LatinNews Daily - 19 May 2011

Colombia: During a visit to Colombia, US national drug control policy director John P Walters told the local press that he hoped for better cooperation with Venezuela in the fight against drug-trafficking.
Accompanied by the outgoing administrator of the US Drug Enforcement Administration, Karen Tandy he met Colombia's President Alvaro Uribe, Defence Minister Juan Manuel Santos and police chief, Oscar Naranjo to discuss developments in the fight against drugs.
Walters said the US-backed campaign and more cooperation between Colombia and Mexico had disrupted the flow of cocaine sufficiently to push up prices by 44% - one sign of scarce supply. He said the jump was accompanied by a 15 percent decline in the average purity of cocaine, another key indicator of supply.
Santos added that in 2007, the authorities had confiscated 92 tonnes of cocaine and 328 of heroin.
Nevertheless, drug policy analysts have questioned Walters positive appraisal with a drug intelligence report recently released by the Justice Department suggesting that since July, prices have started to fall.