Combating Further Drug Industry

Development and Drug-Related Violence in

Central and South America

Research Report

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ..................................................................... 3

2. Definition of Key Terms .................................................. 4

3. History ............................................................................. 4

4. Timeline ........................................................................... 7

5. Key Issues ........................................................................ 8

6. Evaluation of Previous Attempts ..................................... 9

7. Possible Solutions ......................................................... 11

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 1. Introduction:

Central America has long been a bridge that connects the producer countries in South
America to the consumer nations in the north, principally the United States. This role has led
to the development of several different types of criminal organizations, some of them
transnational, some of them local, and many more of them hyper-local.

Some of the transnational criminal organizations (TCOs) have familiar names: the Sinaloa
Cartel, the Gulf Cartel, the Zetas, and the Urabeños all have operatives in Central America.
They purchase cocaine or coca base from producer nations like Colombia and Peru. And they
oversee the movement of that product from the production point to the market.

In Central America, they oversee the second-tier criminal organizations in these countries
that provide the transportation for illicit drugs. These so-called "transportistas” are often
family-based groups with long criminal histories in contraband, human smuggling, and other
criminal activities, which give them a strong foundation to jump into narcotics trafficking.

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 2. Definition of Key Terms:

• Cartel = An association of manufacturers or suppliers with the purpose of maintaining

prices at a high level and restricting competition.

• D.E.A = Drug Enforcement Agency

• Kingpin = A person or thing that is essential to the success of an organization or operation.
• Search Bloc = The Search Bloc was the name of three different special operations units of
the National Police of Colombia. They were originally organized with a focus on capturing
or killing highly dangerous individuals or groups of individuals.

• U.S-Columbia Extradition Treaty = In 1979, Columbia signed a treaty with the U.S., which
stated that the caught drug traffickers are extradited to the States

3. History:
Drug trafficking in Central and South America began originally in Colombia and Peru, where
cocaine and coca production have deep historic roots. In Mexico, this phenomenon was first
noticed when Chinese immigrants brought the opium poppy into the country, in the port of
Mazatlán. The Mexicans quickly realized that the climate of Sinaloa was favourable towards
the planting and growth of this plant, thus expanding the production of coca and cocaine and
playing a big role in the expansion of cocaine use, thus, the first routes of drug trafficking to
the United States, through Mexican territory, were formed.

A close analysis of the main actors that have been involved in the matter might be of great
use in this context. Hence, the following paragraphs aim at providing details on the people
and organisations that have had the most significant impact in what concerns the discussed
topic.

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I. Pablo Escobar:

The Medellin cartel surged to power in the 1980s. It was run by brothers Jorge Luis, Juan
David, and Fabio Ochoa Vasquez; Pablo Escobar; Carlos Lehder; George Jung; and Jose
Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha.

During the peak of its reign, the Medellin cartel brought in up to $60 million a day in drug
profits.

In 1975, Colombian police seized 600 kilos of cocaine from a plane. Drug traffickers
retaliated by killing 40 people during one weekend in what became known as the "Medellin
Massacre." The event triggered years of violence that led to assassinations, kidnappings, and
raids.

Importantly, the U.S. and Colombian governments ratified a bilateral extradition treaty in
1981. This treaty became a significant concern for Columbian traffickers.

II. Manuel Noriega:

In 1982, Panamanian General Manuel Noriega allowed Medellin drug lord Pablo Escobar to
ship cocaine through Panama.

General Noriega surrendered to the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in 1989 when
the United States invaded Panama. He was eventually convicted and sentenced to 40 years in
prison on eight counts of drug trafficking, money laundering, and racketeering.

III. The Cali Cartel:

When the Medellin cartel was brought down, the Cali Cartel stepped up. This organized
operation emerged in the early 80s and was based in southern Colombia while being a big
rival to the Medellin Cartel.

At the peak of the Cali Cartel, it was thought to have control over about 80 percent of the
cocaine supplied to the United States. By the mid-90s, the organization became a multi-
billion-dollar smuggling business.

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In 1995, top Cali cartel members were captured and arrested. A year later, all of the Cali
kingpins were behind bars.

IV. The Sinaloa Cartel:

By the mid-1980s, the U.S.-Mexican border became the main transport route for cocaine,
marijuana, and other drugs into the United States. By the late 1990s, Mexican traffickers
dominated drug distribution and introduced methamphetamine.

As of 2023, the Sinaloa Cartel remains Mexico's most dominant drug cartel. After the arrest
of Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and his son Ovidio Guzmán López, the cartel is now headed
by old-school leader Ismael Zambada García (aka El Mayo) and Guzmán's other sons, Jesús
Alfredo Guzmán and Ivan Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar.

The Sinaloa Federation, which is still operating today, is perhaps the largest and most well-
known Mexican drug cartel.

V. Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel:

Another Mexican cartel, known as Gulf, started in the 1920s but didn’t gain ground in the
area of drug trafficking until the 1980s. Gulf became one of Sinaloa’s main rivals in the
2000s.

The Gulf Cartel worked with Los Zetas, a group made up of former elite members of the
Mexican military. Representatives of Los Zetas essentially worked as hitmen for the Gulf.

When the two groups split in 2010, a bloody fallout occurred that has been called the most
violent period in the history of organized crime in Mexico.

The impact of Mexico’s drug cartel violence is still felt today. Newer cartels have emerged in
recent years, and some have formed after breaking with old alliances.

According to the 2015 Congressional Research Service report, Mexican drug wars claimed
more than 80,000 lives between 2006 and 2015.

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 VI. The Juárez/Carrillo Fuentes Organization:

Initially based in Ciudad Juárez, controlled the drug smuggling route to El Paso, Texas, in the

1980s and 1990s. Founded by Amado Carrillo Fuentes, it once dominated half of Mexican

drug trafficking. After Amado's death in 1997, his brother Vicente Carrillo Fuentes took over

until his arrest in 2014. In 2008, the Juárez Cartel split from the Sinaloa Federation, sparking

violent conflicts in Ciudad Juárez. The cartel trafficked various drugs.

Violence decreased in 2012-2013 due to police action, a socioeconomic program and other

important factors, but since 2016, violence has risen, possibly due to conflicts between cartels

for control in Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua state.

Despite not being as large as other cartels, Juárez and its affiliate, La Linea, maintain

significant influence in Chihuahua.

4. Timeline:

1979: U.S- 1997: the Gulf

1910s: Opium Colombia Cartel and Los
poppies were Extradition Zetas made an
brought by the Treaty alliance.
Chinese to Mexico

mid-1980s: 1994: the 2008: "El

The Cali Cartel Chapo", leader
Medellin became the of the Sinaloa
Cartel no. 1 cartel, is listed
supplied 80% supplier of by Forbes as
of the cocaine in "World Most
cocaine the U.S. Powerful Men"
smuggled in until 1998.
the U.S

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 5. Key Issues:

I. Corruption:

The transportista networks make the difference between how much the drugs cost when they
receive them and how much they cost when they are passed to the next transportista. On the
whole, trafficking in a country like Honduras can make close to $700 million per year, which
is 4 percent of the GDP, or about half the value of the country’s top export, coffee.

II. Impunity:

The transportistas also buy off prosecutors, police, and judges. They influence the judicial
process from the beginning, first trying to make sure no one gets started on an investigation;
and then thwarting these investigations if they do get started.

III. Violence:

Although it is hard to quantify because the data is flawed or unavailable, the transportistas are
involved in the violence that is afflicting this region. The maps of the most violent areas
coincide with the areas presumed to be the drug trafficking routes. We are talking about gang
violence in the region's largest cities. As described earlier, these gangs control many of the
local drug markets where they sell everything from powdered cocaine to forms of crack to
marijuana. Between them, they are fighting for the proverbial corner, which is believed to be
one of the main causes of homicide in these countries.

IV. Migration:

The combination of corruption, impunity, and violence is a powerful push factor when it
comes to migration. The areas from where we are seeing some of the most migrants are the
areas of transportista and gang violence. The frustration and lack of trust these migrants have
with their own authorities is evident in the countless testimonies that come across my desk.
Others have done more systematic studies of these push factors, which I urge the Caucus to
consult as they consider how to deal with this issue.

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 6. Evaluation of Previous Attempts:

• UNODC response to illicit drug trafficking within the framework of

the Regional Programme for Central America

The Regional Programme for Central America is the result of an in-depth consultation
process fully supported by Member States of the region. UNODC organized a Regional
Experts Meeting in Costa Rica in 2009 on priorities for action in Central America for the
period 2009-2011.

The ''Programa de UNODC para el reforzamiento del plan de acción de la estrategia de

seguridad en Centroamérica y México'' was adopted at the Ministerial Conference in
Managua, Nicaragua on 23-24 Junes 2009 by the seven Member States of the Central

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American Integration System (SICA), with Costa Rica as observer, the Dominican Republic
as an Associated State to SICA and Mexico. It is intended to complement the Central
America and Mexico Security Strategy Action Plan.

• Santo Domingo Pact/ SICA-UNODC Mechanism

The Santo Domingo Pact/ SICA-UNODC Mechanism is an interregional programme (Central

America and the Caribbean) that aims to enhance policy coordination in the field of drug
trafficking and organized crime.

• Establishment of a treatment, rehabilitation, and social reintegration

network in Central America

The regional project aims to create a treatment, rehabilitation, and social reinsertion network
in Central America, in order to progressively promote an integrated approach to the needs of

drug-dependent persons and facilitate the consolidation of a regional treatment capacity.

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 • A regional network of organized crime prosecutors

This initiative proposes the creation of a sustainable Network of Central American Anti-
Organized Crime and Drug Prosecution Units (OCN) in order to strengthen the prosecuting
and investigating capacities of Central American countries in handling complex and
transnational cases involving drug trafficking as well as other forms of organized crime, and
to enhance regional and inter-regional operational and judicial cooperation.

• Regional Centre of Excellence on Maritime Security in Panama

The objective of centres of excellence is to assist governments in the region to build up

national and regional capacity in dealing with threats and risks stemming from illicit
trafficking, drug abuse, organized crime, and related violence as well as to strengthen the rule
of law.

• Regional Centre of Excellence on Crime Statistics

UNODC and the National Institute of Statistics of Mexico (INEGI) have established a
regional Centre of Excellence on Government, Public Security, Victimization, and Justice
statistics in Mexico. The objective is to facilitate the strengthening of statistics and analytical
capacities in the above-mentioned areas.

7. Possible Solutions:
• Enhancing punishment on corruption;
• Creating a judicial organization which handles drug traffic-related corruption;
• Strengthen security at borders.

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