image source, Reuters
The United States is the world’s leading consumer of cocaine. Brazil follows.
The president of the United States, Barack Obama, assured that Venezuela and Bolivia have “failed manifestly” in their international anti-narcotics agreements during the last year.
This is recorded in a memorandum that Obama sent to his Secretary of State, John Kerry, and that was published this Monday by the White House.
“I hereby designate Bolivia, Burma and Venezuela as countries that have manifestly failed during the past 12 months to abide by their obligations under international counternarcotics agreements,” the document says.
According to the government, such a designation can lead to sanctions.
The text adds that “support for aid programs for Burma and Venezuela is vital to the national interests of the United States.”
The president also explained that he is “particularly concerned” about poppy crops in Mexico, the main supplier of illegal opium derivatives to the United States.
The document also records 22 countries that, according to the United States, are major drug producers or transit areas for them.
The vast majority (17) are located in Latin America and the Caribbean.
As explained by the BBC World correspondent in Washington, Thomas Sparrow, the government ensures that the presence of these countries on the list does not reflect their anti-narcotics efforts or their cooperation with the United States, but rather the geographical and economic characteristics that led them to become in producing or transit areas.
The memorandum, called “Fiscal Year 2015 Presidential Determination Regarding Important Drug Transit or Production Countries,” will be sent to Congress by the secretary of state.
