109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 400
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 
Expressing the sense of Congress that the Govern-
ment of Venezuela should actively support strate-
gies for ensuring secure airport facilities that 
meet international certifications to prevent traf-
ficking of controlled substances, narcotics, and 
laundered money.
109TH CONGRESS 
2D SESSION 
H. CON. RES. 400
CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
Whereas the United States is strongly committed to working 
with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that 
have a shared interest in promoting regional stability; 
Whereas the United States is strongly committed to working 
with countries in Latin America and the Caribbean that 
are combating the scourge of drugs and the violence and 
social degradation caused by narcotics trafficking;
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Whereas the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela is a party to 
the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in 
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (1988 UN 
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 reports that Colombian 
cartels, guerrilla groups, and paramilitary organizations 
and Venezuelan criminal organizations (among other 
smugglers) routinely exploit a variety of routes and meth-
ods to move hundreds of tons of illegal drugs into Ven-
ezuela every year, and organized crime in Venezuela has 
begun to set up operations in foreign countries to receive 
and distribute drugs in addition to providing transpor-
tation 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; 
Whereas the promulgation by Venezuela of two new laws in 
October 2005, the ‘‘Law against Organized Crime’’ and 
the ‘‘Law against the Trafficking and Consumption of 
Narcotics and Psychotropic Substances’’, brought Ven-
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ezuelan law into compliance with the 1988 UN Drug 
Convention; however, it is not certain, according to the 
Department of State, whether Venezuela’s political and 
judicial institutions are up to the task of vigorous and 
impartial implementation of such new laws; 
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
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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—
(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 illicit 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 heroin 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;
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(B) steps should continue to be taken to 
restore bilateral law enforcement cooperation 
between Venezuela and the United States Drug 
Enforcement Administration; 
(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-