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Tuesday, March 20, 2007
In another round in the battle of Venezuela versus the US, the Venezuelan state has blamed Washington for the recent upsurge in the shipment of narcotics through the Latin American territory. These sentiments were expressed by Venezuelan officials at the Santo Domingo summit on Drugs Security and Cooperation. Speaking at the meeting attendedby various regionaland international counterparts, Victor Reverol Torres, one of Venezuela's top anti-narcotics officials announced that Venezuela would be arming itself with Chinese satellite technology and Russian Sukhoi-30 jets to help crack down on the illegal drug trade. Torressaid the technology would allow Venezuela to reinforce its air, land and maritime surveillance" he said. The day-long forum, in which participants called for an increase in regional cooperation combat drugtrafficking, came against the backdrop of a recent report from the US State Department claiming that the number of drug smuggling flights from Venezuela to Hispaniola increased by 167 percent from 2005 to 2006.
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