Venezuela Neutralized 174 Narco-Aircrafts Since Chavez Expelled the DEA (Updated)
The Operational Strategic Command of the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (CEO-FANB) reported on Sunday November 17 that a Colombian drug trafficking aircraft was detected and neutralized within the framework of Operation Venezuela Sovereignty and Peace 2019.
The Aerospace Defense System of the CEO-FANB enforced the legal protocols to the narco-aircraft that was trying to use Venezuela’s airspace for the transfer of illicit substances from Colombia.
In relation to state policies that fight against transnational drug trafficking, Major General Juan Texeira, commander of the FANB Comprehensive Aerospace Defense, reported that 174 narco-aircraft have been neutralized since President Hugo Chavez expelled the DEA from Venezuela in 2005, an unprecedented decision in the country at the time.
Venezuela cuenta con políticas de estado contundentes en contra de este flagelo que dan resultados palpables. Desde que el Cmdte Supremo expulsara a la DEA de este Pais ya son 174 narcoaeronaves neutralizadas. Seguiremos luchando y no daremos tregua a este delito transfronterizo. https://t.co/uLiAG87ag6
— Cmdte Codai (@cmdtecodai) November 17, 2019
- Chavez said at the time that “the issue of the DEA is a matter of sovereignty that we had been monitoring, and it turns out that the DEA was using the fight against drug trafficking as a mask, to even support drug trafficking, to use intelligence in Venezuela against the government. “
- In 2017, the then Venezuelan Vice President Tareck El Aissami reported, at the time of being accused by the United States government of drug trafficking: “After breaking the agreements (with the DEA), we have captured more than 100 important drug trafficking bosses in Venezuelan territory, 21 of them were handed over to the US justice system and those are the ones who testified against me. I am accused of the same drug traffickers that I captured and extradited.”
- And El Aissami continued: “The DEA until 2005, when it operated here, only seized 43 tons on average of drugs per year. After the DEA, we doubled the number of seizures of different drugs in the national territory, we raised it after they ceased their functions here, that is, in addition, their functions were related more to interference and espionage.”
ENTÉRATE| El #CEOFANB con su @codai_Fanb detecta nuevamente narcoaeronave tratando de ingresar a espacio aéreo y luego de cumplir con los protocolos de Ley, fue neutralizada por aeronaves #FANB. Seguiremos FIRMES en la lucha contra el narcotráfico. #OperaciónSoberaníaYPaz #19Nov pic.twitter.com/VFxrBvZ70g
— CEOFANB (@ceofanb) November 19, 2019
- The Spanish journalist Fernando Casado recalled in an article the words of Gil Kerlikowske, former director of the Office of the National Drug Control Policy of the United States, who declared in 2010 that the war on drugs “from a broad perspective, has not been successful (…) after 40 years [the time of the DEA’s work] the concern for drugs and drug problems is, if possible, greater and more intense. “
UPDATE: 11/19/2019, 10:58 AM
A new aircraft loaded with illegal substances was neutralized on the morning of this Tuesday, November 19, which increases the historical account by 175.
Translated by JRE/EF
