Caracas.– Suspected drug flights from Venezuela to the Caribbean island of Hispaniola rose 44% over the first three months of the year, U.S. officials say, a surge in activity that comes as Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has expressed a willingness to resume anti-drug cooperation with Washington.

Despite the possible rapprochement with Chavez three years after the leftist leader suspended anti-drug ties, U.S. counter-narcotics officials in Venezuela and the Caribbean say they see no sign of cooperation or of reduced traffic.

"Many people here want to cooperate, but this being an autocracy, no one is going to reach out until the big guy does something," said one U.S. government source who asked not to be identified because of the sensitivity of the issue. "We're not seeing anything on the narco side except words."

Venezuelan anti-drug czar Nestor Reverol announced that a new radar system purchased from China will soon be in place to monitor illegal air traffic. Questioned by a reporter Monday about concrete steps Venezuela will take to increase cooperation, Reverol said he was awaiting instructions from Chavez.

The suspected drug flight figures were provided by U.S. counter-narcotics officials in Puerto Rico who based them on the tracking of unauthorized air traffic from the Venezuelan-Colombian border area to the island, which comprises Haiti and the Dominican Republic.