CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuela reported yesterday  60 tonnes of drugs were confiscated in 2009, an 11 per cent  bigger haul than the previous year, and said anti-narcotics  efforts had improved since it ended cooperation with the United  States.

The South American nation is a major transit country for  Colombian cocaine to Europe and, to a lesser extent, the United  States. Cocaine and marijuana accounted for nearly all of  Venezuela’s drug confiscations in 2009.

Accused by critics of leniency in the drug fight and  collusion with Colombian rebels who depend on smuggling for  financing, the government of President Hugo Chavez counters  that it has stepped up interdiction notably in             recent years. “The 2009 figure shows the government’s  performance in  battling drugs, and makes Venezuela one of the most effective  countries in this respect,” state news agency ABN said.

Amid deteriorating bilateral relations, Chavez stopped  cooperation with the US Drug Enforcement Agency in 2005.

Venezuela’s National Drugs Office head Nestor Reverol said  the higher levels of drugs’ confiscation and destruction since  then “shows the US government had a policy of obstruction, to  prevent the reduction of this social ill.”

Washington’s leading critic in Latin America, Chavez  frequently says consumption in the United States and Europe is  the main factor driving the illegal drug trade.

According to the drug office’s latest statistical  breakdown, between Jan. 1 and Dec. 24 of 2009, cocaine  accounted for 27.5 tonnes or 45.9 per cent of the drugs  captured, while marijuana was 32.2 tonnes or 53.8 per cent.

In 2008, the cocaine haul was 33.6 tonnes or 61.5 per cent  of the total, and marijuana 20.7 tonnes or 37.9 per cent. In November, a US official said the problem of drug  smuggling through Venezuela had grown worse since Chavez ended  cooperation with the United States.

Most of the Colombian cocaine smuggled out of South America  by air for the US market was moved through Venezuela, said  David Johnson, the assistant secretary of state who heads the  US Bureau of Inter-national Narcotics and Law Enforcement  Affairs.