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Illicit Markets, Organized Crime, and Global Security pp 63–85Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking in the Americas: Trends and Challenges

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Abstract

It is not possible to examine trends in organized crime and drug trafficking without exploring the changing dynamics in the Latin American drug trade. The US government has spent billions of dollars on counter-narcotics initiatives, such as Plan Colombia and the Mérida Initiative, to combat the supply and trafficking of drugs entering the United States from Latin America. This chapter examines the major trends in organized crime and drug trafficking in the region. It also focuses on the connection between Latin American countries and the United States, which is the number one drug-consuming country in the world. This chapter analyzes the evolution of organized crime over time. The result of counter-drug policies has been a splintering of organized criminal groups into smaller organizations that are harder to combat.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    James Petras, “The geopolitics of plan Colombia,” Monthly Review 53, no. 1 (2001): p. 30; Michelle L. Dion and Catherine Russler, “Eradication efforts, the state, displacement and poverty: explaining coca cultivation in Colombia during Plan Colombia,” Journal of Latin American Studies 40, no. 3 (2008): pp. 399–421; Nelson B. Arteaga, “The Mérida initiative: security-surveillance harmonization in Latin America,” European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 87 (2009): pp. 103–110.

  2. 2.

    Bruce Bagley, Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in the Americas: Major Trends in the Twenty-Frist Century (Woodrow Wilson Center International Center for Scholars, Washington, DC, 2012) p. 3.

  3. 3.

    Bruce Bagley, Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in the Americas: Major Trends in the Twenty-Frist Century, pp. 6–7; Bruce Bagley, “La conexión Colombia-México-Estados Unidos,” Cocaine Politics: Drugs, Armies and the CIA in Central America, eds. Peter Dale Scott and Jonathan Marshall, (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1998), pp. 186–192.

  4. 4.

    Bruce Michael Bagley, “Drug Trafficking, Political Violence, and U.S. Policy in Colombia in the 1990s,” 2001, http://www.as.miami.edu/media/college-of-arts-and-sciences/content-assets/international-studies/documents/publications/Bagley%20Drugs%20and%20violence%20final3.pdf, accessed April 2017, p. 1.

  5. 5.

    Victor J. Hinojosa, Domestic Politics and International Narcotics Control: U.S. Relations with Mexico and Colombia, 1989–2000 (Routledge: New York, NY, 2007), p. 22.

  6. 6.

    Victor J. Hinojosa, Domestic Politics and International Narcotics Control: U.S. Relations with Mexico and Colombia, 1989–2000, p. 23.

  7. 7.

    Bruce Michael Bagley, “Drug Trafficking, Political Violence, and U.S. Policy in Colombia in the 1990s,” p. 7. See also Bruce Michael Bagley, “Dateline Drug Wars: Colombia: The Wrong Strategy,” Foreign Policy, no. 77 (winter 1989–1990): pp. 154–171; Patrick L. Clawson and R. W. Lee III, The Andean Cocaine Industry (St. Martin’s Griffin: New York, NY, 1998).

  8. 8.

    For more, see: Bruce M. Bagley, “Colombia and the War on Drugs,” Foreign Affairs 67, no. 1 (1988): pp. 70–92; Bruce Bagley, Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in the Americas: Major Trends in the Twenty-First Century.

  9. 9.

    For more on the FARC, see also Jennifer S. Holmes, Sheila Amin Gutiérrez De Piñeres, and Kevin M. Curtin, “A subnational study of insurgency: FARC violence in the 1990s,” Studies in Conflict & Terrorism 30, no. 3 (2007): pp. 249–265; Michael Shifter, “Colombia on the brink: There goes the neighborhood,” Foreign Affairs (1999): pp. 14–20.

  10. 10.

    Michael Shifter, “Plan Colombia: A Retrospective,” Americas Quarterly (Summer 2012): p. 3.

  11. 11.

    For more, see: Connie Veillette, Plan Colombia: A Progress Report (Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service, 2005); June S. Beittel, Colombia: Background and U.S. Relations (CRS: Washington, DC, 2014); Jennifer S., Holmes, Sheila Amin Gutiérrez Piñeres, and Kevin M. Curtin, “Drugs, violence, and development in Colombia: A department-level analysis,” Latin American Politics and Society 48, no. 3 (2006): pp. 157–184; Michelle L. Dion and Catherine Russler, “Eradication efforts, the state, displacement and poverty: explaining coca cultivation in Colombia during Plan Colombia,” Journal of Latin American Studies 40, no. 03 (2008): pp. 399–421; Mark Peceny and Michael Durnan, “The FARC’s best friend: US antidrug policies and the deepening of Colombia’s civil war in the 1990s,” Latin American Politics and Society 48, no. 2 (2006): pp. 95–116; Rocio Moreno-Sanchez, David S. Kraybill, and Stanley R. Thompson, “An econometric analysis of coca eradication policy in Colombia,” World Development 31, no. 2 (2003): pp. 375–383.

  12. 12.

    15th Anniversary of Plan Colombia: Learning from its Successes and Failures,” Washington Office on Latin America, February 1, 2016, https://www.wola.org/files/1602_plancol/, accessed April 2017.

  13. 13.

    For more, see: Jonathan D. Rosen, The Losing War: Plan Colombia and Beyond (SUNY Press: Albany, NY, 2014).

  14. 14.

    Adam Isacson, Plan Colombia—Six Years Later (Center for International Policy, Washington, DC, 2006), p. 2.

  15. 15.

    “Coca crops in Colombia increase almost 40 per cent over one year: new UNODC report,” UNODC, July 8, 2016, https://www.unodc.org/unodc/en/frontpage/2016/July/coca-crop-in-colombia-increases-almost-40-per-cent-over-one-year_-new-unodc-report.html, accessed April 2017.

  16. 16.

    Christopher Woody, “In the world’s biggest cocaine producer, cultivation reportedly surged again in 2016,” Business Insider, March 13, 2017, p. 3.

  17. 17.

    UNODC, World Drug Report 2016, Ch. 1; Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary (DEA: Springfield, VA, 2015).

  18. 18.

    Bruce Bagley, Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in the Americas: Major Trends in the Twenty-First Century.

  19. 19.

    For more on this topic, see Ted Galen Carpenter, Bad Neighbor Policy: Washington’s Futile War on Drugs in Latin America (Palgrave Macmillan: New York, NY, 2003).

  20. 20.

    Jorge Chabat, “La seguridad en la política exterior de Calderón,” Foro Internacional (2013): pp. 729–749.

  21. 21.

    For more on this topic, see B. Nelson Arteaga, “The Mérida initiative: security-surveillance harmonization in Latin America,” European Review of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 87 (2009): pp. 103–110; Sabrina Abu-Hamdeh, “The Merida Initiative: An Effective Way of Reducing Violence in Mexico?” Pepperdine Policy Review 4 (2011): p. 37; Clare Ribando Seelke, “Mérida Initiative for Mexico and Central America: funding and policy issues,” Current Politics and Economics of the United States, Canada and Mexico 13, no. 4 (2011): p. 707; Paul Ashby, “Solving the Border Paradox? Border Security, Economic Integration and the Mérida Initiative,” Global Society 28, no. 4 (2014): pp. 483–508.

  22. 22.

    Clare Ribando Seelke and Kristin Finklea, U.S.-Mexican Security Cooperation: The Mérida Initiative and Beyond (Congressional Research Service: Washington, DC, 2017).

  23. 23.

    For more on this topic, see Kate Doyle, “The militarization of the drug war in Mexico,” Current History 92, no. 571 (1993): p. 83; Robert C Bonner, “The cartel crackdown: Winning the drug war and rebuilding Mexico in the process,” Foreign Affairs 91 (2012): p. 12; Peter Watt and Roberto Zepeda, Drug War Mexico: Politics, Neoliberalism and Violence in the New Narcoeconomy (Zed Books: London, UK, 2012).

  24. 24.

    Bruce Bagley, Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in the Americas: Major Trends in the Twenty-First Century, p. 9; Shannon O’Neil, “The Real War in Mexico: How Democracy Can Defeat the Drug Cartels,” Foreign Affairs (2009): pp. 63–77; John P. Sullivan and Robert J. Bunker, “Drug Cartels, Street Gangs, and Warlords,” Small Wars and Insurgencies 13, no. 2 (2002): pp. 40–53.

  25. 25.

    Jesus Murillo Karam quoted in Patrick Corcoran, “Mexico Has 80 Drug Cartels: Attorney General,” InSight Crime, December 20, 2012. http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/mexico-has-80-drug-cartels-attorney-general, accessed April 2017.

  26. 26.

    InSight Crime, “Jalisco Cartel—New Generation (CJNG),” InSight Crime, April 17, 2017, http://www.insightcrime.org/mexico-organized-crime-news/jalisco-cartel-new-generation, accessed April 2017.

  27. 27.

    Luis Alonso Pérez, “Mexico’s Jalisco Cartel—New Generation: From Extinction to World Domination,” InSight Crime, December 26, 2016, http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/mexico-cartel-jalisco-new-generation-extinction-world-domination, accessed April 2017.

  28. 28.

    National Gang Intelligence Center, 2013 National Gang Report (National Gang Intelligence Center: Washington, DC, 2015), p. 3.

  29. 29.

    Jason McGahan, “How Captured Mexican Drug Lord ‘El Chapo’ Turned Chicago Into His Home Port,” Time, February 26, 2014, p. 2.

  30. 30.

    Art Bilek quoted in Ashley Fantz, “How escaped drug lord Guzman has poisoned the streets of Chicago,” CNN, July 16, 2015.

  31. 31.

    Kimberly Heinle, Octavio Rodríguez Ferreira, and David A. Shirk, Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2015 (University of San Diego: San Diego, CA, 2016).

  32. 32.

    Kimberly Heinle, Octavio Rodríguez Ferreira, and David A. Shirk, Drug Violence in Mexico: Data and Analysis Through 2015.

  33. 33.

    Ibid.

  34. 34.

    Ray Walser, “Mexico, Drug Cartels, and the Merida Initiative: A Fight We Cannot Afford to Lose,” The Heritage Foundation, July 23, 2008, p. 6.

  35. 35.

    For more on drug trafficking and the border, see: Tony Payan, “The drug war and the US-Mexico border: The state of affairs,” South Atlantic Quarterly 105, no. 4 (2006): pp. 863–880; Peter Andreas, “The Mexicanization of the US-Canada border: Asymmetric interdependence in a changing security context,” International Journal 60, no. 2 (2005): pp. 449–462; Peter Andreas, “A tale of two borders: the US-Mexico and US-Canada lines after 9/11,” Center for Comparative Immigration Studies (2003).

  36. 36.

    Douglas Jehl, “$1-Million Drug Tunnel Found at Mexico Border: Narcotics: The passageway ends at a warehouse in Arizona. It was used to bring cocaine into the U.S.,” Los Angeles Times, May 19, 1990.

  37. 37.

    UT San Diego, “Border tunnels: Complete list of those found,” The San Diego Union-Tribune, October 31, 2013.

  38. 38.

    Steven Dudley, “El Chapo’s 2nd Escape Could Paralyze Mexico’s National Security Plans,” InSight Crime, July 12, 2015, http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/el-chapo-s-2nd-escape-could-paralyze-mexico-s-already-reeling-security-strategy, accessed April 2017.

  39. 39.

    Azam Ahmed, “How El Chapo Was Finally Captured Again,” The New York Times, January 16, 2016.

  40. 40.

    David Agren and Rory Carroll, “Joaquín ‘El Chapo’ Guzmán, Mexican drug lord, has been extradited to the US,” The Guardian, January 19, 2017.

  41. 41.

    Mike LaSusa, “5 Clever Ways Mexico Cartels Move Drugs Across US Border,” InSight Crime, October 4, 2016, http://www.insightcrime.org/news-analysis/5-clever-ways-mexico-cartels-move-drugs-over-us-border, accessed April 2017, pp. 2–3.

  42. 42.

    Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary—Updated (DEA: Springfield, VA, 2016), p. 8.

  43. 43.

    Jack Riley, “Statement of Jack Riley: Acting Deputy Administrator Drug Enforcement Administration,” Committee on Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, United States House of Representatives, October 8, 2015, https://www.dea.gov/pr/speeches-testimony/2015t/100815t.pdf, accessed April 2017, pp. 6–7.

  44. 44.

    Michael Lohmuller, “DEA Lays Out New Dynamic for Regional Heroin Trafficking,” Insight Crime, October 12, 2015, http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/dea-lays-out-new-dynamic-regional-heroin-trafficking, accessed April 2017.

  45. 45.

    Michael Lohmuller, “Report Documents Guerrero’s Role as Mexico’s Poppy Capital,” InSight Crime, April 20, 2016, http://www.insightcrime.org/news-briefs/report-documents-guerrero-role-mexico-poppy-heroin-epicenter, accessed April 2017; Rolando Aguilar, “Amapola sostiene a 1287 poblados; Guerrero, monarca de la heroína,” Exelsior, 20 de abril de 2016.

  46. 46.

    Michael Lohmuller, “Report Documents Guerrero’s Role as Mexico’s Poppy Capital;” Rolando Aguilar, “Amapola sostiene a 1287 poblados; Guerrero, monarca de la heroína.”

  47. 47.

    Antonio Mazzitelli quoted in Azam Ahmed, “Young Hands in Mexico Feed Growing U.S. Demand for Heroin,” The New York Times, August 29, 2015.

  48. 48.

    Michael Lohmuller, “Report Documents Guerrero’s Role as Mexico’s Poppy Capital,” pp. 1–2.

  49. 49.

    Jack Riley quoted in Azam Ahmed, “Young Hands in Mexico Feed Growing U.S. Demand for Heroin.”

  50. 50.

    Ibid.

  51. 51.

    “Today’s Heroin Epidemic,” Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), https://www.cdc.gov/vitalsigns/heroin/, accessed April 2017.

  52. 52.

    “The Numbers Behind America’s Heroin Epidemic,” The New York Times, October 30, 2015.

  53. 53.

    Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary—Updated.

  54. 54.

    “Today’s Heroin Epidemic,” Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC); “The Numbers Behind America’s Heroin Epidemic.”

  55. 55.

    “New research reveals the trends and risk factors behind America’s growing heroin epidemic,” CDC, https://www.cdc.gov/media/releases/2015/p0707-heroin-epidemic.html, accessed April 2017, p. 2; “The Numbers Behind America’s Heroin Epidemic.”

  56. 56.

    Evan Horowitz, “The heroin epidemic is spreading,” Boston Globe, December 22, 2016.

  57. 57.

    Ibid.

  58. 58.

    Ibid.

  59. 59.

    Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), National Heroin Threat Assessment Summary—Updated.

  60. 60.

    “The Accomplishments,” The White House, http://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/infocus/achievement/chap4.html, accessed January 2016; for more, see David Kamien, ed., McGraw-Hill Homeland Security Handbook: Strategic Guidance for a Coordinated Approach to Effective Security and Emergency Management (New York, NY: McGraw-Hill, 2012, 2nd edition).

  61. 61.

    Ana Gonzalez-Barrera and Mark Hugo Lopez, “U.S. immigrant deportations fall to lowest level since 2007,” Pew Research Center, December 16, 2016.

  62. 62.

    Jorge Ramos quoted in Yaron Steinbuch, “Obama bristles at ‘deporter-in-chief’ label in Fusion interview,” NY Post, December 10, 2014.

  63. 63.

    Barack Obama quoted in Yaron Steinbuch, “Obama bristles at ‘deporter-in-chief’ label in Fusion interview.”

  64. 64.

    Muzaffar Chishti, Sarah Pierce, and Jessica Bolter, “The Obama Record on Deportations: Deporter in Chief or Not?” Migration Policy Institute, January 26, 2017, p. 1.

  65. 65.

    Ana Gonzalez-Barrera and Mark Hugo Lopez, “U.S. immigrant deportations fall to lowest level since 2007.”

  66. 66.

    Donald Trump quoted in Maya Rhodan, “Donald Trump Raises Eyebrows with ‘Bad Hombres’ Line,” Time, October 19, 2016.

  67. 67.

    Robert Muggah and Ilona Szabó de Carvalho, “There’s a cure for Latin America’s murder epidemic—and it doesn’t involve more police or prisons,” World Economic Forum, April 4, 2017.

  68. 68.

    David McAdams, “A Wall Won’t Secure the U.S.-Mexico Border, but Economic Policy Could,” Harvard Business Review, February 14, 2017.

  69. 69.

    Bruce Bagley, Drug Trafficking and Organized Crime in the Americas: Major Trends in the Twenty-First Century.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Political Science, Northern Michigan University, Marquette, MI, USA

    Hanna Samir Kassab

  2. Holy Family University, Philadelphia, PA, USA

    Jonathan D. Rosen

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  1. Hanna Samir Kassab
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Kassab, H.S., Rosen, J.D. (2019). Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking in the Americas: Trends and Challenges. In: Illicit Markets, Organized Crime, and Global Security. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-90635-5_4

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