Drug Trafficking in Latin America

1. Drug Trafficking in Latin America Laure Laffineur Benjamin Maurice Aurelie Collin du Bocage

2. Introduction • Problems associated with production, traffic and consumption of drugs in Latin America affect the quality of life of its people and results in: -social exclusion -insecurity and violence -weakening of the government and its institutions

3. Routes

4. Cocaine • Cocaine is extracted from the leaves of the coca plant, which is indigenous to the Andean highlands of South America. According to interagency estimates, potential cocaine production in the Andean region of South America (Colombia, Bolivia, and Peru) accounts for virtually all worldwide cocaine production.

5. Trafic • Much of the cocaine available in the United States is transported from South American nations, particularly Colombia, through the Mexico-Central America Corridor. Mexican growers produce about 30 percent of the heroin on the U.S. market • The Carribean zone remains the most frequented route for drug traffic to the United States • The pacific route crossing central America also has relative importance

6. The economy of drug dealing • The narcotics cartels are by far the most successful Latin American enterprises in the international market. Mexico’s cartels alone yield $30 billion to $50 billion a year in hard currency from the United States, more than four times the revenue from oil, the country’s leading legal export. • Mexico and Colombia would collapse without the steady infusion of narcodollars, and if their leaders are less than zealous in their pursuit of narcotics traffickers, it is at least as much for reasons of state interest as because of corruption. .

7. Consumption issues • Consumption affects mostly young generations. • Cocaine, crack, and marijuana are the most consumed. They are the ones with the most negative impact on health.

8. Solution? • Governments around the world have taken measures, created plans to decrease both the production and the consumption. • Their emphasis is on the control of production and drug trafficking, on communicating with young people through prevention campaigns, and in making governmental institutions stronger. • International cooperation is also a key factor in fighting drug trafficking, production and consumption

9. Interview of a mexican citizen Person interviewed: Diana C. Cebreros Salazar (guadalajara) “it’s something normal, we are used to it » “the drug dealing business in Mexico is the sixth power in this country … but it controls the first five»

10. “Drug dealing business is a complex company with different organizational levels and very specialized nets” • “way for survival » • « we live scared of being close to them … and at the same time scared of trying to be far way from them »

11. Sources http://www.monde-diplomatique.fr/cartes/amerlatdrogue Diana C. Cebreros Salazar (guadalajara) www.unesco.org www.wikipedia.net