IV 
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 400 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of Venezuela should 
actively support strategies for ensuring secure airport facilities that meet 
international certifications to prevent trafficking of controlled substances, 
narcotics, and laundered money. 
IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 
MAY 11, 2006 
Mr. BURTON of Indiana (for himself, Mr. CALVERT, Mr. CHABOT, Mr. COBLE, 
Mr. DAVIS of Florida, Mr. TOM DAVIS of Virginia, Mr. GALLEGLY, Ms. 
GRANGER, Ms. HARRIS, Mr. ISSA, Mr. KIRK, Mr. MACK, Mr. MICA, Mr. 
MCCAUL of Texas, Mr. MCCOTTER, Mrs. MYRICK, Mr. PENCE, Mr. ROG-
ERS of Michigan, Mr. ROHRABACHER, Ms. ROS-LEHTINEN, Mr. SMITH 
of New Jersey, Mr. SOUDER, Mr. WELLER, and Mr. WILSON of South 
Carolina) submitted the following concurrent resolution; which was re-
ferred to the Committee on International Relations 
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the Government of 
Venezuela should actively support strategies for ensuring 
secure airport facilities that meet international certifi-
cations to prevent trafficking of controlled substances, 
narcotics, and laundered money. 
Whereas the United States is strongly committed to countries 
in Latin America that have a shared interest in pro-
moting stability; 
Whereas the United States is strongly committed to countries 
in Latin America that are combating the scourge of 
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drugs and the violence and social degradation caused by 
narcotics trafficking; 
Whereas the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a party to 
the 1988 United Nations Drug Convention; 
Whereas Venezuela is a key transit point for drugs leaving 
Colombia—the world’s primary source of cocaine and 
South America’s top producer of heroin; 
Whereas drug trafficking through Venezuela significantly in-
creased in 2005; 
Whereas weak law enforcement, corruption, and a weak judi-
cial system in Venezuela allow criminal organizations to 
act with impunity; 
Whereas the Department of State’s International Narcotics 
Control Strategy Report of 2006 describes an increased 
level of exploitation of the remote and poorly secured 
2,200-kilometer border separating Venezuela and Colom-
bia; 
Whereas the Department of State’s International Narcotics 
Control Strategy Report of 2006 reports that Colombian 
cartels and Venezuelan criminal organizations (among 
other smugglers) routinely exploit a variety of routes and 
methods to move hundreds of tons of illegal drugs into 
Venezuela every year, and organized crime in Venezuela 
has begun to set up operations in foreign countries to re-
ceive and distribute drugs in addition to providing trans-
portation services; 
Whereas in September 2005, the Government of the United 
States determined that Venezuela had failed demon-
strably to meet its counternarcotics obligations and that 
Venezuela could no longer be certified as an ally in the 
war on drugs; 
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Whereas on April 11, 2006, a commercial plane originating 
in Venezuela was seized in Mexico at the airport of Ciu-
dad del Carmen, carrying 5.6 tons of cocaine with an es-
timated street value of $100 million; 
Whereas seizure statistics at the Simon Bolivar International 
Airport in Caracas are not available because the Govern-
ment of Venezuela does not publicize such statistics; 
Whereas estimates indicate that as much as 90 percent of the 
cocaine and heroin trafficked through the Simon Bolivar 
International Airport over the last 12 months was not 
intercepted; 
Whereas the Government of Venezuela continues to fail to ef-
fectively utilize several airport security systems provided 
by the United States specifically aimed at increasing the 
Simon Bolivar International Airport counternarcotics ca-
pabilities; 
Whereas the Government of Venezuela has not taken any 
steps unilaterally to prosecute any corrupt airport offi-
cials relating to cases of money laundering or drug traf-
ficking at the airport despite credible intelligence esti-
mates that there is potentially millions of dollars in nar-
cotics proceeds passing through Simon Bolivar Inter-
national Airport and Venezuela; and 
Whereas the Government of Venezuela and the Venezuela 
National Anti-Drug Office (ONA) have officially reported 
only two seizures of currency in 2006, one for $13,865 
in United States currency and the other for 7,000 euros: 
Now, therefore, be it 
Resolved by the House of Representatives (the Senate 
concurring), That— 
(1) Congress— 
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(A) strongly condemns the actions and in-
actions of the Government of the Bolivarian Re-
public of Venezuela which have created fertile 
ground for criminal drug trafficking organiza-
tions; 
(B) strongly condemns the failures on the 
part of the Government of Venezuela to stem 
the flow of narcotics through its territory; and 
(C) strongly condemns the complicity of 
senior Venezuelan Government law enforcement 
officials and transportation officials who are ef-
fectively enabling large scale shipments of both 
cocaine and heroine at the Simon Bolivar Inter-
national Airport and other transit points; and 
(2) it is the sense of Congress that— 
(A) it should continue to be the policy of 
the United States to support cooperation be-
tween Venezuela and partners in the Andean 
region to combat trafficking in narcotics and 
other controlled substances; 
(B) steps should continue to be taken to 
restore cooperation between Venezuela and the 
United States Drug Enforcement Administra-
tion; 
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(C) it should continue to be the policy of 
the United States to work with the inter-
national community, including the Organization 
of American States (OAS), to assist with a 
thorough review of the measures in place at the 
Simon Bolivar International Airport in Caracas; 
(D) it should continue to be the policy of 
the United States to work with other member 
states of OAS to bring Venezuela into compli-
ance and fully adhere to OAS conventions and 
comprehensive treaties to prevent, punish, and 
eliminate narco-terrorism, which constitutes ‘‘a 
serious threat to democratic values and to inter-
national peace and security’’; 
(E) the Secretary of Transportation should 
provide to Congress not later than 180 days 
after the date of the adoption of this resolution, 
on behalf of the Department of State, Depart-
ment of Homeland Security, Department of 
Justice, and the Department of Transportation, 
a report with an assessment of the process un-
dertaken by the Government of Venezuela to-
ward restoring airport security measures and 
controls that meet international standards of 
safety; and 
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(F) the Secretary of State should provide 
to Congress not later than 180 days after the 
date of the adoption of this resolution a report 
on Venezuela’s compliance with its responsibil-
ities under international counternarcotics trea-
ties. 
Æ 
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