Introduction:
Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, also known as “El Padrino” or the godfather, was a powerful Mexican drug kingpin from the late sixties to his arrest in 1989. Before entering the drug sphere, Gallardo was a policeman in Guadalajara. Gallardo got his start by selling opium and marijuana on Mexican soil, before expanding into wholesaling Colombian cocaine. Along with Ernesto Fonseca Carrillo and Rafael Caro Quintero, Gallardo founded the Guadalajara Cartel. At its peak, the Guadalajara Cartel provided 90% of the cocaine entering the United States and took in nearly five billion USD per year from the drug trade. In addition, the cartel controlled much of the Pacific Coast and the Mexican border with the United States. Personally,
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The surviving members of the National Liberation Army (ELN) are hiding in the northeast of Colombia and the FARC has lost a majority of its soldiers and resources during skirmishes with the army in 1973. In addition, public opinion is turning against the FARC, since kidnapping for ransom has disrupted communities. Members of the FARC are now restricted in their movement and the organizational capacity is severely limited. Reviving the support of peasants is essential for the success of FARC. Although the organization does provide some services to peasants, stepping in where the government has not will improve the view of the FARC in the eyes of peasants. More specifically, providing education, healthcare, and jobs to peasants will improve public opinion. In Mexico, the Guadalajara Cartel engages in similar poverty assistance programs, which have helped the cartel gain influence and …show more content…
In the countryside, peasants suffer a poor lifestyle due to a lack of jobs. The solution to the employment problem is simple: narcotics. Colombia is a logical place for the narcotics trade to occur. For thousands of years, indigenous people in Colombia and surrounding countries have used coca, the plant from which cocaine is made, for medicinal purposes. Many farmers already grow coca, since it is known for its medicinal qualities. The geography of Colombia also adds to its position in the drug trade. Situated between five countries and two oceans, the physical location of Colombia is ideal for traffickers to smuggle cocaine without detection. In addition, the mountain ranges make hiding from international and national anti-narcotics agents relatively easy. Although the beginning of the Medellin and Cali Cartels are emerging, the FARC should also become a major player in the narcotics industry. A transition plan to complete control over rural farmers should occur in two parts. First, the FARC should begin encouraging the planting of cocaine and marijuana in exchange for protection to small farmers. Many farmers are struggling with legal crops, so selling drugs to the FARC will provide a reliable income source to them. The FARC should then process the cocaine and work with the Guadalajara Cartel to ship the cocaine to Mexico. Processing infrastructure, such as holding facilities and cocaine
In the Documentary “Mexico’s Drug Cartel War”, it displays a systematic approach of drugs and violence. The Drug War has been going on since the United States had a devastating impact on Mexico after the recession where it nearly doubled its interest payments. Mexico could not afford the interest payments but did have many agricultural imports. This created the trade between the United States and the land owned by the two million farmers. It spread the slums to Tijuana and Ciudad Juarez to work in maquiladoras (assembly plants just across the border) (Jacobin, 2015). This paper will focus on explaining how drugs are related to violence in Mexico, how drug enforcement policies influence the relationship between drugs and violence, and how battle for control in their own country.
Plan Colombia is a long-prevailing foreign aid package bestowed to the country of Colombia from the United States. This foreign aid package grants substantial financial assistance to Colombia, intending to fight the “War on Drugs” and to reduce the trafficking of narcoleptics, but there is a multitude of other factors and implications, both unintentional or indirect and intentional due to ulterior motives. To accomplish the goals of Plan Colombia, most of the aid has been provided in the form of armed forces. This situation is complicated because of the ongoing civil war between the government of Colombia and the left-wing Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People’s Army (FARC). Additionally making matters difficult has been the strong association of the Colombian military and some right wing paramilitary units. Such conflict in Colombia exacerbates its drug problem, but Plan Colombia allegedly seeks to tame.
The business process of the Mexican drug cartels is not easy, but is a very simple method. Step one is the drugs are produced in Mexico. Step two is the drugs are smuggled across the boarder. Step three is the drugs are distributed to the drug dealers in the U.S. Step four are the drug dealers sell the drugs and U.S. cash dollars are made. It is a simple four-step method, but the process of the four steps comes with a lot of trouble, risk, and violence.
The cartels are now in control of most of the drug trades and are successful. The Mexican border gives them the power to go everywhere they desire, making them a relentless force. “To date operation Xcellrator has led the arrest of 755 individuals and the seizure of approximately 5 U.S. Currency more than 12,000 kilograms of cocaine, more than 16,000 pounds of marijuana, more than 11,000 of methamphetamine, more than 8 kilograms of heroin, approximately 1.3 million pills of ecstasy”(Doj 2). Mexican cartels extend to central and southern America. Columbia is the supply of much of the cocaine exported to the U.S. Colombia is under control of South American gangs, they do business with the Mexican cartels to transport drugs the north. The Northern Mexican gangs hold the most control because the territory is very important (Wagner1). They are many different types of cartel in Mexico it also signifies that there are killing each other so their cartel can expand an...
How the commodity chain works isn’t only on the product, there’s a responsibility needed to be reached by the organization and geographical sense as well. This however, is more difficult for the cocaine commodity chain because of its illicit status. Geographically, the growth of the coca leaf depends on what it needs to grow, therefore the leaf is grown in Peru and Bolivia. The production of the cocaine was from Cuba and Chile then smuggled into the United States for distribution. The way this commodity chain is spaced out makes a lot of sense. Peru and Bolivia, side by side countries on the coast of South America produce the coca to be shipped along the coast to Cuba and Chile to be processed. By having these places on the coast, it puts transaction costs to a minimum saving them money. By different productions being in different places in order for them to work it labels the cocaine commodity chain as a social division of labour. Once the cocaine was in the United States, there were three main groups. The main man, this guy was responsible for bringing it into the country and making the connection to Southern America to receive their shipment. Then it is brought to the wholesalers. The wholesalers are responsible for distributing large amounts of cocaine to their dealers; who then sell in smaller amounts to consumers.
D. After the high demand of cocaine in the United States, Pablo made so much cash that he stored most of it in different warehouses, where 10% had to be considered as “spoilage” because of rats that nibbled on hundred dollar bills. In 1982, Escobar was elected as an alternate member of the Chamber of Representatives of Colombia as part of the Colombian Liberal Party. II- The Ultimate Power A. During the Medellin cartel’s height of power, the cartel brought in more than $60 million per day. B. According to Pablo Escobar, the essence of cocaine business was simple, “You bribe someone here, you bribe someone there, and you pay a friendly banker to help you bring the money
Drug trafficking has been a massive concern between the borders of Mexico and the U.S. “since mid 1970s” (Wyler, 1). Drug trafficking is “knowingly being in possession, manufacturing, selling, purchasing, or delivering an illegal, controlled substance” (LaMance, 1). A dynamic relationship exists amongst Columbia, Mexico, and the U.S. the informal drug trafficking economy. This growing informal drug economy leads to many individuals creating a substantial living through this undercover market. These individual drug cartels monopolizing the trafficking market are a growing problem for the U.S economy and need to be located and controlled. If this trafficking continues, the U.S. informal economy will crush the growth of legal industries. The trafficking and abuse of drugs in the U.S. affects nearly all aspects of consumer life. Drug trafficking remains a growing issue and concern to the U.S. government. The U.S. border control must find a way to work with Mexico to overpower the individuals who contribute to the drug trafficking business. This market must be seized and these individuals must be stopped.
In essence, La Violencia systematically tore the country apart. The civil war, which began as a response to the palpable inequality in Colombia, “failed to remedy the country’s institutional and socioeconomic problems.” Indeed, Vanda Felbab-Brown continues, “after a decade of conflict, the concentration of land in the hands of the wealthy had increased, the peasants remained politically powerless, the same dominant classes retained control, and the exclusionary two-party political system was resuscitated.” La Violencia imparted a legacy of conflict that remains pervasive in the Colombian psyche today. Furthermore, La Violencia served as a catalyst for the initial consolidation of armed Leftist resistance movements—one of which would eventually become the
One of the biggest causes of drug trafficking is very futile economies where people are searching for ways to make money. Places with weaker economies, such as Mexico and Colombia, usually have a lot higher drug trafficking rates than places with strong economies. As I said before, it is believed that Mexico’s economy would shrink by over sixty-three percent if it wasn’t for drug trafficking. That in itself is enough to show how dependent some places are on drug trafficking. These areas don’t have the job opportunities that many places throughout the world have either because they don’t have good economies. This is beca...
Cocaine originated from South America, from coca leaves. Originally, the coca leaves were chewed by workers to decrease fatigue, improve endurance and have a greater resistance to the cold. This was to benefit the workers so they could work longer hours and be more productive. In 1855 the active ingredient in cocaine was isolated from the leaves, and in 1880 it was used as a local anesthetic (Nunes,2006). It was also used in coca cola. In 1855, coca cola was a soda beverage that contained sixty milligrams of cocaine for every eight ounces of the beverage. The idea behind this was to give people energy and a sense of well being (Nunes, 2006). By the late 1880s Sigmund Freud was using cocaine regularly and was even recommending it to others. This only lasted for less than twenty years, until he started discouraging it to others. Then by 1914 cocaine was banned for medical use and in beverages. This caused the use of cocaine and by the 1930s, the use had drastically decreased. It then became popular for recreational use in the 1980s (Nunes, 2006). It was often used and shown in movies such as Scarface, and is famous for the amount of cocaine that Al Pacino uses in one of the final scenes of the movie. Now it is still used recreationally and used by a ‘party crowd’. Although this is the primary category of people who use cocaine, people of all demographics use cocaine recreationally.
In a short matter of time, cocaine went from being legal, to being exported in bulk, to eventually overflowing the Western Hemisphere with hundreds of kilos yearly. The beginning of the cocaine trade can be seen through two distinct period of time: 1947 through 1959, and 1959 through 1964. It was during the first decade where we see the emergence of cocaine with the arrival of the Cold War, especially in Peru, where several anti-communist government forcibly pushed the trade out of Peru creating a chain of smugglers across neighboring countries. In the second decade, we can see the rampage of the cocaine trade as it is constructed into a more systemic and smuggling
Beith, Malcolm. (2013, September 24). The current state of Mexico's many drug cartels. CTC Sentinal
FARC is a left-wing guerrilla army based in Columbia. The group is a major player in Columbia’s drug trade, bringing in an estimated revenue of $500 to $600 million annually from their illegal endeavors. Through other illegal ventures, such as demanding ransoms for kidnappings, extortions, as well as charging local merchants and businesses protection taxes, the group has become one of the richest and most violent guerilla armies in the world.
The guerrillas were becoming a serious challenge to handle for the Colombian government due to the “capability to attack and overrun small and medium garrisons; the ability to directly confront and defeat army units in open combat; and the capability to simultaneously mass large units against multiple targets around the country” (Spencer, 1998). “Since mid-1997 the guerrillas, particularly the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), have rapidly advanced from being able to launch successful massed attacks against single isolated posts, to open combat with an army battalion, and now to a coordinated and simultaneous nationwide offensive, massing forces against multiple high profile targets” (Spencer, 1998). Once Andres Pasrtana was elected as president in 1998, he proposed a plan that was intended for large amounts of foreign aid that would be used to fight corruptions, negotiation with guerrilla groups, and crack down the illegal drug trades with aid from the U.S. Instead of focusing on socio-economic issues, they concentrated on military army, resulting in problems for the U.S. Although the U.S. has provided significant amounts of equipment, they have been victims of murders, hostages, and plane crashes. This gives an insight to the outside resources Colombia has needed in attempts to fight against the guerrilla groups, as well the consequences for the
These laws will not only keep dangerous criminals off the streets for longer, but will also act as a preventative measure for criminal activity. Poor law enforcement could be solved by creating a PARLACEN run task force that works throughout the borders of member nations to track down the location of drug cartels and prevent the movement of drugs across borders. It is also important to provide better education on the dangers of drug cartels and drug trafficking to stop the problems where it starts. This could be done through information pamphlets distributed at local health centers. Since lots of people rely on the drug market in order to make a living, it is very important that new economic alternatives are put into place. The Delegation of Honduras suggests that nations help provide subsidies to replace drug crops with cash crops such as bananas, coffee, or avocados. Financing for the venture could be funded by the World Food Programme (8). Also encouraging businesses and schools to hold jobs and education fairs in rural area would help drive the economy away from drugs. Also using third party NGOs such as World land Trust and World Wild Fund would help repair the damaged that drug cultivation has had on the