Transcript The Drug Trade

Latin America Drug
Trafficking
By: Brian, Caleb, Jim, Matt, & Tim
Introduction:
• Cocaine
• Heroin
• Marijuana
• Cartels (drug dealers and producers)
• War on drugs
• Agencies that deal with drugs
Associated with drugs
• Drugs are not the only thing that is involved with drug trafficking.
• Prostitution
• Gun running
• Slavery - sex trafficking- slave trade (workers, growers and people
who make the drugs could be part of this slave trade)
• Murder
Effects of illegal drugs
• Illegal drugs such as cocaine, heroin, and marijuana mess with people
more than just getting them high
• The drugs can make people turn to violence and even murder just so
they can get their next fix.
• People who resort to such means usually start with small break-ins
and petty theft to sell those items they took for the drug of their
choice
Mid
th
20
century – present
• President Nixon starts his “War on drugs” that continued for nearly
four decades.
• President Obama revamped the war on drugs and said it is no longer
a war rather it needs to be looked at as a disease rather than
something that people can control.
• Illegal drugs hit hard on the streets of the United States which causes
all sorts of chaos and criminal behavior
• 1973 the DEA (Drug Enforcement Agency) was formed to combat the
illegal drug trade.
Mid
th
20
century – present cont.
• Since the 1970’s a majority of drugs are coming from Latin America,
Columbia, Bolivia, and Cuba are a few of the main suppliers of illegal
drugs.
• Columbia is one of the biggest problems when dealing with drugs,
especially cocaine.
• Bolivia has a third of the worlds coca leaves on the East part of the
Andes mountains.
• Cuba allows these countries to bring in drugs and supplies the cartels
with soldiers for protection.
Columbia
• Harrison tax act of 1914 really is where it all began
• It was not until after Columbia based its drug prohibitions on the
United States Harrison Narcotics Act of 1914 that the drug "trade"
really began. At that point it was just opiates and cocaine that were
banned but in 1937 the U.S. added marijuana along with tobacco and
alcohol with Columbia following suit.
• Finally, between 1964 and 1968 the U.S. and Columbia added a
variety of stimulants, depressants, and hallucinogenics.
Columbia cont.
• With jungle cocaine produced at approximately $1500 per kilo and
the U.S. street value at over $50,000 per kilo there were massive
profits to be made
• Cartels maintained the ability to have such large profits at low cost to
produce drugs with brutality and force. People were scared that if
they crossed the cartels they would end up dead.
• Farmers forced to grow for cartels
• Cartels sometimes controlled the governments of the countries they
are from
Columbia cont.
• The Columbian government has arguably been one of the most
aggressive and steadfast nations in the "War on Drugs". It acted more
aggressively than almost any other signatory of the 1988 Vienna
Convention against drug trafficking. How? They included chemicals
and precursor agents on their list of nationally controlled substances.
• The Columbian government has also lobbied for additional aid from
the U.S. citing the continuously improving efficiency of their
programs.
Columbia cont.
• Columbian perseverance against the drug trade has not come easy
• Violent crime though has now been reduced by half with a homicide
rate lower than Honduras, Jamaica, Guatemala and Trinidad Tobago.
•
The United States and some European countries have been
steadfast in their financial, political and military support of Columbia's
fight against drugs.
• This Military/Police and Economic/Social aid has increased from
$55M to $780M from 1996 to 2006. While we have helped stem the
production we have done very little to reduce demand. Still the
largest user of illegal drugs in the world, 1 in 6 Americans claiming
they've used cocaine once in their life.
Bolivia
• Bolivia holds one third of the worlds coca plants on the Eastern side
of the Andes mountain range.
• Known for many cartel leaders stemming from Bolivia to head
towards Columbia and other countries that deal with illegal drug
trafficking.
• Bolivia is not only known for its drugs but it is known for being the
only country in the world with two capital cities.
• La Paz houses the executive branch of the government and Sucre
houses the Judiciary branch of the government.
Bolivia cont.
• Most of the cocaine that comes from Bolivia is from an area known as
Chapare.
• The Chapare is the place where 1/3 of the coca plants in the world
are found.
• Leaves from the plants are taken by farmers and turned into paste
and sold in the markets. Eventually the paste would be sold to the
drug dealers who would use ether to make the cocaine into a powder
form.
• Drug dealers would then start transporting the drugs to Europe and
North America to start making the big bucks.
Bolivia cont.
• 1998 the U.S. finally interveined with an all out force comprised of
DEA, ATF, and military forces to take out the Chapare area and clean
them of the plants.
• Efforts failed when the multiple government strike force realized that
they had missed over 15,000 acres of coca plants and they blamed it
on a “satellite error”
Bolivia cont.
• Roberto Suarez Gomez, Bolivian drug trafficker who tried to pay off
Bolivia’s entire foreign debt to the U.S. for the release of his son from
jail
• Known as the Robin Hood of drug dealers. He received this name
because the people around him loved him and he took care of them
and provided for the people what the government could not or would
not provide.
• Lived the rest of his life in peace at his villa. Friends with Escobar and
other well known drug dealers.
Cuba
• Cuba and the drug trade of the Caribbean and Central America.
• Provides weapons and soldiers to drug cartels for their protection
• Embargoed by the U.S. maybe a reason for extra help to the other
countries.
• Allows Columbia to use the airspace and waterways to transport
drugs to the United States for the right price.
Cuba cont.
• Mob owned businesses and other forms of commodities as you
would want to call them for the criminal type, use boats and small
aircraft to ship drugs from Cuba to the United States.
• Perfect area for drug dealers because of the location being only
ninety miles off the coast of Florida.
• Charles “Lucky” Luciano is the main mobster that controls the boats
and routs for drugs to be smuggled into the United States.
Cuba cont.
• The mob sets up transit systems to bring drugs from Columbia to
Cuba where it would further process and then ship the drugs to the
United States by boat or by private airplane to their consumers.
• Cartels are using enforcers to protect their investments with extreme
violence and are paid well to do so.
• Though officially the Cuban government denies that it has ever
accepted a drug deal from the cartels but there has been many
implications that Castro has personally profited from the drug trade
even to the point of setting up peace talks and broker a deal between
the Medellin Cartel and General Noriega.
Cuba cont.
• Cuba claims that it is not their fault that the drugs get past them
rather it is the fault of the United States’ fault because of the high
demand for drug consumption on a yearly basis. 260 tons of cocaine
and 13.3 tons of heroin every year (Moreno, 2004)
• In recent years the Columbian cartels have been replacing the middle
level dealers and higher up dealers with Columbian nationals which
have led to more violence for territory and a cut of the drug profits on
top of the already violent dispute between the drug cartels.
• With such a high lucrative business for the Cuban officials there is no
real end in sight and even the war on drugs seems to have little effect
on the drug trade and arms from the Columbian cartels and the
corrupt Cuban government.
War on Drugs
• United States president Richard Nixon declared a War on drugs in
1971.
• United States Southern Command of the department of defense
spearheaded operations to combat drug trafficking in Latin America.
• United States trains government agencies in Latin America such as
México's Federal police or the Bolivian National Police Corps force to
combat drug cartel.
• United States provides non-lethal aid (vehicles, communication
devices, body armor, ect…) to countries all across Latin America every
year. Columbia is a major focus.
War on Drugs cont.
• In Mexico, over 3,000 police officers and soldiers have been killed since 2006
• United States led effort has used controversial herbicide distributed by airplanes
to kill coca plants in Latin American countries such as Columbia. Herbicide has
destroyed crucial crops for food and displaced local population.
• Prisons in Latin America filled to capacity from inmates with drug related charges
• In Latin America, 48% of jailed women are in for drug-trafficking charges,
compared with only 15% of men.
• Many Latin American countries believe that War on drugs has become far to
expensive and has failed to yield enough positive results.
• Some Latin American countries are pushing legislation to decriminalize
possession of some narcotics. Guatemalan president Otto Perez Monlina have
attempted such legislation.
Conclusion
• Crime, poverty, and violence linked to drug use.
• Latin America has been and remains large producer of narcotics.
• Some success to combat drug trafficking in Columbia.
• Roberto Suarez Gomez becomes folk hero among Bolivians from drug
trafficking.
• War on drugs has produced mixed results.
• Drug Reform is being pushed in some Latin American countries.