Venezuela: Ex-Intel Chief's Release a 'Victory' over US Ideological Foes

NewsMaxWorld ^ | July 29, 2014 | Thomson/Reuters.

[Mozilla]

WASHINGTON — The United States is "deeply disappointed" the Netherlands released a former Venezuelan military intelligence chief detained over U.S. drug trafficking allegations, and is "disturbed" at reports indicating Caracas used threats to obtain his freedom, the State Department said on Monday.

Instead of being extradited to the United States, retired Venezuelan General Hugo Carvajal flew home on Sunday from the Netherlands' Caribbean island of Aruba after the Dutch government ruled he had diplomatic immunity. He had been arrested on Aruba on Wednesday.

Jubilant Venezuelan officials hailed Carvajal's release at a ruling Socialist Party congress, calling it a "victory" over U.S. ideological foes.

Opposition politicians in Venezuela and the U.S. government say Carvajal, who ran military intelligence from 2004 to 2008, bears responsibility for years of state connivance in the illegal drug trade.

[GeronL]

Meanwhile the guy who ran against the dictator remains in prison I think.

[GeronL]

http://devilsexcrement.com/2014/07/29/and-one-more-thing-on-the-carvajal-affair/

[headstamp 2]

I could picture the Netherlands doing this with Reagan in office.

[nathanbedford]

So America is miffed because a European ally declines to extradite an alleged drug trafficker to the United States but instead returns him to his own country, Venezuela where he was military intelligence chief. The Netherlands it is believed buckled to Venezuela pressure on its possession, Aruba. It is interesting that the Netherlands feared Venezuela more than it respected America.

Here we see another triumph of the war on drugs. We create a market in America which produces untold billions of dollars for Latin American communists, Middle Eastern terrorists, and ordinary, scummy drug traffickers. We invade the banking systems of Europe including especially Switzerland and we invade the privacy of ordinary citizens and government officials claiming the right to do so because of terrorism or drug trafficking, take your pick. In doing so we infuriate investors, bankers, businessmen and politicians in Europe. They are angry because they feel their sovereignty is threatened by the American Internal Revenue Service and the DEA.

There is no end to the price we pay to wage a losing war on drugs yet we are surprised when a country like the Netherlands declines to help us pay the price.