Drugs+S.America

** 11/28/08 **       The **illegal drug trade** or **drug trafficking** is a global __ [|black market] __ consisting of the cultivation, manufacture, distribution and sale of illegal __ [|drugs] __.    ** Drug trafficking organizations ** are complex organizations with highly defined command-and-control structures that produce, transport, and/or distribute large quantities of one or more illicit drugs.    ** Criminal groups ** operating in the United States are numerous and range from small to moderately sized, loosely knit groups that distribute one or more drugs at the midlevel and retail level.    ** Gangs ** are defined by the National Alliance of Gang Investigators' Association as groups or associations of three or more persons with a common identifying sign, symbol, or name, the members of which individually or collectively engage in criminal activity that creates an atmosphere of fear and intimidation.     Colombian DTOs (Drug Traffic Organizations) are dominant cocaine and heroin traffickers, particularly in the Northeast; however, they are increasingly relinquishing control to Mexican DTOs in order to shield themselves from law enforcement detection. Dominican DTOs are major transporters and distributors of cocaine and South American heroin in Florida and the Northeast, where they have developed working relationships with Puerto Rican, Colombian, and Mexican DTOs.     Colombian, Dominican, Cuban, and Jamaican DTOs serve as major transporters and distributors of illicit drugs in the United States. Colombian DTOs control the highest levels of cocaine and South American heroin trafficking in the Northeast and Florida.     All the above from http://www.usdoj.gov/dea/concern/18862/dtos.htm     Many countries in South America, if they are not making the drugs, are transit countries for the drugs on their way out of the country (http://www.state.gov/p/inl/rls/nrcrpt/2006/vol1/html/62106.htm)     After the destruction of both the Cali and Medellin cartels, the cocaine business began to fragment. Younger lieutenants realized that the large organizations had been more vulnerable to attack by US and Colombian authorities. They formed smaller, more controllable groups and began compartmentalizing their responsibilities. One group simply smuggles the drugs from Colombia to Mexico. Another group controls the jungle labs. Yet another deals with transportation of coca base from the fields to the labs. There are well known links between the Colombian Marxists guerilla groups and the cocaine trade. Guerillas protect the fields and the labs in remote zones of Colombia in exchange for a large tax that the traffickers pay to the organization. In turn, the Colombian right wing paramilitary groups are also thought to control both fields, labs and some of the smuggling routes. This situation has been disastrous for Colombia - both sides in an on-going civil war are able to reap huge profits from the drug industry which are then turned into guns for further fighting.     The DEA and the Colombian National police believe there are more than 300 active drug smuggling organizations in Colombia today. Cocaine is shipped to every industrialized nation in the world and profits remain incredibly high. (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/business/inside/colombian.html)     The U.S. and many other countries are currently in a war with the South American Drug Lords, and have come up with many plans, according to the DEA, that should help in these battles.     The special program of vetted units, funded by the U.S. Congress under the Vetted Unit Initiative, continues to make it possible to convert existing partially vetted units of the CNP into fully vetted teams. These teams of investigators will work closely with DEA and will conduct high-level drug investigations in Colombia and the region without fear of compromise. This program is, by far, our most important investigative tool.
 * Drug Trafficking in **** South America **