DRUG TRAFFICKERS WOULD BENEFIT FROM AIR TRAFFIC DEAL

CARACAS, Venezuela - Among those pleased by efforts to end an air
traffic standoff between U.S. and Venezuelan officials are
undoubtedly the drug traffickers working at the Venezuelan capital's
Maiquetia international airport.

In the last month, the two sides have been squabbling over airline
safety regulations and threatening to cancel some commercial flights.
But they now seem close to working out a deal that would avert a
major slowdown in air traffic between the nations and, in turn, keep
business as usual for Maiquetia's drug traffickers.

At least one metric ton of cocaine per month, and smaller quantities
of heroin, are exported to consumers through the country's principal
airport, several foreign counter-drug officials who did not want to
be identified because of the sensitivity of their investigations told
The Miami Herald.

One of the officials also estimated that as much as $2 million is
paid out monthly in bribes to airport officials, policemen and
National Guard personnel who collaborate with the drug runners. One
informant told another investigator that airport jobs go only to
those willing to participate in the scheme.

Counter-drug officials also say that private airplanes that traffic
drugs from Colombia to nearby destinations, such as the Caribbean
islands, regularly pass through Maiquetia, landing there to get a
change in identification numbers and perhaps a new paint job.

"The airport has been a problem, is a problem and will be a problem,"
one of the officials told The Miami Herald.

Venezuela has clearly become a major transshipment point for illegal
drugs leaving Colombia. Estimates vary, but U.S. officials say the
country could be a transit point for upwards of 200 tons of cocaine
per year - half the estimated annual production in Colombia, the
world's leading cocaine producer.

Venezuela's own statistics showed an eight-fold increase in drug
seizures since 1999.

As with most matters in U.S.-Venezuelan relations recently, the drug
issue has taken on political overtones. President Hugo Chavez has
accused the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) of spying, and his
government has temporarily suspended relations between government
security personnel and the DEA. U.S. officials denied the allegation.

The Venezuelans also have accused the DEA of foul play. Venezuelan
Drug Czar Luis Correa said last year 15 kilograms of cocaine - 33
pounds - seized in conjunction with U.S. authorities went missing.
U.S. officials said the drugs were seized on U.S. soil, and that the
Venezuelans have refused to investigate those responsible for the
large shipment.

U.S. officials also have accused the Venezuelans of refusing to
cooperate on the extradition of suspected drug traffickers. The most
recent case came late last month, when a Venezuelan court denied the
U.S. extradition request for Dominican Mateo Holguin Ovalle, accused
of being a major trafficker of cocaine and heroin to the United States.

"The more traditional traffickers have discovered, from an
interdiction and law enforcement perspective, that Venezuela has now
become a giant black hole where they have the least amount of
resistance, the least amount of problems, the cheapest route to get
their product to market," a senior U.S. government official told The
Miami Herald.

The weak link appears to be increasingly corruptible security
officials. Media reports here have even alleged the existence of drug
smuggling cartels led by high-level National Guard officers.

For their part, Venezuelan authorities have said the United States
has no moral authority to comment on drug trafficking since it is the
world's leading consumer.

Drug trafficking through airports is not new. Bogota's El Dorado has
been a well-known launching pad. Just last week, Colombian
authorities arrested a retired police major and captain, a former
army lieutenant, two police officers, an employee of Colombia's
national airline, Avianca, and a seventh suspect on charges of
smuggling an estimated 900 pounds of cocaine on commercial aircraft
passing through El Dorado. And Miami International is a renowned
recipient for illegal drugs.

Aside from using passengers and courier services to transport drugs,
traffickers are hiding their shipments in the bodies of commercial
aircraft and even the luggage of unwitting travelers, authorities say.

In one recent case, three travelers, including one U.S. citizen, were
arrested at Maiquetia after a surprise inspection netted 417 pounds
of cocaine in several bags with the travelers' ID tags on them. The
travelers were released a month later after authorities discovered
that National Guardsmen had loaded the bags and placed the fake ID
tags on them without their knowledge.

Venezuelan authorities arrested some of the Guardsmen implicated in
that case less than a month later - after catching them loading a
half-ton of cocaine onto a private plane.