CARACAS: President Nicolas Maduro’s government dismissed claims from the United States that increasingly large amounts of cocaine are being moved through Venezuela. “The Venezuelan government energetically rejects the claims from the head of the U.S. armed forces Southern Command, Gen. John Kelly, that question the will and tireless work of the government of President Nicolas Maduro to combat drug trafficking,” Venezuela’s foreign affairs ministry said in a statement. The statement was in response to claims made by Kelly on Wednesday that Venezuela is a hotbed for narco-trafficking. The United States has been increasingly critical of Venezuela’s counter-narcotics efforts since the country broke ties with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 2005. Maduro’s predecessor, Hugo Chavez, accused DEA agents of spying on Venezuela. In September 2014, Washington accused Venezuela of “failed demonstrably” to tackle drugs. However, three months later, Venezuelan authorities announced drug seizures had more than doubled since the DEA was booted out of the country. In the seven year period from 2006-2013, Venezuelan authorities had seized over 500 tonnes of narcotics, according to government figures. In the last six years of the Venezuela-DEA partnership, around 209 tonnes were hauled in, according to Venezuela’s military. “Since the termination of relations with the DEA in 2005 … Venezuela has managed to seize an average of 55.7 tons of drugs per year,” the ministry stated. “This figure illustrates there has been a 60 percent increase in the effectiveness of average annual seizures compared to time of DEA operations in our country,” they stated.
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