US Drug Police, dated December 2019 (2) would suffice to consult.
According to the latter, 90% of the cocaine introduced in the U.S. comes from Colombia, 6% from Peru and the rest of unknown origins. You can be sure that if there were any smells of Venezuela in that remaining 4%, it would not have gone unnoticed.
But it is the UN report that provides the most detailed picture, mentioning Mexico, Guatemala and Ecuador as the drug transit sites to the United States. And the DEA's assessment cites the famous Mexican narcos as the largest suppliers in the U.S. market.
There's no sign of Venezuela on either page of the two documents. And no other material from the U.S. anti-crime agencies in the last 15 years (I know the subject very well) mentions facts that can indirectly lead to accusations made against Venezuela's legitimate president and against his government.
It is therefore exclusively political rubbish, which I hope will
be treated as such outside the US media system."
(Pino Arlacchi, former UN secretary)
La noticia de la acusación contra el presidente Nicolás Maduro y los miembros de su gobierno por tráfico de drogas me dejó sin palabras. Al observar la persecución contra Venezuela, he visto tantas cosas, pero honestamente no pensé que la asociación delictiva en el poder en los Estados Unidos...
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