US blames Venezuela for European drug menace

BRUSSELS: The United States' anti-drug czar blamed Venezuela for a rise in shipments of cocaine into Europe and urged EU governments to apply diplomatic pressure on the Latin American country to combat the problem.

John Walters, White House director for drug control policy, said Venezuela had become the main transit route for illegal drugs between neighboring Colombia, the world's top cocaine producer, and the increasingly attractive European market.

His comments came against the background of persistently tetchy relations between Washington and Venezuela's populist President Hugo Chavez.

Walters accused the Venezuelan administration of failing to sufficiently tackle the drugs issue and urged European Union politicians to 'use their influence' to persuade Chavez to stop the illegal traffickers.

"This is a growing problem, we have seen movement by air coming out of Venezuela using known air fields, not clandestine air fields ... also movements by sea which, with some increased regularity, also coming out of Venezuelan seaports," Walters told reporters on a visit to Brussels to meet EU officials on Tuesday.

"Falling consumption in the United States and higher prices in Europe are encouraging traffickers to export across the Atlantic."

"I know some European nations have more extensive cooperation with the Venezuelan government and we hope that we can use that to try to cut some of these off," Walters said.

He said areas in Venezuela are being used for 'safe staging' and that shipments through the country to Europe and the United States. had increased 'tenfold in the last five to ten years.'

Chavez condemned the statements as part of an effort by the United States to attack his government and described Walters as an official who 'supposedly works against narco-trafficking.'

"Now the empire is trying to confuse the world with its lies," Chavez said in a speech. But he said traffickers have used Venezuela as a transit point for drugs from Colombia.

"We are a victim and a bridge for narco-trafficking, yes, for a long time," Chavez said.

In February Reuters revealed that eight EU governments plan to join forces to stop illegal drugs, particularly cocaine and heroin, from finding their way onto European streets from Latin America via ports in West Africa.

Walters' remarks come a day after Venezuela's Justice Minister Pedro Carreno said he would not allow US agents to carry out counter-drug operations in the country and accused the US Drug Enforcement Administration of being a 'new cartel.'

After nearly a year of heated negotiations, Venezuela refused to sign an anti-drugs accord with the US in March and in 2005, the world's fifth largest oil producer ended cooperation with the DEA.

Relations between Washington and Caracas have deteriorated steadily in recent years. The United States sees Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, as undemocratic and believes he is exploiting his country's oil wealth to influence politics in the region.