It's official, Venezuela wins the Makled sweepstakes

[rabs]

A smashing diplomatic victory for Hugo Chavez; JuanMa Santos delivers a big kick in the collectice asses of hil/obama/DOJ/connie mack.

It was expected, but still it is a mild surprise that the WSJ calls it "a major diplomatic victory" for Chavez and "a major setback" for the hil/obama administration. Then it spins on what an evil guy Makled is.

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BOGOTA-- Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez clinched a major diplomatic victory over the U.S. after the Colombian government confirmed that it will extradite Walid Makled to Caracas instead of the U.S.

The White House has tagged Mr. Makled, a Venezuelan national now being held in a jailhouse near Bogota, one of the world's top drug lords.

The decision, announced Wednesday by Colombian Interior Minister German Vargas Lleras, could represent a major setback for Washington's anti-narcotics efforts in the region since U.S. officials are likely to have limited access to a treasure trove of information on suspected drug-running networks in Venezuela.

-- snips ---

Despite the clear signals from Bogota that Mr. Makled would be shipped to Venezuela, the extradition became a high-stakes tug-of-war. U.S. congressmen such as Connie Mack (R., Fla.) pressured Mr. Santos to send Mr. Makled to the U.S. just as Colombia and the White House moved to revive a stalled free-trade agreement.

The decision also represents a rare disagreement in Colombia's close diplomatic relations with Washington, which has helped finance Colombia's crackdown on narcotrafficking and Marxist guerrillas to the tune of $6 billion over the last nine years.

But sending Mr. Makled to Venezuela became a necessity for Mr. Santos as he shores up commercial and diplomatic ties with Venzuelan President Hugo Chavez.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703730104576261503864204500.html

[Peace Patriot]

1. Did you catch Jackson Diehl's hit piece on this in the Washington Pest? Gawd. nt

[rabs]

2. Yep, saw it

By Jackson Diehl

The Obama administration is about to lose an extraordinary opportunity to prosecute one of the world's biggest drug traffickers. It will fail to break up a network that annually smuggles hundreds of tons of cocaine to the United States. And it will miss delivering a devastating blow to the most dedicated U.S. adversary in Latin America, Venezuelan strongman Hugo Chavez.

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In the vast parched land that is Diehl's brain, obama lost the chance to halt cocaine smuggling to the United States. Cocaine that is produced in COLOMBIA.

And the chance to deliver the coup d' grace to Hugo.

:rofl: :rofl:

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Big march today in Caracas. Ninth anniversary of when the people revolted, marched to Mirafolores and kicked out the Carmona gang that had carried out the coup d' etat against Chavez 48 hours earlier.

Diehl must have been sick all day today. :rofl:

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There are media reports in Bogota that the actual sending of "el turco" to Caracas could take three to five months. But no explanation of why so long in the reports :shrug:

Defense attorneys for Makled have five working days to appeal the extradition order, but since it would look bad for Santos, doubtful anything will come if appeal is filed.