US Enters “War” Against “Drug Trafficking” in Central America

With Barack Obama as president, the United States continues to strengthen its relations with Latin America. In order to do that, he has sent his best advisers to the region, including vice president Joe Biden.

This is not only to solidify friendships between presidents, vice presidents and politicians, but to find solutions to problems that affect the United States as well as Latin American nations, such as drug trafficking.

The efforts to eradicate drug production in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia haven’t been successful, as drug traffickers have moved their operations to other locations. One example has been the jungles in Central American countries, such as Honduras.

While these efforts must continue, the United States needs to stop domestic demand. The quantity of heroin and cocaine addicts in the United States hasn’t changed much since the mid-1980s because of the failure to reduce the quantity of available drugs and the inefficiency of the prevention programs in the United States.

Drug trafficking, driven by such a big market, has spread everywhere and it can no longer be thought of as a Colombian, Mexican or Bolivian problem. It is a Latin American problem.

Transshipment point

Drug traffickers have used Central America as a transshipment point since at least the ‘70s. However, the decisive retaliations against criminal organizations in Mexico and Colombia have made great progress in limiting trafficking to the other side of the Caribbean. Each time they’ve attracted more powerful groups here, confining more deeply the whiplash of drug trafficking in small Central American countries, which until now haven’t been able to fight it.

Most of the known shipments of cocaine are in the north. 84 percent of it has crossed through Central America in the last two years (based on data from a localization radar by American authorities), which highlights a marked increase in respect to 44 percent in 2008 and only 23 percent in 2006.

In response to the pressure and the opportunity, the cartels have spread rapidly. Five of the seven Central American countries currently are in United States’ list of the “20 major countries of illegal drug trafficking or major illegal drug producing countries.” Three of them, Costa Rica, Nicaragua and Honduras, were just added to the list in 2010.

At the same time, the administration of the business has changed. The Mexican cartels took control over the Colombians in recent years. They recruited local gangs to help them drive the drug shipments, which increased consumption because they paid with drugs. At the same time, they expanded extortion and kidnapping rings to round out the business.

Promises and Laboratories

When President Obama visited El Salvador in 2011, he announced a plan to fight organized crime in the region through strengthening institutions and supplying training for the authorities, guns and equipment. However, many Central American presidents are frustrated with waiting. Of the 1.6 billion dollars promised to the anti-drug initiative by the U.S., $258 million were assigned to Central America. However, only $20 million has reached the region.

In the meantime, the problems continue. American officials confess that the problem is serious, very serious. In 2011, Honduran authorities made a shocking discovery: An important processing cocaine lab was found, which showed that the region has become not only a passing drug station, but also a producer.

Even places that were once peaceful, like Costa Rica, are fighting against addiction, gangs and corruption because of drug money.

The Drug Map

The military map that the United States has of the supposed drug trafficking by plane and boat that came from South America toward Central America in 2011 shows about 20 lines that go toward the north. On the side of the Atlantic there is an arch of flights that form a pistol: the handle is in the border of Venezuela and Colombia, and the barrel is pointing toward the Caribbean coast of Honduras. On the Pacific side, the clues mainly show boats, with dozens that come out of Colombia and go toward an area of Costa Rica known for fishing.

Both routes are becoming more popular. Alleged flights carrying drugs to Honduras increased to 82 flights in 2010, above the six registered in 2006 (there are no official data for 2011, but surely there are 100 or more). In Costa Rica, there were 100 “maritime events,” which contrasts drastically with 12 recorded five years ago.

The patterns show how the drug traffickers take advantage of the geographic, political and economic vulnerabilities of the region. In Honduras, the northeastern coast of San Pedro Sula offers a tropical forest which is mainly uninhabited, which is perfect for the single engine planes that drug traffickers use to hide or burn the evidence afterward.

An ex-drug trafficker said he had very few problems moving around loads of cocaine throughout the years. He said he would pile up pound after pound from the planes and then would take it in a boat or car to the Guatemalan border, without being captured once.

Lack of Resources

Some Honduran officials say the radar system they would need to follow the planes closely would cost more than $30 million, and even with that they would need helicopters and other equipment to intervene rapidly. The chaos of 2009 brought about by “Mel” Zelaya worsened the situation, since the armed forces of Honduras were diverted to contain the protests on the streets, and American officials suspended the anti-drug help in response to the political crisis.

In Costa Rica, the Pacific Coast has demonstrated that it is equally porous. Fast motorboats that smuggle drugs navigate the boat lanes, fishermen in Puntarenas, the main port of the country, report. They emphasize that their radios have been repeating for years offers from the cartels of food or thousands of dollars to whoever would transport drugs to the coast.

That is, unless the drug traffickers are not the owners of the boats already. Officials from the Chamber of Commerce of Puntarenas said that people that were suspected to be leaders of cartels had bought at least half a dozen fishing businesses in the last few years, forcing sales with the barrel of a gun or offering a higher price than normal at a time when fishing is not lucrative.

The Consequences

Central America is overflowing with drug traffickers. The region has become an important consumer of cocaine, which began a few years ago when the cartels began paying people in kind. Local traffickers rapidly converted those payments into crack, which sells for a dollar per dose.

The consequences continue to multiply. Urban areas and coastal towns are experiencing more crime related to drugs, at a time when the treatment centers are overwhelmed and badly prepared, like the police.

In San Pedro Sula, all the drug treatment centers were full during a recent visit. The closest alternative was a six-hour drive away. In Puntarenas, Costa Rica, the drug center offered a portrait of what happens when the cartels infiltrate a population of 10,000 residents in a country smaller than West Virginia. Sheltered in what once was a train warehouse, the center was full, as usual, with 32 men in trouble.

Homicide Rates Increasing

The rise in violence, insecurity and crime is what shocks people, as well as the leaders of Honduras and Costa Rica. Though Mexico continues to struggle with bloody violence, its homicide rate continues to be relatively low with 12 murders for each 100,000 residents. In Honduras, the homicide rate in itself is high and has risen rapidly. It is greater than Mexico’s, with 66.8 for each 100,000 residents; it is the worst in Central America.