Venezuela Steps Up Efforts To Thwart Cocaine Traffic

The Venezuelans bristle at such characterizations and say it is they -- not the Americans -- who are on the front lines of the drug war.

"We're between the biggest producer of cocaine and the biggest consumer of cocaine, and we're the problem?" Reverol said.

Gen. Jesus González, commander of strategic operations for the armed forces, explained that the government is so committed to the drug war that Chávez regularly calls him to learn details. "Our commander-in-chief is on top of everything that's happening here," he said.

The front line is here in a prairie state that, from a military helicopter, looks like the Dakotas, save for the occasional palm tree that serves as punctuation to a vast expanse of scrub grass that stretches south to the porous border with Colombia. An American reporter, along with a crew from Venezuelan state television, was flown in a Russian-made transport helicopter to a spot so isolated it is known simply by its coordinates, B-9.

A special commando team, lugging detonators, cables and Venezuelan-made explosives, then mined a 1,700-yard strip.

With temperatures approaching 100 degrees, eight explosions rocked the hard ground, blowing craters into the landing field and brown clouds into the sky. With the last blast, officials said they had destroyed all the clandestine strips in this state.

"This is a big blow against drug trafficking," said Col. José Quintero of the air force, who is in charge of Operation Boquete, which loosely means "Big Hole." "We're closing off our airspace for them to move drugs."

Venezuelan officials said the destruction of runways, which was also carried out with aerial bombardments, is part of a larger strategy against Colombian trafficking organizations.

More than $260 million is being spent to place the radar stations around the country. The remaining seven stations, which are also to be used for national defense, will be in place by October. The radar tracking will permit the air force to locate and shoot down what Reverol called "hostile" aircraft once the new law is approved.

"What's important for narco-traffickers to know is that they will be shot down in Venezuelan airspace," Reverol said.

Venezuelan officials said they have 18 planes -- Vietnam-era Broncos and Brazilian-made Super Toucan fighters -- that can be used to shoot down the slow, single-engine planes used to transport cocaine. The Venezuelans are hoping to upgrade that fleet, but the United States has blocked the government's plan to buy 24 Toucans from Brazil.

"That showed that it's the United States that doesn't want to collaborate," Reverol said.

Walters, the U.S. drug official, said it is the Chávez administration that has failed to cooperate. Chávez banned U.S. surveillance flights in its airspace in 1999 and suspended bilateral anti-drug cooperation in 2005 after accusing Drug Enforcement Administration agents of spying.

Here in the scrub grass of Apure, there was little talk about the pitfalls of a long and complex drug war that has vexed governments for years.

Elite troops armed with Belgian assault rifles and heavy packs received medals for their work against the airfields. And officials talked about how they plan to attack dirt strips in Amazonas state in the south and Monagas state along the eastern Caribbean coast.

"The operation continues," said González, the general. "It's not over today."