Illegal drug trade in Latin America

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Bricks of cocaine, a form in which it is commonly transported. Drugpackscorpion.png
Bricks of cocaine, a form in which it is commonly transported.
A fully operational submarine built for the primary purpose of transporting multi-ton quantities of cocaine located near a tributary close to the Ecuador/Colombia border that was seized by the Ecuador Anti-Narcotics Police Forces and Ecuador Military authorities with the assistance of the DEA. Narco submarine seized in Ecuador 2010-07-02 1.jpg
A fully operational submarine built for the primary purpose of transporting multi-ton quantities of cocaine located near a tributary close to the Ecuador/Colombia border that was seized by the Ecuador Anti-Narcotics Police Forces and Ecuador Military authorities with the assistance of the DEA.

The illegal drug trade in Latin America concerns primarily the production and sale of cocaine and cannabis, including the export of these banned substances to the United States and Europe. The coca cultivation is concentrated in the Andes of South America, particularly in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia; this is the world's only source region for coca. [1]

Contents

Drug consumption in Latin America remains relatively low, but cocaine in particular has increased in recent years in countries along the major smuggling routes. [1] As of 2008, the primary pathway for drugs into the United States is through Mexico and Central America, though crackdowns on drug trafficking by the Mexican government has forced many cartels to operate routes through Guatemala and Honduras instead. [2] This is a shift from the 1980s and early 90s, when the main smuggling route was via the Caribbean into Florida. [1] The United States is the primary destination, but around 25 to 30% of global cocaine production travels from Latin America to Europe, typically via West Africa. [1]

The major drug trafficking organizations (drug cartels) are Mexican and Colombian, and said to generate a total of $18 to $39bn in wholesale drug proceeds per year. [1] Mexican cartels are currently considered the "greatest organized crime threat" to the United States. [1] Since February 2010, the major Mexican cartels have again aligned in two factions, one integrated by the Juárez Cartel, Tijuana Cartel, Los Zetas and the Beltrán-Leyva Cartel; the other faction integrated by the Gulf Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel and La Familia Cartel. [3]

Prior to the Mexican cartels' rise, the Colombian Cali cartel and Medellín cartel dominated in the late 1980s and early 90s. [1] Following their demise, the Norte del Valle cartel has filled the Colombian vacuum, along with rightwing paramilitaries (e.g. United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, AUC) and leftwing insurgent groups (FARC, ELN). [1]

As a result of the concentration of drug trafficking, Latin America and the Caribbean has the world's highest crime rates, with murder reaching 32.6 per 100,000 of population in 2008. [1] Violence has surged in Mexico since 2006 when Mexican President Felipe Calderón intensified the Mexican Drug War. [1]

United States and Latin American drug control

Since 2008, the U.S. Congress has supported the Central American Regional Security Initiative (CARSI) with approximately $800 million [4] to "fund programs for narcotics interdiction, strengthening law enforcement and justice institutions and violence prevention through work with at-risk youth". [2] The CARSI offers equipment (vehicles and communication equipment), technical support and guidance to counter drug trade. [4] The program also supports special units that cooperate with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration in Guatemala and Honduras to investigate drug cartels, share intelligence, and promote regional collaboration. [2]

Colombia

For more than ten years, the U.S. has been funding Plan Colombia, which aims to combat illegal drugs production in the country, especially the growing of coca, the plant from which cocaine is produced. Former President Obama's top drug policy adviser, R. Gil Kerlikowske, announced a drug plan in May 2010 emphasizing prevention and treatment in the United States. [5]

Peru

The administration has left financing for eradication projects in the Andes largely unchanged, despite debate over whether such efforts can sharply restrict the supply of cocaine or significantly increase the price in the United States in the long run. American anti-narcotics aid for Peru stands at $71.7 million this year, slightly higher than last year's $70.7 million. [5] American anti-narcotics officials operate from a newly expanded Peruvian police base in Tingo María, overseeing Peruvian teams that fan out to nearby valleys to cut down coca bushes by hand.

Guatemala

The U.S. has worked with Guatemalan authorities to clamp down on South American cocaine routes, many of which use Guatemala as a landing zone. [2] In October 2013, the US supplied six twin-engine "Super Huey" helicopters to Guatemala in an effort to halt illegal air traffic. [2]

Mexico

Mexico is estimated to be the world's third largest producer of opium with poppy cultivation. It also is a major supplier of heroin and the largest foreign supplier of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine to the U.S. market. [6] [7] These drugs are supplied by Drug Trafficking Organizations (DTOs). The U.S. government estimates that Mexican DTOs gain tens of billions of dollars each year from drug sales in the U.S. alone. [8]

DTOs are continually battling for control of territory in Mexico used for the cultivation, importation and transportation of illicit drugs. [9] The U.S. government considers groups affiliated with DTOs a significant threat to the safety within the U.S. [7] The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) enforces 'the controlled substances laws and regulations of the US and pursues organizations and members involved in the growing, manufacture, or distribution of controlled substances appearing in or destined for illicit traffic in the U.S.'. [10] The Mexican DTOs that pose the biggest threat to the US, according to the DEA, are the Sinaloa Cartel, Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Juarez Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Los Zetas Cartel and the Beltran-Leyva Organization. [9]

In 2007, the U.S. launched the Merida initiative, a bilateral partnership that supports Mexico's law enforcement, helps to counteract the illegal trade in narcotics and strengthens border security. The four main focuses of this initiative are 'disrupting organized criminal groups; institutionalizing the rule of law; creating a 21st-century border, and building strong and resilient communities'. [11] More recently, the initiative focused on improving security around Mexico's southern border and countering the production and trafficking of heroin and fentanyl. Until March 2017, more than $1.6bn has been invested in the Merida initiative, [11] of which almost $900,000 was spent on protective equipment necessary for the secured demolishing of narcotic labs. [12]

In Mexico, the DEA combats operations of DTOs by conducting bilateral investigations with foreign counterparts, providing investigative assistance and leads to DEA domestic offices and other agencies, providing training and technical equipment to 'host nation participants to initiate and carry out complex criminal investigations, providing assistance in developing drug control laws and regulations, and providing training and material support to foreign law enforcement counterparts'. [13]

Puerto Rico

See: Illegal drugs in Puerto Rico

Legalization debate

Latin American leaders, including the presidents of Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico, have called for debate about legalizing and regulating aspects of drug production, trade or use. Some Latin leaders are discussing the need to experiment further with decriminalizing possession of drugs. Lawmakers are also proposing to scrap jail terms for growing coca and cannabis. As some Latin American leaders call for legalization of narcotics, Peru, a leading coca grower, remains opposed. [14]

Drugs and government corruption

A Brazilian cocaine production site in the Amazon rainforest. ABr laboratorio cocaina amazonia - Valter Campanato.jpg
A Brazilian cocaine production site in the Amazon rainforest.

Several Latin American and Caribbean countries have at times seen governments actively involved in the illegal drug trade in the 1970s and 1980s.[ citation needed ] 1978 and 1980 saw "cocaine coups" in Honduras and Bolivia which brought such governments to power (see illegal drug trade in Honduras and illegal drug trade in Bolivia). In Panama, Manuel Noriega, a long-term drug trafficker, was head of the military from 1983 to 1989, with CIA support.

The Colombian parapolitics scandal revealed links between parts of the Colombian establishment and the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), a paramilitary group responsible for killing tens of thousands of Colombian civilians, which controls over 75% of the Colombian cocaine trade. The illegal drug trade in Peru was until 2000 shaped by Vladimiro Montesinos's involvement; [15] he had been head of the country's intelligence service since 1990.

In 2010 it was alleged that the Mexican Sinaloa cartel had used bribery to co-opt the federal government and focus the government's anti-drug efforts on its competitors. [16] According to Peter Dale Scott, "The Guadalajara Cartel, Mexico's most powerful drug-trafficking network in the early 1980s, prospered largely because it enjoyed the protection of the DFS, under its chief Miguel Nazar Haro, a CIA asset." [17]

See also

Related Research Articles

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Narcoterrorism, in its original context, is understood to refer to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation, and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws by the systematic threat or use of such violence. As with most definitions of terrorism, it typically only refers to non-state actors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coca eradication</span> Strategy of the War on Drugs in which crops of the source plant for cocaine are destroyed

Coca eradication is a strategy promoted by the United States government starting in 1961 as part of its "War on Drugs" to eliminate the cultivation of coca, a plant whose leaves are not only traditionally used by indigenous cultures but also, in modern society, in the manufacture of cocaine. The strategy was adopted in place of running educational campaigns against drug usage. The prohibitionist strategy is being pursued in the coca-growing regions of Colombia, Peru, and formerly Bolivia, where it is highly controversial because of its environmental, health and socioeconomic impact. Furthermore, indigenous cultures living in the Altiplano, such as the Aymaras, use the coca leaf in many of their cultural traditions, notably for its medicinal qualities in alleviating the feeling of hunger, fatigue and headaches symptomatic of altitude sicknesses. The growers of coca are named Cocaleros and part of the coca production for traditional use is legal in Peru, Bolivia and Chile.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada</span> Mexican suspected drug lord and leader of the Sinaloa Cartel

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Narco-state is a political and economic term applied to countries where all legitimate institutions become penetrated by the power and wealth of the illegal drug trade. The term was first used to describe Bolivia following the 1980 coup of Luis García Meza which was seen to be primarily financed with the help of narcotics traffickers. Other well-known examples are Honduras, Guinea-Bissau, Mexico, Myanmar and Syria, where drug cartels produce, ship and sell drugs such as captagon, cocaine, heroin and marijuana.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">War on drugs</span> Campaign of drug prohibition led by the US government

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Operation Snowcap (1987–1995), launched in the spring of 1987, was a counter-narcotics operation conducted by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), BORTAC and military/police forces in nine Latin American countries. Operation Snowcap followed Operation Blast Furnace, a four month operation that started in July 1986, which deployed 160 Army personnel and six Blackhawk helicopters to assist Bolivia in operations against cocaine laboratories in the Beni and Santa Cruz regions of Bolivia. At an annual cost to the DEA of $80 million, and involving approximately 140 agents at its onset, Snowcap was the largest counter-narcotics operation that had been launched in Latin America. The U.S. Department of Defense leased 6 UH-1 Huey helicopters, and provided flight training to Bolivian air force pilots and Special Forces training for UMOPAR and DEA agents. Operation Snowcap recruited U.S. Army infantry officers attending the Army Infantry Officer's advanced course in the late 1980s. Senior lieutenants and captains attending the course were given classified briefings attempting to recruit them from the Army to participate for operations in Bolivia and Peru.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Illegal drug trade in Colombia</span> Colombian sale and distribution of illegal narcotics

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mérida Initiative</span> Security cooperation agreement

The Mérida Initiative is a security cooperation agreement among the United States, the government of Mexico and the countries of Central America, with the declared aim of combating the threats of drug trafficking, transnational organized crime and money laundering. The assistance includes training, equipment and intelligence.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sinaloa Cartel</span> Transnational drug-trafficking organization

The Sinaloa Cartel, also known as the Guzmán-Zambada Organization, the Federation the Blood Alliance, or the Pacific Cartel, is a large, international organized crime syndicate that specializes in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering. It was established in Mexico during the late 1980s as one of a various number of subordinate "plazas" operating under a predecessor organization known as the Guadalajara Cartel. It is currently headed by Ismael Zambada García and is based in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, with operations in many world regions but primarily in the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Baja California, Durango, Sonora, and Chihuahua. and presence in a number of other regions in Latin America as well as in cities across the U.S. The United States Intelligence Community generally considers the Sinaloa Cartel to be the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world, making it perhaps even more influential and capable than Pablo Escobar's infamous Medellín Cartel of Colombia was during its prime. According to the National Drug Intelligence Center and other sources within the U.S. the Sinaloa Cartel is primarily involved in the distribution of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, cannabis and MDMA.

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A drug lord, drug baron, kingpin, lord of drugs, or narcotrafficker is a type of crime boss, who is in charge of a drug-trafficking network, organization, or enterprise.

Narcotics in Bolivia, South America, is a subject that primarily involves the coca crop, used in the production of the drug, cocaine. Trafficking and corruption have been two of the most prominent negative side-effects of the illicit narcotics trade in Bolivia and the country's government has engaged in negotiations with the United States (US) as result of the industry's ramifications.

Illegal drug trade in Venezuela is the practice of illegal drug trading in Venezuela. Venezuela has been a path to the United States for cocaine originating in Colombia, through Central America and Mexico and Caribbean countries such as Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. In the 2010s, Venezuela also gradually became a major producer of cocaine.

The illegal drug trade in Guatemala includes trans-shipment of cocaine to the United States. According to some reports, Mexican drug cartels such as Sinaloa have also established poppy growing operations there. There is a reported relationship between the Mexican Los Zetas cartel and the Guatemalan Kaibiles military force.

Drug trafficking organizations are defined by the United States Department of Justice as, "complex organizations with highly defined command-and-control structures that produce, transport, and/or distribute large quantity "Law enforcement reporting indicates that Mexican DTOs maintain drug distribution networks, or supply drugs to distributors, in at least 230 U.S. cities." The use of weapons and fear are commonplace in trafficking which often lead to other crimes in the process. The structures of many of these organizations are of a para-military nature using armed combatants to protect their stock of illegal drugs from growth to delivery.

Organized crimes in Peru refers to the transnational, national, and local groupings of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals who engage in illegal activity in the country, including drug trafficking organizations, terrorism, and attempted murder.

References

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  3. ROEBUCK, JEREMY (March 9, 2010). "Violence the result of fractured arrangement between Zetas and Gulf Cartel, authorities say". The Brownsville Herald. Archived from the original on 2010-03-13. Retrieved 2010-03-12.
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  5. 1 2 Romero, Simon (14 June 2010). "Coca Production Makes a Comeback in Peru". New York Times.
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  11. 1 2 Ribando Seelke & Finklea, Clare & Kristin. "U.S. - Mexican Security Cooperation: The Mérida Initiative and Beyond" (PDF). fas.org.
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  13. "DEA / North and Central America". www.dea.gov. Retrieved 2018-01-27.
  14. Leff, Alex. "Latin America's Drug War Evolution".
  15. "Former Drug Lord Rips Peru's Fujimoris as He's Released From Prison". VOA News. 13 January 2016.
  16. Lacey, Marc (2010-05-11). "Mexican Drug Cartel Documents Show Ties to Police". The New York Times. ISSN   0362-4331 . Retrieved 2018-01-21.
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