Hugo Chavez's Narcotics Connection

Recently, Mexican military officials claimed they seized five-and-a-half tons of powdered cocaine from a commercial aircraft that landed in Mexico following a a trip from Venezuela. The street value of the drugs was estimated to be upwards of $100 million. Mexican cops reported that the cocaine was discovered inside over a hundred suitcases marked 'private.' The military officers announced that they made three arrests as a result of the cocaine seizure. Mexican officials claim that cocaine is increasingly being imported from Venezuela, with the US or Europe being the drugs' final destination. In this case the Mexican authorities waited for the plane to land at the airport of Ciudad de Carmen, about 550 miles east of Mexico City, after being tipped off by Interpol. The co-pilot of the aircraft was arrested. The pilot and co-pilot of another plane, which was believed to be ready to take the cocaine on to the next location, were also detained. A Drug Enforcement Administration report last year indicted that Venezuela has become a key transshipment point for narcotics due to 'rampant corruption at the highest levels of law enforcement and a weak judicial system'. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez terminated joint anti-drug operation with United States drug agents from the DEA. The paranoid president accused DEA agents of being spies.