CARACAS, Thursday September 11, 2008 | Update
Politics
National Anti-Drug Office: The US does not decertify Venezuela
because it would have to suspend aid to NGO's.
The United States does not decertify Venezuela in its annual
reports on antinarcotics efforts because that would require
the US Congress to suspend its funding of opposition NGO's,
said on Thursday Néstor Reverol, the director of the
National Anti-Drug Office (ONA).
In his opinion, this is the only reason why the US authorities
maintain an "ambiguous" position and neither "certify" nor
"decertify" the anti-drug war in Venezuela, EFE reported.
"If they were to decertify Venezuela, the Senate of the United
States would have to suspend its financial assistance provided
to the opposition NGO's for its alleged fight against drug
trafficking. Therefore, over the past three years they just
say that we do not cooperate with US anti-drug authorities,"
said Reverol.
01:11 PM.
Economy.
Domestic inflation rate in Venezuela was 1.7 percent in January, at the same rate as in December 2009, despite currency devaluation at the start of the year decreed by President Hugo Chávez, a senior government source told Reuters on Tuesday.