Do not handle illegal drugs. Drug trafficking is considered a serious crime in Venezuela. Detection methods are sophisticated and drug traffickers should expect to be arrested. The sentence is punishable by severe penalties, including up to 2 years of pre-trial detention, followed by a lengthy prison sentence ranging from 8 to 15 years. Conditions in Venezuelan prisons are harsh and dangerous and are among the worst in the region. In October 2015, ONA President Irwin Jose Ascanio publicly stated that Venezuelan authorities had seized 69 tons of illegal drugs since January, nearly twice as many as at the same time the previous year. Ascanio claimed that the closure of the Venezuelan and Colombian border in the states of Tachira and Zulia in August 2015 had led to a 70 percent reduction in the flow of drugs across the border. In 1997, the governments of the United States and Venezuela updated a customs legal assistance treaty and a 1991 bilateral treaty on the control of drugs at sea that empowered the United States. Authorities must board Venezuelan-flagged vessels suspected of drug trafficking in international waters as long as the Venezuelan government authorizes the search.
A treaty on mutual legal assistance between the United States and Venezuela entered into force in 2004. In October and November 2015, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) began monitoring two nephews of President Nicolás Maduro`s wife, Cilia Flores — Efraín Antonio Campo Flores and Francisco Flores de Freites — after the two contacted a person who was a DEA informant. They wanted advice on how to deal with cocaine. Cocaine seizures on both islands have exploded in recent years. Crime rates in the Caribbean have risen enough to attract the attention of diplomats, bankers and government officials. According to a 2009 U.S. report, 90 percent of U.S. cocaine comes from Colombia, with Venezuela and the Caribbean accounting for about 10 percent of cocaine transshipments to the U.S. in 2010.
[6] Another important route is the export of cocaine, marijuana, and other illicit drugs by direct shipping from Venezuela to Europe, with half of all direct shipments to Europe coming from Venezuela between 2006 and 2008. [7] [8] Although cooperation between Venezuela and the United States on drug control was limited in 2015, the United States remains committed to working with Venezuela to counter the flow of cocaine and other illicit drugs through Venezuelan territory. To advance cooperation, the Venezuelan government may sign an addendum to the 1978 bilateral memorandum of understanding on drug control. Enhanced cooperation could increase information exchange and ultimately lead to more drug-related arrests, help dismantle organized criminal networks, help prosecute criminals involved in drug trafficking, and stem the flow of illicit drugs through Venezuela. Countries on board include Mauritania, Guinea-Bissau, Sierra Leone as well as Mali. The DEA reports that so far, all planes seized in West Africa are from Venezuela. Forty percent of all cocaine seized in Europe was transported from Venezuela, according to the United Nations. The Venezuelan dictatorship`s approach to drug policy cannot claim to be successful. First, it continues the endless war on drugs, chasing and harming users that has failed around the world. Secondly, the state has a huge apparatus that costs its citizens a lot of money through special regimes for corporations and other organizations, but is only used to persecute the people. Third, the few data points presented by the dictatorship are not reliable at all, as the country is going through a deep institutional crisis, making it their priority to show that independence from US drug intervention has been successful, whether the evidence shows it or not. The ANP is a very general document full of positivist speeches that continues the same war on drugs and focuses on the illicit trade that the United States started in the country.
Illicit drug use in Venezuela remained a problem in 2015, but current statistical data is not available. The United Nations` World Drug Report 2011 is the most recent report on domestic use, which found that cocaine and cannabis use among adults was 0.64% and 1.56%, respectively. The use of synthetic drugs and opioids is less common. According to the previous PNA 2015-2019 (Plan Nacional Antidroga or National Anti-Drug Plan), there were two main objectives for Venezuelan drug policy: reducing drug supply and reducing demand. To carry out this mission, a multi-pronged programme has been developed focusing on strengthening measures to combat drug trafficking, money-laundering and the prevention of drug use. Although the ANP presents an action plan, it seems to lack precise figures on the budget for enforcement actions or the financing of demand reduction measures. Drug trafficking is a serious problem in Venezuela, mainly because of its proximity to the main drug-producing regions. Colombian cocaine and other drugs are transported through Venezuela to the United States and Europe. What the Venezuelan government has managed to do is an excess of organizations and branches to deal with the drug situation.
