CARACAS, Friday October 24, 2008 | Update
Politics
The governments of Spain and Venezuela will increase their
cooperation efforts to fight drug trafficking, announced on
Friday Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Angel Moratinos.
Moratinos said that his Venezuelan counterpart Nicolás
Maduro, "proposed the Spanish government to work together
to counter illicit drug trafficking." He also added that "a
high-level Spanish delegation will travel to Venezuela to
expand cooperation," AFP reported.
"In recent years, Venezuela has been declared a territory
free of drug production," said Maduro at a press conference.
He added: "Venezuela is now a marginal transit country."
Spain is the main gateway to Europe of cocaine produced in
Latin America. In August, two Venezuelan drug dealers were
arrested in Barcelona, Spain, during the "most important
police operation carried out this year", in which 1.4 tons
of cocaine were seized, according to Spanish police.
Ending July, a Venezuelan ship with 2.5 tons of cocaine was
intercepted on the high seas in the Atlantic Ocean.
11:00 AM. Economy. Based on the official data, more and more families failed to get out of poverty in 2008; the exclusion status of more people moved faster and fewer people are on their way to overcome this situation. According to the data provided by the official National Statistics Institute (INE), last year the poorest homes in the country recorded an average monthly income of USD 401.82, whereas the food basket amounted to 417.77