Hugo Chavez Accuses DEA of Espionage
Posted: Mon Aug 08, 2005 1:41 am<!--EZCODE BOLD START--><strong>Chavez says US drug agents spying</strong><!--EZCODE BOLD END--><br><br>Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has accused the US Drug Enforcement Administration of using its agents to spy on the south American country.<br><br>Mr Chavez said his country would sever its ties with the DEA and no longer collaborate with the US.<br><br>Last month Venezuelan prosecutors opened an investigation into the activities of DEA.<br><br>Mr Chavez said the country would continue to work with other international groups.<br><br>"The DEA was using the fight against drug trafficking as a mask, to support drug trafficking, to carry out intelligence in Venezuela against the government," Mr Chavez said.<br><br>"Under those circumstances we have decided to make a clean break with those accord," he added.<br><br>President Chavez also criticised the US policy on drugs for concentrating on the supply rather than the demand of drugs.<br><br>Last week US Ambassador William Brownfield had said the US hoped to continue collaborative anti-drug efforts in the country.<br><br>He warned that, without them, "there is only one group that wins, and that group is the drug traffickers."<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4130354.stm">news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4130354.stm</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--> <p></p><i></i>