VENEZUELA NO LONGER U.S. ALLY IN DRUG WAR

In a Move Likely to Strain Ties Further With Hugo Chavez's
Government, the White House Took Venezuela Off Its List of Allies in
the War on Drugs.

WASHINGTON - President Bush has taken Venezuela off his list of
allies in the war on drugs, saying that the government of President
Hugo Chavez spurned anti-drug cooperation with U.S. officials and
fired its effective law enforcement officers.

But the White House waived the cuts in U.S. foreign aid usually
attached to the "decertification" so that it can continue to support
Venezuelan pro-democracy groups that oppose the leftist Chavez.

Bush's decision is expected to sharply exacerbate already bitter
U.S.-Venezuelan relations roiled by Washington's charges that Chavez
is promoting subversion around the hemisphere and the Venezuelan
president's allegations that Bush is out to kill him.

The U.S. State Department's No. 3 official, Nicholas Burns, announced
the Bush administration decision Thursday in New York City around the
time Chavez was arriving there for a U.N. summit gathering. The only
other nation decertified this year was Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

Accompanying Burns, U.S. drug czar John Walters said that in the past
Venezuelan cooperation on drugs was "quite successful and extensive"
but that now it seemed that Chavez "no longer wants a productive relationship."

Venezuelan Vice President Jose Vicente Rangel said of the annual
certification process required by U.S. law, "We reject it. . . . it's
infantile."

The White House said Venezuela had "failed demonstrably" to stem the
flow through its territory of some 150 tons of cocaine and growing
amounts of heroin, mostly coming from neighboring Colombia and bound
for U.S. and European streets.

Top Officials Sacked

Venezuela's national counternarcotics director, chief narcotics
prosecutor and head of the financial intelligence unit "were fired
and replaced with Chavez loyalists who lack the necessary training,"
the statement added.

Caracas had failed to eradicate coca and poppy fields near its border
with Colombia, it continued, and did little to stop corruption in law
enforcement and the military.

Only last month, Chavez ordered his government officials to stop
cooperating with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, accusing
it of espionage and drug trafficking. U.S. officials denied the
charges, and the Venezuelan investigators continued to work with the DEA.

DEA's activities in Caracas turned particularly sensitive last year
amid complaints that high-ranking officers of the Venezuelan National
Guard are involved in a drugtrafficking "Sun Cartel" named after the
sun insignia that Venezuelan generals use on their epaulets instead of stars.

Guard officers earlier this year withdrew from an antidrug task force
that included the DEA, and took thousands of dollars of U.S. donated
surveillance equipment. The equipment was returned later at the
behest of the government's principal antidrug office, known as
CONACUID. But then the head of CONACUID was fired.

The U.S. government later revoked the visas of three National Guard
officers for suspected involvement in drug trafficking, including
Gen. Frank Morgado, former head of the Guard's antidrug unit.

DEA Partnership

Venezuelan Interior and Justice Minister Jesse Chacon earlier this
week proposed formally renewing the partnership with the DEA, and
presented a written proposal to the U.S. Embassy in Caracas. But he
added that the new proposal, among other provisions, prohibits DEA
agents from participating in police operations there.

The Bush administration has repeatedly expressed concern about the
alleged deterioration of democratic institutions in Venezuela, citing
Chavez's control of the judicial and electoral systems and threats to
the independent news media. Chavez insists that he's carrying out a
radical but peaceful revolution on behalf of the nation's poor.

The waiver of the decertification sanctions -- officially for
national security interests -- will allow the U.S. government to
support democratic institutions there and "strengthen Venezuela's
political party system," the White House said. The two nations remain
dependent on each other since Venezuela provides 12 to 15 percent of
U.S. oil imports.

A State Department official said Venezuela's refusal to sign a
bilateral data-sharing agreement has made it impossible for
Washington to show Caracas evidence that an increasing number of
aircraft suspected of carrying drugs were flying in and out of Venezuela.

Cutting Back Ties

Venezuela also has long banned U.S. antidrug surveillance overflights
of its territory and more recently curtailed military-to-military
cooperation on drugs, the White House announcement stated.

In anticipation of the decertification decision, Chacon announced
earlier this week that Venezuelan authorities had seized a record
18.7 tons of cocaine in the first eight months of 2005, compared with
19.6 tons throughout 2004. Failure to recognize the government's
antidrug efforts showed Washington was acting for political motives, he said.

But U.S. officials told The Herald in Caracas that Chacon's numbers
were vastly exaggerated because they included at least four tons
seized aboard Venezuelan ships -- by French and Dutch authorities in
the Caribbean.