EXPRESSING SENSE OF CONGRESS THAT VENEZUELA SHOULD SUPPORT STRATEGIES FOR ENSURING SECURE AIRPORT FACILITIES
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Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Speaker, I understand the concerns of the chairman; and I believe I understand his intent for introducing this piece of legislation. But the bottom line is we have got to make sure that we accomplish something here.
The real deal here is not about the chatter between President Chavez and President Bush and the statements that have gone back and forth. The bottom line here is, what do we do to make sure that we are stopping the flow of drugs?
While we are here debating the merits of this resolution, the experts are still in Venezuela completing the specifics of an agreement that would reestablish the relationship between the Drug Enforcement Agency and the appropriate Venezuelan authorities. The fact that we are debating it on the floor today, as Mr. Delahunt says, it really threatens our relationship and makes it so that the possibility of getting this thing done becomes remote at best.
We don't need to continue to politicize this issue. What we need to do is to make sure that we are staying out of it, actually, and allowing the experts to really sit down to work to complete their job.
The Department of State's Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs of 2006 reported and identified 20 countries as major drug transit or major illicit drug-producing countries, despite increased drug seizures during the past 4 years; and these are the real facts.
In an effort to reduce the proliferation of drugs throughout the region and into the United States, the presidents of Venezuela and Colombia have started a process of military modernization to shore up the fence along their countries' borders; and Venezuela has extradited a number of leading armed actors from the ELN and the FARC to Colombia.
In fact, I spoke with DEA officials in my office, and I know they want this agreement signed so that they can continue to do their jobs. I also have been in communication with the Venezuelans; and they have expressed, I believe, a sincere desire to finally get this agreement signed.
Our actions today condemning the Venezuelan government for being complicit in efforts to secure airport facilities to prevent trafficking of controlled substances, narcotics and laundered money does not fit the action of negotiating in good faith to finalize this agreement. We cannot play into the hands of being somewhat obstructionist and widen the gap between our two governments, which already has a very strained relationship.
In the resolution itself, Mr. Speaker, it urges Venezuela to support strategies for ensuring secure airport facilities that meet international certifications to prevent trafficking of controlled substances, narcotics and laundered money. However, when the data-sharing agreement is signed, according to the DEA mandate, title 21, chapter 13, subchapter 1, part E, this concern will be addressed and covered. So passage of this resolution will either prevent or substantially delay this agreement from being signed.
The resolution also, you know, there is some truth, but sometimes the truths are half-truths. It states, drug trafficking through Venezuela significantly increased in 2005, when in fact over 25 percent of drug seizures occurred at the Simon Bolivar Airport in 2005, and 2005 also witnessed a 58 percent increase in drug seizures compared to the previous year. In addition, drug seizures are up in Venezuela compared to this time last year by as much as 30 percent.
The resolution further identified that on April 11 of this year, a commercial plane originating in Venezuela was seized in Mexico at the airport of Ciudad del Carmen, carrying 5.6 tons of cocaine with an estimated street value of $100 million. Well, Mr. Speaker, the truth of the matter is, according to Mexico's Defense Department, the army was waiting for the plane on Monday at the Airport del Carmen 550 miles east of Mexico City after receiving information from the Venezuelan Government and U.S. authorities; and this is according to Mexican Army General Carlos Gaytan.
Mr. Speaker, I have a newspaper article that I would ask unanimous consent to have added to the RECORD indicating the very same with quotations from the general.
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Mr. MEEKS of New York. Mr. Speaker, we are also told that statistics on drug seizures at the Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas are not available, but the truth of the matter is no one must have asked for the information. Because I called and asked for the information, and they provided me with the following, and I have charts that I would like to present for the RECORD.
There is a chart identifying where seizures took place in 2005, two charts define how much cocaine and heroin was seized at the airport and at Santiago Marino Airport since 2002. I have a chart identifying nationality of individuals involved in drugs and have been caught since 2002. And I have several charts identifying the type of drug and the quantity confiscated in Venezuela in 2005, the number of security agencies and personnel involved in drug confiscation throughout Venezuela, persons from Venezuela arrested for drugs in Venezuela, and the number of foreigners arrested for drugs in Venezuela. So I have all of these that I would also like to submit at the end for the RECORD. Their information is available. They have been sharing this with us.
This resolution further threatens the delicate relationship between our two countries. And, consequently, for me, I am really concerned. I happen to represent an international airport, JFK, John F. Kennedy International Airport; and I understand the importance of keeping drugs out. To me, that is what the bottom line is. This isn't about us against them. For me, it is about securing our country so that we can keep the drugs from coming in and doing what we have to do.
The resolution basically I think, and I hope I am wrong, as Mr. Delahunt said, what it will do is it will assure that we won't have an agreement. And if we don't have an agreement, then what we have accomplished is that there can be more drugs getting into this country.
We have got to do just the opposite. We have got to make sure that we do everything that we possibly can to secure and to prevent drugs from entering into the United States of America. I think that this is the wrong way of doing it, so therefore I will oppose this resolution and ask all Members that, if you truly want to stop drugs, we need to get an agreement with Venezuela.
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