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Venezuela Quashes Border Drug
Labs
Venezuela razed ten drug
laboratories along the border
with Colombia, during an
operation that also stamped out
597 acres of poppy, marihuana
and cocaine fields.
Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez
stated 1,310 troops from the
Army, Navy, Air Force and
National Guard launched the
operation at Sierra de Perija in
the eastern state of Zulia.
Although Venezuela is neither a
great consumer nor producer of
drugs, Colombian drug dealers
frequently used it as bridge.
In his television program Alo
Presidente, Chavez said local
forces clashed with a Colombian
paramilitary group.
Any armed group of Colombia must
respect the sovereignty of
Venezuela, noted the leader of
the Bolivarian Revolution.
UN Representative to Caracas
Humberto Chirinos, who
supervised the code-named Sierra
Operation, asserted coca
activity in Venezuela was not
very developed.
National authorities wiped out
328 acres of poppy, 80 acres of
coca and 15 of marihuana.
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