In early September 2016, the U.S. Coast Guard seized a self-propelled semi-submersible vessel sailing in the waters off Central America. Approximately 2.5 tons of cocaine were confiscated in the incident, estimated to be worth $73 million (about 8.3 billion yen). Similar cases occur frequently; between October 2015 and October 2016, a total of about 190 tons of cocaine (worth $5.6 billion) were interdicted at sea.

The submarines used in this string of smuggling operations, also known as narco-submarines, have been actively operated since the 1990s by South American drug cartels (Note 1) seeking new ways to smuggle narcotics. Hard to detect by patrol ship radar, small, and with construction costs easily covered by the profits from successful runs, this groundbreaking transport system is said to still be bringing large quantities of cocaine into the United States. Many readers may be surprised that cartels use submarines to smuggle drugs. However, in reality they engage in smuggling crimes backed by abundant funds and technical expertise.

Narco-submarine seized in Ecuador (Photo: US Drug Enforcement Administration)

Events like these are only one small part of the drug-smuggling network that spans the Americas. So what exactly is unfolding across the continent around narcotics today? Below, after explaining some basic facts about drugs, we give a broad overview of how drug smuggling in the Americas is carried out and who is involved along the way.

First, some basic knowledge about narcotics. According to Kojien (6th ed., 2008), narcotics are “a general term for substances with anesthetic effects that, when habitually used, lead to dependence and symptoms of intoxication, such as opium, morphine, and cocaine.” In reality, however, narcotics do not fit neatly within this definition. On the one hand, drugs such as morphine are used in medical settings for their anesthetic and analgesic effects. On the other hand, drugs such as cocaine and LSD are known to trigger serious social problems, including severe withdrawal symptoms and fatal overdoses. In other words, depending on the purpose of use, narcotics can function as both “medicine” and “poison,” embodying a dual nature. What is generally prohibited by law around the world is the use of narcotics as “poison,” while narcotics as “medicine” are also subject to strict legal oversight. As a result, for ordinary individuals to obtain narcotics, distribution and sales channels run by illegal organizations are inevitably required. From this, it is easy to understand why drug smuggling is carried out by cartels.

Coca leaves cultivated in the Andes (Photo: amadeustx / Shutterstock.com)

Currently in the Americas, the three Andean countries (Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia) produce cocaine (Note 2), and Mexico produces heroin (Note 3). The cultivated drugs are processed and transported by smuggling organizations known as cartels and flow into the United States, which has a large number of consumers. How, specifically, do these drugs trace the continent and make their way into the U.S.? Below, we focus on cocaine—the principal drug circulating in the Americas (Note 4).

In the Americas, cocaine flows from south to north (Note 5). The routes are broadly divided into two: one smuggles from Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia via the Caribbean to Florida; the other moves through Central and South America and crosses the U.S.–Mexico border.

Based on opioid and cocaine production/trafficking routes from UNDOC data

Up through the 1980s, Colombian drug cartels primarily used the Caribbean route. This was because transporting the 1,500 km distance from Colombia’s northern coast to Florida by airplane was relatively easy. However, after the anti-drug campaign launched by U.S. President Ronald Reagan in 1982, smuggling into Florida became extremely difficult. Stymied, the cartels shifted to overland transport using Mexico as a waypoint, where the risk of seizure was lower, and began crossing the U.S.–Mexico border. The U.S.–Mexico border stretches 3,141 km. Along it lie the Rio Grande, the deserts of Arizona, and border cities. Moreover, with hundreds of millions of crossings annually, completely preventing drug smuggling along this border is exceedingly difficult. For these reasons, the route smuggling from Colombia through Mexico into the United States became established. Today, most drug smuggling uses this U.S.–Mexico border route rather than the Caribbean route; it is said that 90 percent of the cocaine circulating in the U.S. transits Mexico.

The methods of smuggling are also diverse. From Colombia to Mexico, drugs are transported by ship, submarine, and aircraft. There are also routes that offload cargo in Honduras or Guatemala first and then head to Mexico. These areas are easily used as transshipment points because central governments are weak and the police lack the power to crack down on cartels. From Mexico into the United States, drugs are traditionally concealed in modified trucks and cars or in travelers’ suitcases and backpacks. But the methods do not end there. Day and night near the U.S.–Mexico border, cartels dig underground tunnels. Drugs are even launched from cannons mounted on modified trucks, and drones carry packages back and forth over fences. Catapults that hurl bundles over the border have also appeared, and the variety of tactics makes enforcement extremely difficult.

Thus, drug smuggling in the Americas unfolds around these routes. So who, specifically, is involved from the time cocaine produced in South America passes through Mexico and reaches the United States? Following the path of the U.S.–Mexico border route described earlier, let’s look at drug-related phenomena in each country.

First, farmers in Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia cultivate coca leaves. The leaves are then carried to coca paste refining facilities, and the farmers receive payment. Against a backdrop of poverty and unemployment, these farmers grow coca, which offers higher profit margins than cacao or coffee. However, profits from this cultivation are shared beyond the farmers. In Colombia, since 1964 an armed conflict has persisted between leftist guerrillas and the central government, and guerrilla groups have occupied southern regions that are major coca-producing areas (Note 6). Farmers within these territories engage in coca cultivation, and the revenues are taxed by the leftist guerrillas, serving as a crucial source of income for them. Cocaine has also been a source of income for pro-government paramilitary groups. Once processed in factories into blocks, the cocaine is transported by Colombian cartels over land, sea, and air to Mexico (the aforementioned submarines are one such method). The cocaine then gathers in areas along the U.S.–Mexico border known as “plazas,” where cartels establish their turf. Passage through a plaza involves paying a fee to the cartel that controls it, after which the cocaine crosses to the other side of the border.

Smuggling from Mexico into the United States involves not only children from impoverished backgrounds lacking job opportunities, but also people from various walks of life who want to make a lump sum of money. They are hired by the cartels as mules (couriers)—a risky but easy way to earn high pay on a per-job basis. Ultimately, the cocaine that is brought in is brokered at high prices by gangs inside the United States and ends up in the hands of Americans seeking drugs.

In this way, the value of cocaine jumps to more than 12 times what it was as it is transported from Colombia to New York. As a result, groups involved with cocaine—mainly drug cartels and armed factions—earn enormous profits through this illegal trade. With those proceeds, they import weapons, bribe government officials, and continue to grow stronger.

Mexican police special anti-narcotics unit (Photo: Gerardo C.Lerner / Shutterstock.com)

The standing of such illegal organizations in Latin America has long since surpassed what can be ignored; in some countries, they possess firepower exceeding that of the military and police. Numerous cases have been reported of the military, police, judiciary, and other officials being bought off by cartels. Local residents are subjugated by them and, in some cases, even killed. Empowered drug groups frequently clash with the military and police who try to crack down on them, as well as with rival cartels, producing large numbers of casualties (Note 7). In this context, homicide rates in Latin America are among the highest in the world. In fact, six of the top ten countries (Honduras, El Salvador, Jamaica, Venezuela, Belize, and Nicaragua) are in the Latin American region and serve as waypoints for northbound drug smuggling.

As described above, narcotics continue to function as a defining illegal business of the contemporary Americas. This business model strengthens illicit organizations and serves as a breeding ground for the further deterioration of public security in Latin America. Although not covered in full here, producers in Latin America and consumer countries in North America are each undertaking various initiatives to address this problem. A representative approach is the legalization or decriminalization of certain drugs such as cannabis, shifting control over the drug trade from illegal organizations to public authorities. Yet despite such efforts, drugs continue to race across the Americas today. Ultimately, to resolve this problem, it is essential that people in countries including the developed world, through the news media, recognize what is happening in Latin America and reassess their attitudes toward drugs.

Writer: Ryuta Ogawa
Graphics: Mai Ishikawa, Ryuta Ogawa

Footnotes

Note 1: The term “cartel” refers to criminal organizations, primarily based in Latin America, that process, transport, and smuggle narcotics.

Note 2: Cocaine is a drug made from the leaves of the coca plant, which grows wild in Bolivia and Peru in South America. All cocaine circulating worldwide originates in three South American countries (Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia). Its effects are classified as a stimulant (upper), characterized by mental elevation and euphoria. However, the comedown from cocaine use can involve severe depression and a sense of helplessness; it is highly addictive, and overdoses can be fatal. In the 1970s and 1980s in the United States, it gained popularity among affluent white people and youth as a disco drug and sex drug, leading to widespread circulation. Unhappy with this situation, the U.S. government, beginning under the Nixon administration in the 1970s, launched military interventions in Latin America—commonly known as the “War on Drugs”—and, through the DEA (Drug Enforcement Administration), strengthened drug enforcement in the region. During this period, cultivation of coca, the raw material for cocaine, was made illegal. The United States also provided large sums of money to South American countries to eradicate coca. However, coca leaves themselves have a long history in the Andes as a traditional remedy for altitude sickness, and many local residents make a living from coca cultivation. Heavy-handed DEA crackdowns (violence and interrogations), unilaterally imposed by the United States, threatened their livelihoods for years. In response, starting in 2004 the Bolivian government took the unprecedented step of legalizing traditional coca cultivation for domestic use. In 2008, it expelled the DEA from the country, clearly signaling stronger opposition to past U.S. drug policies.

Note 3: Heroin is a drug derived from the poppy flower, native to Eastern Europe. The representative drugs “opium, morphine, heroin, and opioids” are all known to be poppy-derived. The main illicit cultivation areas are considered to be Afghanistan and Myanmar (accounting for 90 percent of total production). Mexico follows, cultivating roughly the remaining 10 percent of total production, with remarkable growth in recent years. Heroin falls under depressants (downers), characterized by intense euphoria and an inward, intoxicated state, followed by severe withdrawal symptoms such as vomiting and depression. It is currently the most widely circulated “addictive drug” in the world.

Note 4: Among major drugs circulating worldwide are stimulants. These drugs are known to have severe dependency and to cause serious physical and mental harm. Stimulants are chemically synthesized compounds, and in North America they are manufactured domestically not only in Mexico but also in the United States and Canada. Currently, both production and the number of users are said to be on a sharp upward trend, particularly in East and Southeast Asia. Cannabis is also the most widely used drug today. However, because it can be grown in virtually any country or region and because of the sheer volume cultivated, its distribution is difficult to trace. Stimulants can also be manufactured in any country. For these reasons, this article omits discussion of stimulants and cannabis. Moreover, due to relatively low dependency and social harm, several U.S. states, Portugal, the Netherlands, Uruguay, and others have decriminalized or legalized cannabis.

Note 5: In addition to this flow, Mexico is the third-largest poppy-cultivating country in the world, and heroin produced from poppies is also smuggled into the United States.

Note 6: The largest armed group in Latin America, the FARC, reached a peace agreement with the Colombian government in 2016, and its future trajectory bears watching. Meanwhile, peace talks between another armed group, the ELN, and the government are ongoing.

Note 7: In Mexico, conflict between drug cartels and the government has continued for over a decade. According to a 2014 announcement by the Mexican government, 164,000 people were killed between 2007 and 2014, many of them as a result of being caught up in this conflict.