Israel Matzav

Obama's 'smart diplomacy' allows Hezbullah's South American operations to escape

One of the countries that the Obama administration has abandoned as part of its 'smart diplomacy' is Colombia. Now, there is a price to be paid.

In a joint operation with the US Drug Enforcement Agency, Colombia has arrested Walid Makled, one of the three top drug dealers in the World. Makled is a Syrian-born Venezuelan citizen, who claims to have a treasure trove of information on Hezbullah operations in Venezuela. Makled is in a position to know. He is believed to have paid more than $1,000,000 per month in bribes to Venezuelan generals and ministers to protect his drug business.

Makled will only give the information he has about Hezbullah to the United States. But he is being extradited to Venezuela and not to the United States as he wished. Colombia is afraid of Venezuela. Colombia is also afraid that Washington will abandon it.

In the many interviews Makled has given from his prison in Colombia, he says he has videotapes and other evidence documenting his transactions with Venezuelan generals and senior government officials, provincial governors, members of Venezuelan Congress, cabinet secretaries. He describes making payments of about $1 million a month to Venezuelan high-ranking civilian and military officials. "If I am a drug trafficker, everyone in the Chavez government is drug trafficker," Makled has said.

Further, Makled claims to have information on Chavez's help to Hezbollah and other Middle Eastern terrorist groups operating in the Venezuelan soil. Makled stated in an interview that Hezbollah is "absolutely" active in Venezuela. He also has information on the flights between Venezuela and Teheran -- a serious source of concern for the US.

As the Washington Post puts it: "The Obama administration is about to lose an extraordinary opportunity to prosecute one of the world's biggest drug traffickers. It will fail to break up a network that annually smuggles hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States. And it will miss delivering a devastating blow to the most dedicated U.S. adversary in Latin America, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez."

And all because of the wimp in Washington.

What could go wrong?

Labels: Barack Obama, Colombia, drug cartels, Hezbullah, Hugo Chavez, Venezuela, Walid Makled

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:36 AM