| Show The Salt Lake Tribune A3 Sunday September 3 1989 Cocaine Web Tangling Producers Users and Nations It Editor's NO begins with the peasant in Bolivia or Peru moves On to the CoIomPian drug baron and ends up with the user In ttle United States or Europe This is the Cocaine troll that nor brought the peasant more mon he has ever had before and the baron enormous wealth But cocaine money as Colombia has recently snown is a curse in South America By Peter McFarren Associated Press Writer LA PAZ Bolivia — The cocaine trade has become so pervasive and so great an economic force in South America that it threatens the sovereignty and security of nations Billions of cocaine dollars are making their way into and in some cases corrupting the economies of Colombia Peru Bolivia and more recently Ecuador on a scale that approaches the amounts they earn from legal exports Cocaine cartels producers and traffickers have established virtual autonomous states in remote areas and with the support of local coca growing peasants operate out of the reach of the law guerrillas in Peru are arming themselves with millions of dollars from drug cartels and traffickers with whom they have allied themselves in their attempts to seize power In Colombia traffickers have formed private armies with intell- modern igencegathering units Bannquiltai Medellin cs Colombia Ocaan 7 r 300 a Mop : -- 41i v0 Bolivian anti-drupolice trained by US soldiers and assisted by members of the US Border Patrol and American agents have destroyed three cocaine labs and 5723 cocaine paste processing pits compared to 3542 pits in 1988 But vast areas of the Bolivian tropical lowlands are beyond their reach and traffickers planes fly co g I 4 J :i :1 A Cocaine A Marijuana I' Drug routes eL:± :::- ''' :' - - — '— Medellin "A :::::::::::::::::::: A ::: A A ' LtQuito '' I' '"' Pactirc '--' Ectiador I ::::::1 12 C' A Ocean' i ' Brazil — A 0 i ': ‘ i A N - 0 1111111181 A A - :300 111161111t L::' 7- !::: Wes t ' I AA A 7' - ‘ zs A ' :) G p 1111 'Ilkili ''' ''': loos 601 Noma Cocaine profits ) e Farmer sells coca leaves ground into paste for an average of $460 a pound of leaves 2 Processor spends about $2270 a pound including price of coca paste to make cocaine and sells it wholesale for more than $10000 a pound Street dealer sells cocaine for more than $38500 a pound (or $85 a gram an amount commonly bought by users) 3rk r- The percent of US marijuana supply from Colombia cocai- SOURCES: Embassy of 94 !':'':-1!1- 'i' 1I i' 1': 1986 1987 1988 KIRIN InfographicsPAUL 89 i ' ' 1' Colombia National Narcotocs Intelligence Consumers Commit lee National Geographic multi-natio- 1:' - SOUTAR New Bush Drug Strategy T0 Focus on Casual User By Thomas Ferraro United Press International WASHINGTON — In a nationally televised address Tuesday night President Bush will announce his anti-drustrategy that sources say will include more than $300 million in additional aid for cocaine-ravageSouth America Administration sources said Bush will recommend that overall spendefforts ing for federal — from education to law enforcement — be increased by 25 percent in fiscal 1990 to about $78 billion Sources say Bush will seek some fundamental shifts in US policies which have historically focused with limited success on trying to interdict drugs along the nation's border and snare narcotic kingpins Now they say the administration will place an increased emphasis on cracking down on casual drug users winning back America's streets from narcotic dealers and seeking to smash global trafficking networks by going after middlemen like pilots couriers and money launderers "We'll be going after everybody — mid-levhigh-levand " said one administration official Another said: "There is no easy quick solution to the drug problem but we believe this is a sound offeng d c low-lev- low-lifes- sive" The overall focus of Bush's plan as outlined last month in draft reports has been praised But there is plenty of criticism that the president still isn't devoting enough fonds to the nation's top domestic concern illicit drugs Cntics note that the president's proposed $2 billion increase in the federal antidrug effort is equivalent to just four Stealth bombers They also point out that the program d t'' - 1 ''''' 4 i 4t ' ''' :: - - ' --- A ' '::' " '''' ::- :: 4: N(K'Y ' ' 004 ::::::c:::::: 4711' 1: :ss t4'4' :: 2'ii:''' - - Co il 4 ' r : : 114:etT' ' : '''' ": :::::' I ' - "itt:::: I: 1 - 1 ARt '''''''''''' :'''::” ic” '1:' ' Y:71 41''''""''''''''-':7:- -: '4447 ' ''''' ' t s' '''': v ‘ ' ":' - 14-V- - ' ' : A :':''::: 4 tit : - :: ' '1-- ''''"'' i'4 i '''' '' ':" :1t1:t1':: ':"i:::: :'34t: i :: - ' ' So: s :4 1 4:z: It :i ' '6-- : i ':::: 16 '' '::: :'''''-'- ' A 4 ''e: t'::::'1441 ' ' 4::'::A-- t tt ' 4 : it ' ' ::'i::'1 :::: N '4'114 s' " ' 'i--- ::::4:1 —UPI heavily armed troops in Medellin bia patrol an area where a bomb exploded Colom- i ''''4:ili 1 0: 1' :: t 'k:i :' atto ': t 4k ':':'::': '':7:‘:''':' 4‘3:k04 '' id -- N: 7 ' :0::1 ' '” 44:'1474 ' '' ik' ' s' ':' f s ::': - - 51 'i''' J:f r71ii::: ' 1' :Ps :mr-- ) it ' 4 - :" ‘ - IC:1v: :‘1 e 5- -'- 1' Ak 'e' - 'l'i'''t 5 '' !ir - -- 4:iniiiitAlk r-- 1: l':'-- ' : rz:i' t'ztti:' 4141f: 4' ! kt' ?4 4:' 1 5T:' ' 1rvr- - if':i:-:-- :: ' :' !A 41tottes:zo::: igii4kzi$::r1:k4 J'' '4'o' 'A ' '''' - ' Ate))k : -- lfr-1- t 11::':1:4:!4—:i 4 - E) ''' ' 7"7" ' :M:' ibt ' " ""::''' ' 0i41ii -- a" a°!ElV::''''''''A:- '' ' ' ''''':- - ::::3::::::':::':: ::::'::: '::''''4144' 1 es: - ‘:: ' ': ' i r 4 i ' v- :0::::-- :: 1111 ::&44 : 44::::e:::':!::c 2t$7 :5 1 :::44' i::::z:::::: ''''':'::: '':' --- ' :: :''S:':':'':::L:':' 0::: : 4-- :''i': q7 1 :''t: - to - :': ' ' 1:':: ' ' Peuter The attack vhich injured five people 'as believed to be the work of the drug cartel Drug Lords Would Take Tomb In Colombia Over Cal in US d Colombia traditionally has resist ed extradition of its citizens to the United States For miwy citizens and political leaders it is a question of national sovereignty But in 1979 Julio Cesar Turbay negotiated an extradition treaty with President Carter when the United States became concerned about Colombian marijunana flowing into the country But the treaty never was activated and was opposed by President Bellsario Betancur "It just doesn't seem right to give your children over to a neighbor for punishment" he said But when motorcycle assassins linked to the cocaine cartels emptied a 9mm Ingram machine gun into e crusading Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla pril 30 1984 Betancur became the first Coexlombian president to an traditions "I realize now that these thugs are not children much less Colombians They are international criminals and if I can help to stop them through extradition then so be it" Betancur said in a eulogy at Lama Bonillas funeral The cartels created "The Extraditables" whose motto appeared to be "We prefer a tomb in Colombia to a cell in the United Slates" Over the next three years Belau authorized the extradition of 17 Colombians for trials on drug charges in the United States The last one to be shipped north was notorious drug lord Carlos Lehder a pioneer organizer of the Medellin Cartel's transportation network He was nabbed after a weekend of partying on a farm outside Medellin Because his extradition papers al anti-crim- 33o0 71 I!! Marijuana to the US ne-producing I -27' ”- ready were signed it only took Colombian officials 24 hours to pack Lacier into a US Air Force military transport plane to Miami Ile was tried in Jacksonville Fla last year and received a sentence of life in prison plus 135 years Two months after the Lehder extradition the Colombian Supreme Court acting on lawsuits brought by a battery of cocaine mob lawyers overturned the treaty because of a technicality: it had been signed by the president's representative rather than Turbay himself Barco tried to close that loophole by putting his own signature on the treaty but the court ruled it was too late The ruling meant the treaty was put back on a dusty shell' anti ignored But again it Was the cocaine cartel's alleged killing Aug lit of a prominent politician Sen Luis Carlos Galan the leading presidential candidate of the ruling Liberal Par ty that sparked Rnewed calls for ex tradition To bypass the Supreme Court awl' reinstate the extradition treaty Barco used the emergency powers of e his declaration Besides attracting the lethal anger " of the cocaine gangs Barco also may be overruled by the Supreme Court : It has until the first week of October-to decide whether Barco's action IA as' constitutional Legally speaking it is almost cvt:tain that the Supreme Court will thl consistent with past rulings" sani lawyer (Ierman Rodriguez If the court rules against extraiV holt presidential adviser Rodrigo Pardo said Barr() would uhey the (Itstate-of-sieg- - cisions -But the president would the(i seek other legal means to effectuate extradition" he said -- Ile is commit ted to ridding the country of narco" ics traffickers" " then-Preside- 1 Colombia's other drug scourge 4 1 4fY ? :'- I ri 4 z--f ‘: t § :: :1 US justice Peru I' '' 4 f ::: '':: ii - On Aug 20 in funeral messages to judges in the city of Cali "The Extraditables" threatened to kill 10 judges for every person sent to face - i ' tradited ib'l? A :::::::H:::) - most-heate- A A A as o3t11011e: ' 0 Bogota Colombia A A :::- -I By Toni Quinn :: A -- - United Press International BOGOTA Colombia — For the cocaine czars of Colombia death in Colombia is preferable to life in prison in the United States The possibility of extradition to the United States is the point of friction between the government and the powerful drug lords of the cocaine cartels an issue over which they have killed and vowed to cont inue killing In the past The Extraditables- a death squad linked to the cocaine cartels have threatened to kill five Americans for every Colombian ex- Bucaramanga Coca dertv' Is :::1::::'): ' from Peru botivia I: ar)tt Ecuador gq ' I: to C0104711b1614111 firlal Oraceitilr )g ::::: i::: and distribution r-7 3 Venezuela o :': ::: '4 4 — zv A ' ' :k ::::::':k ''' ' A 7'' -- ''' 77 :-- ::- :' Panama ::: ::: L7 g Dtug mttivation 1 4 high" g Brazil Mites Cielbard added: "Both producing and consuming nations should take heed of what is happening in Colombia There is no such thing as benign drug production or consumptioh The sovereignty of producing nations is a little less secure with every new acre of coca planted and with every dollar spent on a cocaine produced is worth at least $17 billion wholesale From VIM an estimated $300 million to $500 million flows back into the economy compared IA ith $600 million for all legal exports combined For Peru's beleaguered economy $700 million to $12 billion enters the economy while legal exports bring in $25 billion The US government allocated $549 million for cocaine interdiction and police training programs for the fiscal year 1989 for all countries south of the United States before President Bush announced a $65 million emergency package for Cowar lonibia's anti-druThe US Congress allocated to Bolivia $10 million for fiscal 1989 $5 million less than in 1988 A single idaneload of cocaine from Bolivia to Colombia — usually about 14500 pounds — would fetch $10 million l'or the shipper ) 0 :: In Bolivia 'an impoverished country of 69 million people the cocaine 0 Peru tries" tions Bogota Pac all-o- drug-producin- anti-dru- Venezuela weapons and fleets of aircraft In the past decade they have killed 220 judges and other court employees two newspaper editors a justice minister an attorney general bun dreds of policemen and soldiers and dozens of others perceived as a threat to their business But it was the assassination last month of the popular presidential candidate Luis Carlos Galan that left the nation in outrage and prompted war the government to launch against the cartels in Bolivia and Peru however officials say the overall war against the cocaine trade will be lost without a regional effort and greater reresources for effective coca-lea- f duction and interdiction programs Peasant coca farmers in the far reaches of Bolivia and Peru are the suppliers for the traffickers of cocaine to the United States and Europe "The implications for Colombia and for other Latin American naare tions where narcotraffickers able to amass huge fortunes are crucial" the US ambassador to Bolivia Robert S Gelbard said in an interview "'The traffickers in a variety of ways are out to suborn and destroy the democratic system in Bolivia as in other countries of the region This is nothing less than a war to decide who will govern these coun- Already there is concern that the offensive against the Colombian cartels will drive the traffickers to other South American nations where vast areas are unpatrolled and lack radar to control air traffic Increased border patrols have already been set up in Brazil Peru Ecuador and Bolivia So far the US government's antidrug strategy in South America has been based on an effective interdiction program involving the seizure of chemicals used to process coca leaves and the destruction of facilities The intent was to drive down the price of coca leaves and encourage farmers to shift to other crops Operation "Snowcap" a cocaine interdiction program central to the US strategy has destroyed since its inception in 1987 more than 200 cocaine labs and seized more than 43 metric tons of cocaine U S drug agents and local police forces have in recent years increased their operating capacity but as police activities become more effective traffickers use their vast resources to bribe judges district attorneys and police officials Despite a greater US presence in drug producing nations cocaine production continues to rise by 10 percent a year a US State Department report says As a result cocaine prices in the United States have steadily declined making cocaine and crack more available Europe and Asia are now the growth markets for cocaine Peru Bolivia and Colombia produced 348 to 454 metric tons of pure cocaine in 1988 according to US government figures With cocaine selling wholesale in Miami for $15000 a kilo P22 pounds) or higher and retailing for $50000 to $120000 the value of South America's cocaine is worth at least $5 billion wholesale and at least $17 billion retail many times the lenagal exports of caine from the northern regions of Bolivia to Colombia or Brazil without interference At least 60 US experts operate in Bolivia alongside 1050 Bolivian police Ecuador is becoming an important money laundering and trafficking center in South America Cocaine shipments for the United States and Europe have been discovered in everything from canned fruit to wood and handicrafts While coca-lea- f production is relatively small in Ecuador traffickers are using that Andean country as a transit point for drugs the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) says Police estimate that $200 million to WO million was laundered or invested in Ecuador last year The United States provides Ecuador with $1 million a year for interdiction activities "As pressure increases in Colombia and Peru cocaine trafficking will increase in Ecuador because traffickers will move to the country with the least amount of pressure" said William Fernandez a US DEA station chief for Ecuador Newspapers in Ecuador have expressed concern in editorials about the danger of corruption of judges and government officials by drug cartels would be dwarfed by the recently ap- proved $300 billion initiative to bail out the nation's savings and loan institutions One administration official re- said jecting the complaints "There's going to be a lot more of everything" in the new drug strategy and it will be a lot better coordinated For years the US war on drugs has been a helter-skelte- r battle Numerous federal agencies like the Coast Guard Drug Enforcement Agency and Customs Service have engaged in turf wars sometimes even refusing to share data With little success too- they have sought to interdict an flow of drugs into the United States and bring down international drug lords many of whom reign over vast empires in Colombia The Bush administration is now seeking to extradite "a dirty dozen" of them to the United States and unify the federal assault against drugs Sources said that Bush will recommend that Colombia Peru and Bolivia receive more than $300 million in additional aid to combat the world's top cocaine cartels The three countries now get $162 million in US assistance The aid includes military advisers training and equipment plus protection for judges from drug assassins In accordance with US policy and South American wishes the bolstered U S help won't involve any combat troops chief William Federal anti-druBennett drafted the congressionally mandated strategy (luring the past six months In recent weeks though revisions were made to pump additional help to Colombia where co cartels have declared war on public officials g List of Prominent Murders Linked to Cocaine Cartels United Press international Colombia's cocaine cartels be gan killing judges police officers and government officials who tried to investigate then) in the By 1970s The Judicial Employees Association says 220 judges and magis trates have been killed since 1979 Official figures show more than 1600 police officers killed since 1905 The drug cartels ako are linked to death squads that target leftist sympathizers Prominent murders linked to Colombian cocaine cartels are Oct 20 PAO: Criminal Court Judge Ana Cecilia Cartagena Medellin April 30 1984 Justice Minister Rodrigo Lara Bonilla Bogota July 23 1985: Superior Court Judge Tu lio Manuel Castro Gil Bogota July 3 1986: Avianca Airlines ticket chief Luis Francisco Briceno Murillo Bogota July 17 1980: Police ('apt Luis Alredo Macana Rodriguez Bogota July 31 1980: Supreme Court Justice Hernando Baquero Borda Bogota 1980: Avianca Airlines Sept security chief Carlos Arturo Luna 1 Rojas Bogota 19813: Sen Pedro Net Sept Jimenez of the leftist Patriotic - 1 Uni011 SVPi 17 1986: El Occidente:::' newspaper managing editor Haul Echavarria Barrientos Cali Nov 17 1986: Col Jaime Hamirez Gomez former director of narcotics police Bogota Dec 17 1906: El Espectador::1' newspaper editor Guillermo Cant) Bogota Aug 14 1987: Sen Pedro Va- lencia Geraldo of Patriotic Union Medellin Sept 6: 1987: Deputy Angel Acosta of Patriotic Union Bogota Oct 29 1987: Deputy Ituraldo Cueller of Patriotic Union sencia Jan 22 1988: Judge Maria Reino Bogota Jan 26 1988! Attorney Gener- al Carlos Mauro I loyos Medellin ' Aug 16 1989: Appeals Court Judge Carlos Valencia Garcia Bo: gota Aug 18 1889: Antioquia Police Commander Valdemar Frank: lin Quintero Medellin r Aug 18 1989: Liberal Party presidential candidate Sun Luis Carlos Galan Bogota '' ' Key Smuggler Route L Caribbean's Gateway for Drug Traffic SAN JUAN Puerto Rico (AP) — Colombian drug lords smuggle most of the cocaine sold in the streets of the United States through the Caribbean which has become a strategic narcotics gateway On any given night small planes from Colombia and other South American nations drop bundles of cocaine into the blue Caribbean Sea The bundles bearing sophisticated blinking signal lights are then picked up by boats waiting off any one of 25 Caribbean island-nation- s or the Bahamas "No island is exempt no body of land" John Fernandez the US Drug Enforcement Agency spokes man in Miami said in a telephone interview "It comes by boat by air any type of boat any type of plane any which way traffickers can get drugs in" Officials say the Caribbean became the main cocaine route in the last few years because of increased drug production and relatively successful surveillance efforts in usual western routes including the US Mexico border In just two or three hours a plane carrying cocaine from Colombia also can fly the (100 or so miles across the Caribbean to landing fields in lain the Dominican RepublicJannuca Puerto Rico or the U S and British Virgin Islands The DEA estimates 60 to 80 percent of the cocaine and marijuana smuggled to the United Stales is transshipped from the Caribbean and the Bahamas mostly to Florida for redistribution to American markets Officials say Puerto Rico a US Commonwealth has become a recent favorite of traffickers because it has no US Customs inspections for flights leaving for the US mainland "If it arrives here it's in the United States" said Bill Mitchell a DEA special agent in San Juan "You can go up to any airline counter and say you want to ship 20 kilos of hardware to your sister It's a domestic shipment So you don't need to inspect it" other ways to ship drugs to the United Slates from Puerto Rico are by cruise ships conmiercial planes luggage and the LI S mails But most shipmen1s are made inside ship car go containers Puerto 'two has about I million such containers a number too great for U S Customs to inspect effectively I 1111114014 006 In fiscal 1908 the DEA said 11 tons of cocaine 35 tons of marijuana nine vessels and 20 aircraft were seized in the Caribbean But it believed only about 20 per cent of drugs shipments are seized "Four five years ago if you found50 pounds of cocaine it was a lotsaid Jaime Echeverria in charge of US Customs in Puerto Rico "'Po-dashipments easily have 1200 k pounds" Echeverria said that because Ca: ribbean islands are small smugglers know there is little radar to track air traffic "There are three radars to detect : - planes in Puerto Rico but things such as tropical weather and maintenance often incapacitate their ability spot planes" he said Fernandez said law enforcers arkt drug smugglers play a "cat and 4 mouse game" -They have the resources and all to detect the liossible technology where our efforts are- he said "As t soon as they knokk where ‘‘e are hey shift 'Filen '" Lax secunty in some smaller is ' lands makes them easy stopover points for drugs and money laundtit 40' I |
