Transcript Drug trafficking article PPx

Latin American Drug
Trafficking
1. Why is this such a problem in Latin America?
2. Why is the United States so concerned about it?
3. What things are being done to fight against drug cartels/organizations?
Drug Trafficking Vocabulary
• Illicit drugs: “illegal” drugs
• Trafficking: movement and selling of illicit drugs
• DTO: Drug Trafficking Organization
• FTO: Foreign Terrorist Organization
• Cultivation: Growing of crops
• Cartel: an organization designed to illegally traffic drugs
This is a WORLDWIDE
problem!!!
5 Reasons for Drug Trafficking in Latin
America
1. Only area in the world where coca and cocaine can be cultivated
produced
2. Located close to the United States (#1 market to sell drugs)
3. High levels of poverty in Latin America. Farmers don’t have much
choice but to grow drug-producing crops
4. Poorly organized government/law enforcement systems
5. Physical geography makes it hard to track what goes in and what
comes out of these countries
4 “links” of the ‘Drug Supply Chain’
1. The “links”
1. Crop cultivation (growing of drug plants/crops)
1.
2.
Coca bush, Opium poppy, Cannabis, Methamphetamine
Cocaine and Opiates are the 2 major drug crops in Latin America
2. Drug production
1.
Chemicals are purchased to produce the drugs (4 largest buyers of these chemicals in
the world are all Latin American countries)
3. Drug trafficking (movement and selling of drugs around the world)
1.
90% of all cocaine in the United States comes through Mexico
4. Drug consumption
1.
Not too much in Latin America, but in the United States and Europe ($)
3 types of “zones”
a. Source
b. Transit
c. Arrival
What is the United States doing to stop this?
• Plan Colombia
• 1999 plan focused on making Colombia a more democratic and safe place
• US gave over $7 Billion in aid to train more law enforcement and strengthen
the military
• Has been very effective in weakening drug cartels in Colombia
• Merida Initiative
• Signed in 2006 (President Obama and President Calderon of Mexico)
• $1.3 Billion in aid to Mexico to strengthen law enforcement and the Mexican
court system
• Has been moderately effective in combatting drug cartels in Mexico
“Cartel Crackdown”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TY3vQB8bBCM&index=10&list=ELHYisRCYo7L0