Bush DEA designates Venezuela a major drug-transit country after Chavez expels agency

The Bush administration designated Venezuela a "major drug transit or illicit drug producing country" under the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, the first formal federal finding that Chavez's government had failed to meet counternarcotics obligations. The designation followed Chavez's expulsion of DEA agents from Venezuela in August 2005, citing alleged espionage. The finding triggered potential cuts to non-humanitarian U.S. assistance and set the legal predicate for two decades of enforcement escalation.