HomeNewsBriefVenezuela to Adopt 'Shoot-Down' Policy for Suspected Drug Flights
BRIEF

Venezuela to Adopt 'Shoot-Down' Policy for Suspected Drug Flights

VENEZUELA / 23 MAY 2012 BY GEOFFREY RAMSEY EN

Venezuela’s Congress has approved legislation which will allow the use of force against aircraft suspected of carrying shipments of illegal drugs.

On May 23 the National Assembly, Venezuela’s unicameral legislative body, unanimously approved a law which allows the Bolivarian National Air Force to “intercept, dissuade and disable” aircraft violating Venezuela air space regulations.

The passage of the law is a victory for President Hugo Chavez, who has been one of its major proponents. In October the Venezuelan leader addressed the issue in a televised speech, saying that the new law was necessary in order to crack down on drug trafficking in the country. According to Chavez, when air force planes intercept planes suspected of carrying drugs, the pilots often ignore orders to land, leaving the military unable to stop them.

InSight Crime Analysis

Venezuela has become a major transit nation for Colombian drugs, and United Nations anti-drug officials claim it is the principal source of cocaine bound for the European market. It is also believed to be a significant launching point for air traffic bringing the drug to Central America and the Caribbean. Honduras, which an estimated 88 percent of US-bound drugs pass through, has become the favorite destination of Venezuelan pilots carrying drug shipments.

A recent drug operation in Honduras, for instance, which caused controversy over claims that US agents were involved in the death of four innocent people, was made possible by Colombian and US radar equipment picking up a suspicious flight leaving Venezuela. Because of Chavez’s historically chilly relationship with both countries, Venezuela does not share intelligence on drug flights with them, limiting its capacity to track drug flights. The Chavez government has·purchased long-range JYL-1 radars from the Chinese government, but Venezuela is not expected to acheive full radar coverage of its airspace until 2013.

The new law is also troubling from a human rights perspective, as a policy advocating the use of force against civilian aircraft carries risk. Although a similar strategy is credited with vastly reducing drug flights from Peru, the program was suspended in 2001 after the military mistakenly shot down a plane carrying US missionaries, killing a 7-month-old girl and her mother.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

ELITES AND CRIME / 22 MAR 2023

The resignation of Venezuela's Oil Minister, Tareck El Aissami, after the arrest of a close ally may precede a sensational…

EXTORTION / 27 JAN 2023

The Carlos Capa gang is one of the oldest surviving criminal gangs in Valles del Tuy, south of Caracas in…

TREN DE ARAGUA / 15 FEB 2023

Héctor Rusthenford Guerrero Flores, alias “Niño Guerrero," is the leader of Tren de Aragua, Venezuela's largest homegrown criminal group.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Chemical Precursor Report continues to be a reference in the region

19 MAY 2023

For the second week in a row, our investigation into the flow of precursor chemicals for the manufacture of synthetic drugs in Mexico has been cited by multiple regional media…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Chemical Precursor Report Widely Cited

THE ORGANIZATION / 12 MAY 2023

We are proud to see that our recently published investigation into the supply chain of chemical precursors feeding Mexico’s synthetic drug production has been warmly received.

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime’s Paraguay Election Coverage Draws Attention 

5 MAY 2023

InSight Crime looked at the various anti-organized crime policies proposed by the candidates in Paraguay’s presidential election, which was won on April 30 by Santiago Peña. Our pre-election coverage was cited…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in OAS, CARICOM Reports

28 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime’s work was cited nine times in a new report by the Organization of American States (OAS) titled “The Impact of Organized Crime on Women,…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Staff Cited as Experts by International Media

21 APR 2023

This week, InSight Crime deputy editor, Juan Diego Posada, was interviewed by the Associated Press about connections between the ex-FARC mafia and Brazilian criminal groups, and…