 How drug cartels operate  U.S. Involvement  Afghanistan  Colombia  Mexico  Domestic Consequences

 Drug cartels- organizations that participate in the production, transportation, and distribution of illegal drugs.

 Methods of trafficking include tunnels, small aircraft, drug mules, and boats  Employ “enforcer gangs” known as sicarios, sometimes acting as paramilitary forces to support larger cartels  Police corruption and government complicity are key parts of the cartels success  Ongoing drug war is characterized by heavy bloodshed, with 35,286 officially recorded deaths to date (December 2006—January 2011)

 Primary efforts focused on border security along the U.S.-Mexico border, but no U.S. troops have ever been deployed in Mexico  First example of this is Operation Intercept under President Nixon, which began in September 1969 and was aimed at reducing marijuana trafficking from Mexico

 Systemic influence of free trade: NAFTA  Mexican government criticizes U.S. approach as failing to support reduced arms trafficking into Mexico, reduce the demand for illicit drugs in America and stop the trafficking of drug earnings back into Mexico

 Afghanistan part of the Golden Crescent, consisting of countries that are involved in illicit opium production.  Golden Crescent also includes Iran and Pakistan.  In recent years, opium production in Southwest Asia had increased as production in Southeast Asia has decreased.  Afghanistan began producing opium after it was outlawed in Iran during the 1950’s.

 Soviet Union and Afghanistan established trading bonds.  Saur Revolution ◦ Adopted many Soviet ideals and sought to revolutionize Afghanistan ◦ Rejected by the people of Afghanistan  Led to Soviet occupation of Afghanistan and foreign attempts to drive them out.

 Fundamentalist group that sought to reform the country through strict readings of the scripture.  See-sawed on the legalization of opium production due to a variety of factors: ◦ Religion ◦ Global recognition ◦ Mass appeal to the people of Afghanistan

 Fall of Taliban led to large increase in opium production  Steady decline in prices from  Now increasing again in the present day. ◦ $64 per kg in 2009 to $169 per kg this year.  2010 opium production down by 48% due to large plant infestation that destroyed a majority of poppy plants

 Afghanistan has recently administered the following programs to combat opium production in the country: ◦ Counter-Narcotics Directorate ◦ Modern narcotics control laws. ◦ Efforts to establish a police force.

 Psychoactive drugs produced by indigenous groups for religious, ceremonial, medical, cultural uses  Operation Stopgap  Extradition treaty between Colombia and US  Four major cartels ◦ Medellin ◦ Cali ◦ Norte del Valle ◦ North Coast  Plan Colombia

 1970’s to 1980’s  Led by Pablo Escobar, among other notorious drug lords  Medellin cartel is the largest cocaine smuggling organization in the world  Declared war on Colombian government  Ended in 1993  Total around 3,500 people killed by cartel

 Kidnapping ring  Marijuana  cocaine  Rival to Medellin cartel  Split into 5 groups: narco-trafficking, military, political, financial, legal  U.S. government seizes 67 tons of cocaine, 75% originating from the Cali Cartel  out of 7 leaders arrested, but operations continued within prison  Estimated revenue- $7 billion a year

 Cocaine production reduced by 60%  Capture of drug lords ◦ Violent response by drug cartels  Colombia currently gives technical advice about controlling drug trafficking to 7 countries in Latin America and 12 in Africa  Level of drug related violence has decreased 50%

 Quick Overview  History - Origin / early drug lords - The divide up 

 Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo - “El Padrino” (The Godfather) - Guadalajara Cartel : based in Guadalajara, Mexico :drug trafficking money laundering extortion murder and arms trafficking

 Based in Tijuana, Baja California  The Tijuana cartel is present in at least 15 Mexican states with important areas of operation in Tijuana and Ensenada in Baja California.  Criminal Activities

 Based in Baja California, Sinaloa, Durango, Sonora and Chihuahua.  Major producer of Mexican poppy and marijuana.  Between 1990 and 2008, Sinaloa Cartel imported and distributed nearly 200 tons of cocaine and large amount of heroine.  Other criminal activities

 Joaquín Guzmán Loera - Mexico's top drug kingpin in 2003 after the arrest of his rival Osiel Cardenas of the Gulf Cartel - Forbes Magazine : 60 th of 68 most powerful people : World’s 937 th richest man

Casualties: +30,000 since start of war (Dec 2006-March 2010) (4,324 From the city of Ciudad Juarez alone) +3,300 from January to March brought the most drug-related deaths since kidnappings in Arizona related to the Mexican Drug War over the past 2 years

 Mexico is world’s largest exporter of marijuana  Accounts for half of the cartels’ revenue  Marijuana and cocaine are largest sources of revenue, but marijuana is more profitable  Sends almost all its crops to the US  Production increased 35% in 2009 from the past year  Nearly 30,000 acres of Mexico planted in cannabis in 2009  Marijuana cultivation is not the problem, organized crime is

Mexican soldiers destroying crops of marijuana. The soldiers rip up the plants first because they don't burn well.

 Mexican cartels also running pot farms in the US  One example: Sequoia National Forest, agents have found farms with over $40 million dollars worth of plants  Most workers are in the US illegally  Growers carry with them everything they need: tents, food, guns, fertilizer, irrigation hose and marijuana seeds  Armed men keep watch over the gardens day and night during planting season  Federal and local authorities use aerial surveillance, human intelligence to find marijuana gardens  “Organized criminal threat of the 21 st century” Special agent with the National Park Service looking for marijuana farms

 US is stepping up efforts to stop the drug war  Goal: Identify and take down whole criminal organization  To do so, the US will: 1. Cooperate with the law enforcement in Mexico - Help Mexico with surveillance by giving items such as helicopters, vessels, planes. Will provide later in Attack cartels all at once, so there won’t be one super cartel left that does not need to compete with others 3. Help establish a strong judicial system in Mexico 4. Stop flow of weapons to Mexico by more aggressively pursuing gun laws and delegating more agents to fight the drug war

 Influx of narcotics due to cartels led to sentencing disparities, with the heaviest punitive measures falling on minority groups  Critics argue that the prohibition framework which the United States currently tries to enforce is counter- productive

 Demand for drugs in the U.S. creates need for distributors like the cartels, and the illegal status of many drugs drives up prices  Conclusion: cartels will exist as long as profits are high

 Boville, Belen. The Cocaine War in Context: Drugs and Politics New York: Algora, 2004 pg. 79  BBC, “Mexico’s Drug War: Number of Dead Passes 30,000”, December accessed  Cook, Colleen W. “Mexico’s Drug Cartels” Congressional Research Service Report for Congress, October  Loew, Morgan "Los Zetas" Draw Concern Of U.S. Government," KOLD 13 News, Kold.com; 2005, accessed  Schlosser, Eric. “The Prison-Industrial Complex”, The Atlantic Monthly, December accessed  Toro, Maria Celia. Mexico’s “War” on Drugs: Causes and Consequences Colorado: Lynne Rienner Publishers 1995 pg. 71Felbab-Brown, Vanda. Shooting Up. Washington DC: The Brookings Institution, Print.  m_web.pdf m_web.pdf     opium-production-says-unodc.html opium-production-says-unodc.html     

 Chepesiuk, Ron. The Bullet or the Bribe: Taking down Colombia's Cali Drug Cartel. Westport, CT: Praeger, Print.  Maria Full of Grace. By Joshua Marston. Dir. Joshua Marston. Fine LineFeatures,  cash/colombia/536/ cash/colombia/536/  Livingstone, Grace. Inside Colombia: Drugs, Democracy and War. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers UP, Print.  Beith, Malcolm (2010). The Last Narco. New York, New York: Grove Press.  "The Border Monsters". Time Magazine "The Border Monsters"    pot-production/2?_s=PM:CRIME pot-production/2?_s=PM:CRIME   of-the-zetas-foot-soldiers-open-hunting-season-on-cops/ of-the-zetas-foot-soldiers-open-hunting-season-on-cops/     from-Afghanistan-opium-trade.html from-Afghanistan-opium-trade.html