In Venezuela there have been improvements within their drug policies as a whole without the help of the United States run Drug Enforcement Agency. Since 2005 the DEA has no longer had involvement with Venezuela and their issues surrounding drugs. The government of Venezuela has been able to do a better job cutting the production and trafficking of drugs in their country without the DEA. Although there have been more arrests and the government has confiscated more illegal drugs in the country, Venezuela is still facing certain drug issues. Because of the geographical location of the country, it is the perfects place for people to transport drugs from Colombia up to the United States. Throughout the improvements that have been made the only US media coverage on this topic has contradicted what is actually going on in Venezuela. The major news stories following this topic say that the country is struggling to pick up the slack of what the DEA was helping them with, when this is actually not the case.
Title: Venezuela Deports Two Drug Kingpins, Calls US Drug Blacklist “ Abusive and Interventionist
Author : James Suggett
Source: Venezuelanalysis.com, September 21, 2010
http://venezuelanalysis.com/news/5651
Student researcher: Nick George
Faculty Evaluator: Elaine Wellin, Sonoma State University