US blames Venezuela for European drug problem

BRUSSELS, May 8 (Reuters) The United States' anti-drug czar blamed Venezuela today for an increase in shipments of cocaine into Europe and urged EU governments to apply diplomatic pressure on the Latin American country to combat the problem.

John Walters, White House director for drug control policy, said Venezuela had become the main transit route for illegal drugs between neighbouring Colombia -- the world's top cocaine producer -- and the increasingly attractive European market.

Walters' comments came against the background of persistently tetchy relations between Washington and Venezuela's populist President Hugo Chavez.

Walters accused the Venezuelan administration of failing to sufficiently tackle the drugs issue and urged European Union politicians to ''use their influence'' to persuade Chavez to stop the illegal traffickers.

''This is a growing problem, we have seen movement by air coming out of Venezuela using known air fields, not clandestine air fields ... also movements by sea which, with some increased regularity, also coming out of Venezuelan seaports,'' Walters told reporters on a visit to Brussels to meet EU officials.

''Falling consumption in the United States and higher prices in Europe are encouraging traffickers to export across the Atlantic.'' ''I know some European nations have more extensive cooperation with the Venezuelan government and we hope that we can use that to try to cut some of these off,'' Walters said.

Walters added that many areas in Venezuela are being used for ''safe staging'' and said shipments through the Latin American country to Europe and the US had increased ''tenfold in the last five to ten years''.

In February Reuters revealed that eight EU governments plan to join forces to stop illegal drugs -- particularly cocaine and heroin -- from finding their way onto European streets from Latin America via ports in West Africa.

But Walters' remarks come a day after Venezuela's Justice Minister Pedro Carreno said he would not allow US agents to carry out counter-drug operations in the country and accused the US Drug Enforcement Administration of being a ''new cartel''.

This was the latest in a war of words between Washington and Caracas, which has seen relations between the two governments deteriorate rapidly in recent years.

After nearly a year of heated negotiations, Venezuela refused to sign an anti-drugs accord with the US in March, while in 2005, the world's fifth largest oil producer ended cooperation with the DEA.

Chavez, a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro, accused the agency of spying on him amid increasing confrontation between Washington and Caracas.

He has also accused the US of trying to oust him and has repeatedly criticised Washington, describing President George W Bush as ''the devil.'' Washington sees Chavez as undemocratic and believes he is exploiting his country's oil wealth to influence politics in the region REUTERS SS RAI0000