Colombia`s Drug Trade Colombia is a country that is rich in soil and the most fertile in the world. Because Colombia has such rich and limitless resources it comes at a high price. One of these resources is considered to be a life line to a better life, which is called the coca leaf. Cocaine is a drug that has been around for many years. This drug hasn 't always been for recreational uses but just known as a pure coca leaf in the jungle. The coca leaf has not only transformed it 's self into a money-making drug but it has also transformed Colombia into the main supplier to all countries for its pure cocaine drug, making Colombia one of the most dangerous places in the world. Cocaine is made from a leaf called coca. A coca leaf …show more content…
Holmes explains that, “The corrosive economic effects of Colombia’s persistently high levels of generalized political violence and the specific consequences of the cocaine trade” (104). The paramilitary seen what kind of money cocaine was bringing in and decided to join the dark side and started using the profit from the drug to run their military forces. Villoria says that, “Over the last twenty-five years this widespread violence has ceased to be a rural phenomenon and has taken on many urban features. This is due to the fact that the war between drug barons, guerrilla, and paramilitary groups and the high levels of unemployment in the countryside have forced people to abandon rural areas in large numbers” (75). Money causes people to become irrational because money buys you another day of life in Colombia. The more money you make means another day you and your family can live. Villoria says, “The culture of drug trafficking has become widely known, both inside and outside of Colombia” (p. 78). Since Colombia is so rich in coca leafs than any other country Colombia is the main supplier to all other countries for cocaine like the United States, Bolivia, and Peru. 90% of the cocaine in America is from Colombia. Colombia has even gone to extremes as building submarines to transport cocaine from one country to another, that being said; Colombia is also a major target for jealousy. Other countries are jealous of Colombia and the drug lords from other countries end up starting a war with each other. To keep the coca leaves in Bogotá safe people in the drug cartel set up land mines all over the mountains to keep others out from taking the coca leafs. Colombia has the most landmine victims in the western hemisphere. The families that lived in Bogata at that time ended up being severely injured by the mines
When the country of Colombia is mentioned, chances are individuals automatically start composing images of famous actors and musicians that have rooted from Colombia such as Shakira and Sofia Vergara, the excellent reputation Colombian coffee has made across the globe, or even the beautiful Emeralds that surround the astonishing land. Of course all of those things matter, but Colombia is a country that is definitely swept under the rug and under appreciated. Colombia’s history, independence movements, governmental structure, and culture are just a few of the topics that make Colombia so unique.
The CIA’s 50-year history of smuggling drugs into America is generating hatred for the United States throughout the world. Like Pontius Pilate, CIA washes their hands of the human tragedies and the corruption of government offices. They do this by remaining and by refusing to recognize the evidence, supporting corruption. For the past 50 years, the CIA has abused its power by deliberately drugging and corrupting America; and therefore should be prosecuted.
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...
The taxes actually became the main source of support for the Roman Catholic Church in the region. In 1999, Colombia remained the world's leading producer of cocaine. Three quarters of the world's annual yield of cocaine is produced there. In the year 2000, Columbia still remains the world's leading producer of the drug. The coca cultivation that goes on in the Andean jungle is damaging the health of the environment in the region.
Over the last several decades, violence has consumed and transformed Mexico. Since the rise of dozens of Mexican cartels, the Mexican government has constantly been fighting an ongoing war with these criminal organizations. The cartel organizations have a primary purpose of managing and controlling illegal drug trafficking operations in Central America and South America to the United States. Violence on a massive and brutal scale has emerged due to the nature of the illegal drug trade. Because the drug trade is vastly widespread, cartels are often fighting one another and competing in business. Mexican authorities count at least 12 major cartels, but also talk of an untold numbers of smaller splinter groups. (Taipei Times). Five cartels from Mexico have risen to become the extremely powerful amongst all the drug organizations operating in Mexico. The Guadalajara Cartel, the Sinaloa Cartel, the Tijuana Cartel, the Juarez Cartel, and the Gulf Cartel. These organizations, along with other distinguished Mexican cartels, have plagued Mexico with violence, terror, and fear due to the essence and nature of illegal drug trafficking.
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.
In Jeanette Schmidt’s article, Transporting Cocaine states, “Colombian cartels would pay the Mexican groups as much as $1,000/kilo to smuggle cocaine into the United States” (Schmidt, 2). The Colombian cartels would then pick up the drugs and resume distribution and sales efforts, making personal profits that are unrecorded. In order to seize these individuals who are growing in power and numbers, the U.S. must control the connections between Mexico and Columbia. Mexico is the biggest transporter amongst Columbia and the U.S. because it shares a border with the U.S. This increasingly poisonous drug trafficking leads to drug dealers...
Cocaine is a drug extracted from the leaves of a coca plant and is one of the most used and addictive drugs. Pure cocaine grows from the coca bush Erythroxylon which grows mostly in South America, in Bolivia, and Peru (What is Cocaine?). All over the world, people use this illegal substance keeping in mind the risk they are putting their bodies in, and don't even worry about it.
In 1995, the US began to fund aerial eradication campaigns in Colombia. Military planes dumped pesticides over thousands of acres of coca fields. These campaigns turned out to be counterproductive, leading to an actual increase in the amount of coca acreage. The spraying of coca only led Colombian growers to diversify their techniques, growing coca amongst other crops or in locations that were hard to identify by radar techniques. In 2002, the CI...
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
From a historical perspective, Colombia has hosted some of the most infamous drug trafficking organizations in the world, and these illegal empires threatened the social, political and economic stability of the nation from the early 20th century to 21st century. Perhaps the most prominent and notorious cartel was the Medellin Cartel, an organized network of contraband smugglers and suppliers that originated in the 1970’s in the city of Medellín, located in southern part of the nation. Colombian native Pablo Escobar, perhaps one of the most infamous men in Colombia’s dark history of drug trading, collaborated with a group of criminal entrepreneurs to form the Medellin Cartel, which controlled nearly 80% of the cocaine shipped to the United States. Under his leadership, during the 1970’s and 1980’s,
Coca is a plant coming from South America that for thousands of years has been cultivated in Peru, Bolivia, and Colombia. The coca leaves have played, and still play, key social, medicinal, and ritual purposes for millions of indigenous people living in the Central and North Andes and Amazonia. Coca is a mild stimulant, however, it has been criminalized and equated with cocaine. It was not until 1855, when a German scientist fabricated cocaine, the laboratory-produced alkaloid separated from coca leaves. This formerly illicit commodity was transformed into an illicit drug, due to the influence of Western morals and behavior.
In some cases paramilitaries have chosen to take a more low-profile such as threats and forced disappearances. In many countries the profits are large enough that they will use any means even using authorities to break the laws (Sanchez-Moreno 5). Criminal groups all over would start seeking other criminal sources if they can’t continue to trade illicit drugs (Sanchez-Moreno 6). The illicit drug market has suppliers, consumers and distributors of the goods just like other markets but with one difference, violence. Since illicit drugs are usually an underground black market there is no court or other legal process to resolve conflicts which leads to violence (Jenner 906). Mexico has the most headlines with regards to violence when it comes to drug markets (Jenner 907). Cartels will do anything to make money just like their Columbia predecessors. It was reported that in 2008 that 6,290 drug trafficking related murders happened in Mexico which is approximately forty-one percent more deaths than the casualties from the War in Iraq (Jenner 908). United States had over 31,000 deaths from drug related issues in 2007 which is about double the U.S. murder rate. This is why the United States is more concerned about the domestic problems than the international crisis of drug trafficking (Jenner 911). Organized crime can have negative effects on the public health. It can cause bribing of officials, slow economic prosperity and undermine the rule of the law (Reynolds, McKee 2). Organized crime is more likely to happen when the rule of the law is weak (Reynolds, McKee 11). United States is the largest consumer of illegal drugs worldwide even though it is only 5 percent of the world’s population. In 1996 the United States consumed 60 percent of the world’s drugs (Jenner 924). The majority of users in United states that buy illegal drugs are not just
When discussing the disparities surrounding cocaine in America we first need to understand what cocaine means. It is a drug derived from the leaves of a coca plant which gives it half of its name and the ine is an alkaloid suffix which is added on to explain what it’s made of. There are two type of cocaine they are crack cocaine and powder cocaine. We as a society know that if any individual caught with cocaine will be caught and tried, but what we do not realize is the sentencing severity concerning the possession of each type of cocaine. The possession of crack vs. powder is at a ratio of 100 to 1 which seem unreal to me especially after learning of the ideology of the last 20 years concerning people of color. If an individual is found with 10 grams of crack then their treated like they had 1 kilogram of powder cocaine. This leads to a harsher sentence for being found with crack even though crack is a more diluted form of cocaine (Scott p. 53).
According to, Burnell, Rakner, and Randall (2014, p.297) “ Narcotic trafficking activity in places such as, Colombia and Afghanistan damages economies, corrupts institutions, and affects regional stability and security”. Colombia is the world’s top cocaine producer and heroine is on the rise also (Burnell, Ranker, Randall 2014 p.297; Cano, 2010) . Cocaine and heroine are associated with major health problems and violence. Heroine can cause AIDS due to the sharing of needles and cocaine can cause heart attacks.