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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE
INTERNATIONAL NARCOTICS CONTROL STRATEGY REPORT, MARCH 1996
United States Department of State
Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Coca and Cocaine
Cocaine continues to pose the most serious drug threat to the United
States. Crack, the smokeable variety of cocaine, is one of the most
addictive drugs on the market. Besides quickly ensnaring its victims,
crack is a euphoric stimulant which often provokes violent behavior in
users. From the drug trade's vantage point, it is an ideal drug: it is
cheap, potent, addictive, widely available, and most important of all,
immensely profitable. Crack sales fuel much of the drug violence in
America's largest cities, as gangs compete for lucrative sales territory
while addicts steal to feed their habit. In spite of stringent USG
antidrug efforts, hundreds of tons of cocaine enter the U.S. every year
by land, air, and sea. Even the 100 metric tons or so of cocaine that
the USG typically seizes in a year have little discernible effect of
price or availability. The combination of strong demand and
extraordinary profits continue to make the United States the cocaine
trade's foremost market.
Europe, however, is not far behind. Contemplating a day when cocaine
use may decline in the U.S., the cocaine trade for the past few years
has been targetting affluent European countries. In 1995, Italy seized
over two and half metric tons of cocaine; by October, Spain had seized
six metric tons; Portugal 1.9 metric tons--a sign that large volumes of
cocaine are now available in Western Europe. Post-Communist Eastern
Europe offers another attractive market. The Cali drug mafia has been
using Poland as a local hub since the early 1990's, and apparently has
been looking for a toehold in Hungary. Cocaine now moves freely also to
Africa. Nigerian trafficking rings use air links from Brazil to African
capitals to move large amounts of cocaine both for consumption in Africa
and transshipment to Europe. Ghana and South Africa are increasingly
important junctions for cocaine transiting Africa. Cocaine, in short,
remains a growth industry in most of the world.
Source and Transit Highlights. The principal cocaine producing and
transit countries, with some essential assistance from the USG, carried
on active campaigns against the cocaine syndicates in 1995. Though the
weakening of the Cali drug mafia was the most salient single
accomplishment, all the major coca growing countries kept up the
pressure on the drug trade. Bolivia not only turned in its best coca
eradication effort in six years, but seized over seven metrc tons of
cocaine products. The key enforcement success in 1995 was a joint
Bolivian-USG investigation that ultimately resulted in the mid-September
seizure in Lima of a Bolivian transport plane carrying over four metric
tons of cocaine HCl.
In Colombia, government forces carried out major coca eradication
efforts, spraying over 24,000 hectares. Without the massive spraying
campaign, Colombian coca could have far outstripped Bolivian
cultivation. Colombian forces seized over 21 metric tons of cocaine
HCl, less than in 1994, but still a sizeable quantity. In addition to
its active role in constricting the air-bridge shipments, the Government
of Peru also stepped up its interdiction efforts with the country.
Cocaine seizure rates rose dramatically from less than 100 kilograms in
1994 to 7.7 metric tons in 1995, showing not only greater achievement
but underscoring increased refining activities of cocaine hydrochloride
(HCl) in Peru. Though the Peruvian government has yet to undertake
eradication of mature coca, in 1995 it did systematically destroy
253,673 square meters of coca seedbeds capable of providing 16,912
hectares of mature cultivation. In February 1996, the Government of
Peru issued a decree initiating a limited coca eradication program.
The discovery that Colombian traffickers were delivering multi-ton
shipments of cocaine in jumbo jets underscored Mexico's role in the flow
of cocaine north. Although drug seizures lagged for much of the year,
several surge operations in late 1995 brought the total cocaine seized
up to 22.2 metric tons, approximately the quantity seized in 1994.
Mexico's air interdiction program, Operation "Halcon" (falcon), known in
the US as the Northern Border Response Force (NBRF), helped seize 18.5
metric tons cocaine in 1995. In addition to the arrest of other
important traffickers in 1995, in January 1996 Mexican authorities
captured Juan Garcia Abrego, one of the country's most notorious
traffickers who has also been suspected of involvement in the
assassination of Mexican Presidential candidate Luis Donaldo Colosio.
In Panama, by the end of November, enforcment authorities had seized
nearly six metric tons of cocaine, less than 1994, but nonetheless an
important quantity. Panama's National Air Service, supported by USG
aircraft, eradicated over 100 hectares of coca along Panama's border
with Colombia. As in past years, these operations further underscored
not only the feasibility but also the efficacy and environmental
acceptability of aerially applied herbicides against coca.
Belize emerged in 1995 as an important transit country for South
American drug traffickers moving cocaine into Mexico via the Yucatan for
transshipment to the US. Despite limited resources, Belizean
enforcement authorities seized over three quarters of ton of cocaine.
the USG believes this represents only a fraction of the amount actually
transiting the country.
In 1995, there was substantial drug trafficking through the Eastern
Caribbean gateways to US ports of entry in both the main island and
Vieques island of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands. The USG has
designated Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands as a high intensity
drug-trafficking area, and has provided special funding to combat the
problem. DEA reports that during the last three years an estimated
seven tons of cocaine per month were successfully smuggled into Puerto
Rico from the Lesser Antilles. The Lesser Antilles, which includes
territories of the United Kingdom (UK), the Netherlands, and France, is
also increasingly a transit route to Western Europe; approximately 30
percent of the drugs brought into the UK come from or through the
Caribbean.
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