U.S. anti-drug officials say that corrupt military leaders and others in Venezuela are working with Colombian drug cartels to smuggle cocaine into the U.S., the Washington Post reported Oct. 27.

No cocaine is cultivated in Venezuela, but about 220 tons of the drug are funneled through the country each year, bound for the U.S. and Europe, experts said. The Bush administration has treated the government of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as a pariah, meaning there has been little cooperation between the governments to stop the flow of drugs. "The problem of drugs has gotten out of the hands of Venezuela," said Mildred Camero, a former drug czar for Chavez. "Now the situation in Venezuela is grave, grave, grave. At some moment, we're going to collapse."

Venezuelan Attorney General Isaias Rodriguez acknowledged some problems but said progress is being made, with investigations and firings of allegedly corrupt officials.

"In the DISIP, which is the intelligence police, and undoubtedly in some sectors of the National Guard, there is complacency or participation in drug trafficking," Rodriguez said. "And not just them, but civil officials at airports ... Before, there was no control. That's why we think it's absurd and absolutely unjust the declarations that the Bush administration makes at this moment."