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FARC guerrillas' link to £70m cocaine haul
Scotsman ^ | 14 Apr 2006 | JEREMY MCDERMOTT

Posted on 04/14/2006 2:23:08 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe

MEXICAN authorities yesterday began investigations into the involvement of Colombian guerrillas in the shipment of 5.5 tons of cocaine seized from a commercial aircraft.

The high-purity cocaine, the biggest seizure in recent years, was found amid 128 pieces of luggage on a US passenger airline, Aero Flight, which left Caracas in Venezuela and made an unregistered stop in Ciudad de Carmen, Mexico, where soldiers found the drugs. The cocaine is valued at £70 million.

Santiago Vasconcelos, of the Mexican attorney general's office, said there was evidence that the drugs came from guerrillas of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who have long-standing agreements with Mexican drug cartels to supply cocaine in exchange for weapons and ammunition. The two pilots, Poot Pérez and Pérez de Gracia, have been arrested before in connections with a drug flight, but managed to escape prosecution. They are unlikely to do so again.

These 5.5 tons make up the first major shipment linked to the FARC since the US attorney general, Alberto Gonzales, issued 50 indictments covering most of the FARC senior command structure, on charges of drug-trafficking.

"We believe these men are responsible for not only manufacturing and exporting devastating amounts of cocaine, but enforcing their criminal regime with violence," Mr Gonzales said.

It is significant that the drugs came via Venezuela, because the Colombian army has long alleged that Venezuela's socialist president, Hugo Chavez, is sympathetic to the Marxist rebels.


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Foreign Affairs; Mexico; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: drugs; farc; hugochavez; hugoping; illegaldrugs; marxistrebels; mexico; venezuela; wod; wodlist

1 posted on 04/14/2006 2:23:10 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Poot Pérez

Cocaine, Columbia, left wing thugs, Mexico. . . Poot is the only interesting thing in the story for me.

2 posted on 04/14/2006 2:27:13 PM PDT by Flyer (Preserve American Culture)
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To: Tailgunner Joe
It would be interesting to establish a formal link between FARC and Venezuela. Then we could indict Chavez.
3 posted on 04/14/2006 2:42:24 PM PDT by Recon Dad (Force Recon Dad)
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To: Recon Dad

Chavez needs the Noriega treatment.


4 posted on 04/14/2006 2:46:43 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
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To: Tailgunner Joe
Get that commie columbian coke off the market so the Mexican 'red meth' makes new ground...
5 posted on 04/14/2006 2:49:24 PM PDT by joesnuffy ( 'This Guest Worker Program' is the only way to keep us safe and warm at night)
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To: Flyer
Defund the terrorists ... legalize drugs!
6 posted on 04/14/2006 3:27:26 PM PDT by Know your rights (The modern enlightened liberal doesn't care what you believe as long as you don't really believe it.)
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To: Tailgunner Joe

Bet that these shipments won't be stopped once AMLO becomes Mexico's president.


7 posted on 04/14/2006 4:46:27 PM PDT by Thunder90
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To: proud_yank

ping


8 posted on 04/14/2006 7:11:39 PM PDT by Thunder90
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To: Thunder90; Hill of Tara; Victoria Delsoul; Army Air Corps; monkeywrench; cll; penowa; pcottraux; ...


PING – Hugo is at it again!

Please FReepmail me if you would like on/off the Hugo/Venezuela Ping list.

HugoPing Archive

9 posted on 04/26/2006 3:26:21 PM PDT by proud_yank (A liberal's 'generosity' is limited to the funds available in someone else's account.)
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