From Colombia, Peru and Bolivia through Mexico and on to a half dozen west African states, the new cocaine supply route — and the war against it — is leaving a trail of mayhem in its wake.
In Peru, Shining Path guerrillas have revived their movement by trading in Maoist ideology for coca cultivation and links with Mexican cartels, driving cocaine production to its highest level in a decade, according to US figures.
In Colombia, shadowy new groups with names such as the Black Eagles have muscled into the gap left by a government assault on rightwing militias and leftwing guerrillas, the groups that traditionally trafficked cocaine. Production is increasing after being reined in earlier in the decade.
In Bolivia coca cultivation increased by 5 percent in 2007, a much smaller rise than in Colombia. The strategy of Bolivian President Evo Morales, an indigenous coca farmer and Washington critic, has been unique: Expel US counter-narcotic agents, let farmers grow coca for uses such as tea and medicine and order local security forces to root out the cocaine element. The government will lobby the UN this week to decriminalize the coca leaf.
The traffickers are extremely versatile, using fast boats that outrun coastguard patrols and fiberglass submarines.
Routes evolve to exploit law enforcement gaps. Venezuela has become a hub, with 282 tonnes of Colombian cocaine slipping through in 2007, four times higher than in 2004, according to US officials. West Africa is estimated to be the stop-off point for between a third and half of the cocaine bound for Europe. Colombia recently dispatched narcotics agents to west Africa and played host to police from seven African countries.
With profit margins of up to 5,000 percent, cocaine traffickers make fortunes. The cost to Latin America is incalculable. Every stage of the trade inflicts damage.
Armed groups seeking land for coca have cleared rainforest and killed and evicted the people who live there. Some 270,000 Colombians were forced to flee their homes in the first half of last year, according to human rights group CODHES — a 41 percent jump on the previous year.
Nicaraguan fishermen coyly refer to the “white lobster” that for some transformed shacks into mansions with satellite dishes.
“Narco-traffickers can’t have that size of market unless they are paying big protection money,” said Terry Nelson, cofounder of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, who spent 32 years fighting drugs as a US government agent stationed in Latin America.
“All along I knew we weren’t making any progress,” he said.
“But I was just a field commander. The big shots in Washington with their triple PhDs just told me to shut up.”
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