Illegal U.S. dollars going to Venezuela

In a story that is not being given any significant coverage by international wire services and/or Venezuela's opposition-controlled print and broadcast media, it is reported that Customs & Excise officers at the Caracas (Simon Bolivar) international airport in Maiquetia have seized a 25-kilo (55 lbs.) sack said to hold an illegal shipment of United States banknotes to the tune of US$2,500,000.

* The airport raid has been kept under wraps since December 30 when the cache was discovered off an American Airlines flight 935 that had arrived from Miami a day earlier.

Investigations show that the US greenbacks were part of an urgent dispatch from Bank of America to the Caracas-based Italcambio handled by Transporte de Valores Bancarios C.A. (Transvalcar) ... further interrogation of customs clearing personnel over the New Year's holiday shows that there have been at least seven (7) previous operations in which an estimated $21 million was imported to Venezuela, allegedly bypassing strict currency control regulations.

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For what do you suppose?

Aside from the legalities (which must be determined by the courts) it is already being suggested that the extremely wealthy political opposition to President Hugo Chavez Frias' government was planning to flood the exchange market causing further economic damage.

* Questions are also being raised as to the complicity or otherwise of US officials and there appears to be a wall of silence from usually verbose press spokespersons at the US bunker on Colinas de Valle Arriba where the New Year 2004 has been ushered in with the news of US Ambassador Charles S. Shapiro's imminent removal from Caracas.

Oh. I see.

If you haven't been keeping up on my Venezuela posts, just go read some background on my Venezuela page. And expect boots on the ground there eventually when we can't shake Chavez out of office any other way. Remember, Venezuela is the fifth largest oil exporter in the world, and supplies about 13% of daily oil imports into the US, Chavez is a democratically elected "leftist" who opposes the "free trade" pacts and the IMF and World Bank plans for Latin American countries, and Double-face wants him out of the way.

Pro-government newspaper Diario VEA asks if the US$ are narco-traffickers' profits or if they are intended to supply an extremely active black market for US$ ... alternative Diario VEA theories are that the cash is to finance continuing opposition "terrorist" actions to destabilize the Chavez Frias government ...it remains, however, clear that the US banknotes entered Venezuela without the previous authorization of competent authorities.

It is already known that Italcambio's owner, businessmen Carlos Dorado, has been identified as one of the foremost financiers of anti-government actions, he has been a ferocious anti-government op-ed columnist in El Universal and took a leading role in the short-lived Carmona Estanga coup d'etat in April 2002.

As Venezuelan IRS/Seniat and Central Bank officials work feverishly this weekend to establish lines of responsibility, it has been revealed that the a Bank of America official authorized the latest $2.5 million shipment of banknotes given questionably certified documentary line-authorization dated December 24 (2003) from the Venezuelan Oficina Tecnica de Administracion Cambiaria (OTACA) -- Exchange Administration Technical Office -- which demonstrably does NOT exist!

....but hey, do what you want....you will anyway.