Venezuela, Bolivia rejects US accusation against anti-drug policy

The US report cites Venezuela as a major conduit for cocaine coming from neighbouring Colombia [Reuters]

CARACAS/LA PAZ, Sept 17 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Venezuela and Bolivia on Thursday rejected US President Joe Biden’s claims the prior day that the countries had failed to meet counternarcotics obligations.

In a statement, the Venezuelan Foreign Affairs Ministry described as “unlawful and illegitimate” the US practice of “seeking to establish itself as a supranational police of sovereign and independent states.”

A memorandum signed by US President Joe Biden on Wednesday designated “Venezuela as having failed demonstrably to make substantial efforts” to adhere to its “obligations under international counter-narcotics agreements.”

According to the ministry, Washington’s actions “violate fundamental principles of Public International Law, such as mutual sovereign respect, political independence, juridical equality and non-intervention in internal affairs.”

“The US persists in its inappropriate attempt to play global anti-drug gendarme,” it said.

“Venezuela strictly complies with the provisions of international conventions for the control of psychotropic substances and narcotics,” the ministry added.

The South American country “is recognized by the United Nations as a country free of illicit crops, thanks to the permanent work of security forces, preventive policies and coordinated cooperation,” the statement read.

The ministry also condemned the politicization of the issue, urging world governments “to treat it ethically and responsibly.”

Bolivian Interior Minister Eduardo del Castillo said leftist President Luis Arce’s government had managed to eradicate more than 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres) of coca plants, the main raw material to make cocaine, and had taken down criminal organizations.

“We reject this report because it has been prepared unilaterally,” del Castillo told reporters, adding that the United States had not conducted research inside the country as multilateral organizations focused on combating drug trafficking tend to do.

“We have a strategy, we have a plan, and we have the mission of a full fight against drug trafficking.” — NNN-AGENCIES

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