VENEZUELAN GOVERNMENT PROTECTS MEXICO'S MOST NOTORIOUS NARCOTRAFFICKER

His name is Joaquín Archivaldo Guzmán Loera, but you probably know him better by his street name, Chapo [Shorty] Guzmán. He is the leader of Mexico's Sinaloa Drug Cartel, and the United States has considered   mounting an operation to capture or kill him, giving such an operation the same priority as the one that resulted in the death of Osama Bin Ladin.

Articles this week, appearing in mainstream Venezuela media, have detailed the air smuggling acts of his organisation, which has used Caracas' principal airport to transport massive amounts of drugs into Mexico, and thereafter into the US, and also eastbound into West Africa, and subsequently into Western Europe. What those newspapers do not wish to print, however, is the fact that Sr. Guzmán has repeatedly used Venezuela as his base of operations, and has actually resided there, with the support and protection of the Government of Venezuela, to evade capture by law enforcement agencies of the United States, and Mexico; he is a fugitive from justice, facing major criminal charges in both countries.

With all of the attention being given to the recent efforts, by the new Venezuelan administration of Nicolás Maduro, to purportedly improving diplomatic relations with the US, those proponents of this new relationship in the making might wish to ask for Sr. Guzmán's extradition as a precondition. He is not the only drug kingpin who maintains safe harbour in Venezuela, but he is the most dangerous.