US drug czar: Chavez' drug policy threat to Europe

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
White House drug czar John Walters said Tuesday that Venezuela President Hugo Chavez' policies toward the cocaine trade represents a "global threat" that puts Europe, especially, at risk. Venezuela has rejected US requests to resume cooperation in the war on drugs, insisting it has made progress despite an alleged fourfold gain in the amount of Colombian cocaine passing through its territory. Walters said most of the cocaine passing through Venezuela ends up in Europe via Africa and that Chavez' policies therefore were a big threat to both continents. "The problem is not that Chavez needs or doesn't need U.S. help, the problem is that Hugo Chavez is not acting," Walters told The Associated Press on the sidelines of an international drug conference in Stockholm. "He is not only threatening the safety and security of the people of Venezuela," Walters said. "It is a growing global threat; he is putting Europe at risk." Venezuelan officials argue they are taking drug trafficking seriously and point to large seizures in recent years. Chavez and his foreign minister, Nicolas Maduro, have suggested they would be willing to work with the US against drugs on terms of mutual respect.