Unruely conduct south of the Border…and east.

Venezuelan President, Hugo Chavez, might as well be from a different planet. The actions seen from him over the years have caused confusion among those following the news from South America, but the world has grown accustomed to this demeanor. So when he popped into the news again it was of little surprise – at first.
The CSMonitor is reporting today that Chavez, along with the leaders of Bolivia and Ecuador, have forced the US to take a step back in the War on Drugs. The war has become a shadowy one when set against other US engagements across the world. Yet this war is vitally important. Without the support from three of the countries known to be at the heart of the world of drugs, the US is running near blind in South America. Allies like Colombia and Peru still exist, but the fight will be hard coming. (Llana, 2008)
Then tonight another article was posted by Douglas Farah (of Counter Terrorism Blog) regarding Venezuela. Turns out they are being struck hard by the cut-back in oil consumption across the world and are teetering on “financial meltdown.” Whether the two events go hand-in-hand is not evident, but appears to be a tit-for-tat with Venezuela being the one offended.
The oil-terror nexus has been known in the Middle East, but is becoming more and more evident in other areas of the world that the media chooses to cover little on. Little media attention, combined with regimes that refuse to rid their country of internationally illegal activity results in safe havens for terror to flourish. If Venezuela is in fact that close to a financial crisis they could be making way to become the next large support base for terror groups indigenous to South America, or they might even become larger hosts of foreign terror groups that will use Venezuela to grow/traffic drugs.
What’s your take?
Articles Referenced:
Farah, Douglas. “A useful counterterrorism weapon”. November 10, 2008. http://counterterrorismblog.org/2008/11/a_useful_counterterrorism_weap.php

Llana, Sara. “In Latin America, leftist leaders evict US drug warriors”. November 10, 2008. http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1110/p01s01-woam.html

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Tags: counterterrorism, CT, DEA, drugs, political, South America, US, Venezuela

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