South America vows greater coordination against terrorism
Defense ministers of South America, who are in Buenos Aires, capital of Argentina, for a meeting on regional security, agreed Tuesday on greater coordination among military intelligence organizations for an efficient combat against terrorism.

In a declaration issued Tuesday, the ministers ruled out immediate involvement of armed forces in direct combat against terrorists, but they agreed that it is essential for them to participate in the collection and analysis of relevant information.

Brazilian Defense Minister Jose Viegas said "terrorism is one of the most important problems in the world agenda," adding that it was not only a struggle of the armed forces, but also one of intelligence organizations.

Chilean Defense Minister Michelle Bachelet also said "In our countries, the armed forces are not the first front in the fight against terrorism, but yes they can play supporting roles."

Defense ministers from Uruguay, Paraguay, Bolivia, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and vice defense minister of Ecuador attended the two-day meeting, which focused on regional security and certain military autonomy from the United States.
 

Chilean police seize one ton of cocaine
The Metropolitan Anti-Narcotics Brigade of the Investigative Police of Chile seized one ton of high-purity cocaine Monday night, La Tercera daily reported Tuesday.

The daily quoted police as saying that they were tipped off that a cargo vehicle coming from the northern part of the country contained drugs, and then they managed to intercept the vehicle as it drove into the capital and seized the cocaine in a container.

The police also said three persons were detained in the operation and they were under interrogation. And the police did not rule out that an international ring was behind the drug smuggling.
 

Venezuela denies negligence in human trafficking
Venezuela on Tuesday rejected an accusation made by the United States over alleged negligence in tackling human trafficking.

The Venezuelan permanent mission in the United Nations expressed its dissatisfaction over the US decision not to provide certain funding for Venezuela in the 2005 fiscal year after the US State Department said President Hugo Chavez's government had failed to effectively crack down on trafficking in persons.

The Venezuelan mission described the US evaluation of Venezuela's combat against organized crime as unjustified and unusual, said a communique issued in Caracas.

The Venezuelan government described it as part of a "hostility of the unilateralism" from Washington against a country that has signed on international agreements against human trafficking.

The communique said Venezuela has laws against the crime of human trafficking.

Venezuela is a signatory to the UN Convention Against Organized Transnational Crime and the Protocol to Prevent and Penalize Human Trafficking, but the United States is not.

"Such a situation does not lead to an improvement of the relations between Venezuela and the United States and constitutes a new form of aggression against Venezuelan sovereignty. We cannot but firmly reject as it goes against international laws and respect among the states," the communique added.

The mission said that it will only provide updated information in line with international agreements on the issue to the United Nations.