The Colombian and Mexican Drug Cartels

Definition of Cartel

• criminal organizations specialized in the production and distribution of illegal narcotics

  • cartels finance and manage the central and most lucrative parts of cocaine (as well as other drugs) business through a 4-phase process: refining, smuggling, distributing, money laundering

DEA Definition of the Colombian Drug Cartels

• the Colombian drug cartels are composed of independent trafficking organizations that pool their resources for efficiency

  • the Colombian cartels have quickly monopolized cocaine manufacturing and distribution throughout North America

Cartels Strategy

• using compartments: one handles renting, another the drugs, and another the cash-flowing

  • each cell is self-contained to protect the whole operation

• low-profile abroad (blending in with their neighbors, driving modest cars), high profile in their territories

• omerta

Key Factors that Drive and Sustain the Drug Trade

1. geography: the world’s largest cocaine consumer - NA - lies to the north. and the biggest supplier - SA - lies to the south

2. climate: much of Latin America is well suited for growing cocoa and marijuana

3. widespread poverty and unemployment make society fragile (and voted easily purchasable): South America most successful businessmen are often the drug lords, who can act as benefactors within these communities

Weak Local Government, Widespread Corruption and the Expansion of Cartels

• plata o plomo: strategy (P. Escobar) (silver or lead). Escobar ordered the killing of hundreds, if not thousands of politicians, judges, and policemen

• buying votes: drug lords control local government, mayors, and town council, a formula already used by Al Capone in late 1920s Chigaco

• drug lords are no longer interested in just selling drugs, now they want more power, political power, both at the local and national level

South American Mafias: Criminocracy

• criminal groups and state institutions tend to coincide within a frame which is impossible to distinguish between legal and illegal power

• the prevalent pattern has been one based on the usual interaction between crime, economy, political power, cultural code, and social consensus

Case Studies: Carlos Lehder Rivas and Pablo Escobar

• Medellin cartel leader in Colombia eventually prosecuted by US authorities, Rivas bought and had an interest in local radio stations and newspapers, and even started a political party called the Latino nationalist party

• in 1982, Escobar won the election as an alternative congressman - a sort of deputy representative to fill in during the absence of the main representative in the national congress

• both behaved in perfect accordance with mafia ideology

The Influence of Increases Levels of Drug Addiction on the Workforce

• health problems: diffusion of cheap drugs

  • drug addiction among the population has the important consequence of driving outside investors as they wouldn’t find enough people who can operate extensive high tech equipment safely and effectively

How Drug Money Causes Inflation

• inflation is a decline in purchasing power

• sometimes prices rise because of increased value

  • in the case of south America, inflation is usually due to drug money

The Colombian Cartels

estimated to control 70% of the cocaine processes in Columbia and 80% of that that was distributed in the US

The Medellin Carted (fell in 1993)

• Pablo Escobar - born out of kidnapping

• it came to supply 90% of the cocaine consumed in the US

• Pablo Escobar, responsible for the murder of approximately 4000 people including more than 1200 policemen and 300 state officials

• other cartels were: costa, valle del nord, pereira

The Cali Cartel (fell in 1995)

• the biggest cartel controlling 90% of the world cocaine market

• territorial control of their city, Santiago de Cali, is complete thanks to their infiltration of local political institutions

• in the 1980s, cocaine production shifted to Colombia

• in the 2000s, a new generation of Mafiosi known as the “invisibles” emerged that took over the production and distribution of cocaine made of white collars that use legitimate companies as a facade

How the US and Local Governments Have Tried to Cut Off the Drug Trade

• in the 1990s, colombia’s main drug cartels were dismantled by the combined effort of US and Colombian authorities

• but since the demand for drugs remained high, Mexico took over, taking advantage of the fact that they already controlled the drug distribution process

• US federal government has called Mexican drug cartels the greatest threat facing the US government and is now using against then the same method that proved successful against the mafia in the 1980s-1990s

• task forces led by prosecutors are the best was to fight drug cartels

US Federal Government Approach

• the extensive use of coordinated intelligence

• a strong focus on key cartel leaders — on investigating them, arresting them, and bringing them to the United States for trial

• investigation and prosecution of gun, cash, and drug smuggling cases

• prosecutions in federal court of those responsible for smuggling, kidnapping, and violence

Efforts to Seize Drug Cartels’ Assets

• asset forfeiture is a powerful tool to strip criminals of illicit wealth, including homes and cars

  • part of every US government operation thought to involve drugs

• The National Drug Intelligence Center estimates that Mexican cartel’s gross is between $17 billion and $38 billion annually just from drug sales

  • much of that ends up as “bulk currency” — suitcases or even truckloads of cash

The Mexican Cartels

The Evolution of Cartels: New Pattern and Strategies

• decentralized structure: previous cartels broke down into federations and alliances, with no more single leader or single group

  • new structures often coincide with cells or some franchises that operate most independently (ex. la Oficina de envigado, los rastrojos)

• these new groups are less disciplined, more dispersed, less knowledgeable;e in terms of their activities and names, and much quicker to fill the gaps when one of their bosses is arrested

• a generation of new bosses and drug traffickers that have diversified criminal activities including robbery, extortion, and kidnapping

• closer relationship with politics and state bureaucracy both at the local and national level

• more connections with Central America, especially Honduras, to trampoline drugs into Mexico and then into the US