Cristy Aragon
Spring 2005
EDGE – Prejudice and Poverty
The Colombian Drug Trade:
A Greater Threat Than Believed
Cristy Aragon
EDGE- Prejudice and Poverty
Spring 2005
The Colombian Drug Trade: A Greater Threat Than Believed
On September 7, 2000, the Colombian National Police (CNP) seized a partially constructed, steel-hulled submarine from a warehouse outside Bogotá, Colombia, which, as the police suspected, could have been used to transport up to 10 metric tons, worth $2 million, of illicit drugs from Colombia to remote off-load sites in Latin America and the Caribbean—had it been completed.[1] Colombia’s Department of Administrative Security says the submarine would have been used to evade radar and naval patrol ships, taking drugs out to sea where they could be transferred to high-speed motorboats for the journey to Central America and then on to the United States.[2] While this “narco-sub” was confiscated before being utilized, its conceptualization and partial creation demonstrate the infinite resources and ingenuity of modern drug traffickers. Colombian traffickers especially generate billions of dollars in revenues each year, which have been increasingly used to purchase the best talent and technology available on the world market. Despite the Drug Enforcement Administration’s (DEA) belief that possible drug submarines pose only a limited threat to interdiction forces, they cannot deny that Colombian drug traffickers are devising clever strategies to evade eradication efforts and maintain their billion dollar illicit drug industry.
Colombia has always been, and remains, the world’s number one producer of finished cocaine HCI; however, the country has also recently begun to dominate the production of the world’s cocaine base. As recent as 1995, Colombia had only produced about 25 percent of the world’s cocaine base and was dependent on Peruvian and Bolivian sources for two-thirds of the product, which is needed to make finished HCI. Yet, today, Colombian production of cocaine base has increased to about 74 percent of the world’s supply, according to the 2002 DEA Drug Intelligence Report. Not only is the country able to independently produce cocaine HCI from start to finish, but scientific fieldwork carried out by the DEA has also found that traffickers in Colombia are growing varieties of coca with a higher cocaine alkaloid yield than previously identified, and that their cocaine base laboratory operations are more efficient than previously believed.[3] The DEA has also observed dramatic changes in the “geopolitics” of coca cultivation and cocaine production. These changing dynamics highlight the adaptability of Colombian cocaine trafficking organizations to changing geographic conditions, market demand, and drug enforcement policies, as they continue to dominate the international cocaine trade.
From the early 1980s through the mid 1990s, first the Mendellin Cartel and then the Cali Cartel, dominated all aspects of the international cocaine trade, from wholesale production to transportation, to wholesale distribution in the United States and Europe. Beginning in the mid 1990s, however, dramatic law enforcement successes against both cartels caused their dissolution and the rise of experienced drug traffickers who had been in the shadows of the era’s renowned drug lords. As a result, the cocaine trade has been decentralize and fragmented as Colombian traffickers now specialize in only one aspect of the cocaine industry, diffusing trafficking roles to cartels in other regions, such as Mexico and the Caribbean. In spite of this fragmentation, Colombian cocaine trafficking organizations have remained the dominant players in the international cocaine trade, and continue to control the supply of cocaine at its source; have a firm grip on Caribbean smuggling routes; and dominate the wholesale cocaine markets in the eastern United States and in Europe.[4]
This report examines drug trafficking in Colombia, the evolution of cocaine and its prevalence in the United States, and the Colombian Government’s counter-drug strategies, programs, and organizations, and offers a future outlook.
Colombia: The Geography of the Drug Trade
Because of its geographic location, diverse terrain, and harvestable climate, Colombia is a strategic and fruitful center of the drug trade in South America. With over 3,200 kilometers of coastline, Colombia is the only South American country with coastlines on the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, providing traffickers in the region with access to two major maritime transshipment corridors for sending drugs to the United States.
Colombia has a population of approximately 40 million and covers a total area of 1,138,910 square kilometers. The country shares land borders totaling about 6,000 kilometers with Brazil, Ecuador, Panama, Peru, and Venezuela. Before Colombia produced a majority of cocaine base, its southern borders were extremely important in receiving the product from Peru and Bolivia. Should base production rebound in these countries, this factor would again play a significant role in cocaine base trafficking.
Colombia’s lack of a safe, domestic transportation infrastructure has shaped how traffickers move drugs and essential chemicals within the country.[5] Because its major road networks and its relatively small rail system are concentrated in the western half of the country, and traveling by road outside its major cities is extremely dangerous, transportation by river is the only practical means of moving essential chemicals in quantities required to produce multi-ton quantities of cocaine. To move cocaine, another crucial method of transporting chemicals and cocaine products is by air. Colombia has more than 10 airports, including 11 international airports, and hundreds of illegal clandestine airstrips scattered throughout the country.
Colombia can be divided into six broad geographic regions: the Guajira Peninsula, the North Coast, the Pacific Coast, the Andean Mountain Ranges, the Lowlands, and the Rain Forest. Understanding these regions and the types of drug activity which go on in these areas is a chief concern for successful drug eradication operations. Most of Colombia’s coca is cultivated in the eastern lowlands or southern rainforest areas, where the GOC exerts limited authority, making it more difficult to enforce policy and monitor coca fields.
Coca Cultivation and the Changing Dynamics of Cocaine Production:
In recent years, the DEA has observed dramatic changes in the “geopolitics” of coca cultivation and cocaine production. The major change in production has been the shift of base cocaine production from Peru and Bolivia to Colombia, which produced 76 percent of the world’s cocaine base in 2001. When expressed in terms of potential cocaine base “output,” Colombia’s production has increased 217 percent, from 230 metric tons in 1995 to 730 metric tons in 2001.[6] On the other hand, from 1995 to 2000, Bolivia’s potential cocaine base production fell by 82 percent, from 240 metric tons to 43 metric tons, most likely due to unprecedented coca eradication. Similarly, Peru’s potential cocaine base production decreased by 68 percent, from 460 metric tons in 1995 to 145 metric tons in 2000.
Still the number one producer of finished cocaine HCI, Colombia produces more than 80 percent of the global cocaine HCI supply, and approximately 90 percent of the cocaine HCI reaching the United States. Now the chief producer of cocaine base and cocaine HCI, net coca cultivation in Colombia has more than tripled, from 50,000 hectares in 1995 to 169,000 hectares in 2001. In other words, the land area under coca cultivation in Colombia in 2001 was three times the size of the Peru-Bolivia crop combined. 2001 also marked the ninth consecutive year that Colombia’s coca cultivation and production have increased. In spite of this steady upward trend in Colombia’s cocaine output, estimated cocaine production for the entire Andean region actually decreased by 17 percent from 1995 to 2000, from 930 metric tons to 768 metric tons.[7]
Unlike HCI production, potential cocaine base production for the entire Andean Region increased by 16 percent in 2001, from 805 metric tons in 2000 to 930 metric tons in 2001. Despite the net increase, production in Bolivia and Peru actually dropped by 25 percent and 3.4 percent respectively; this means that Colombia’s increase of 25 percent dwarfed the combined 25-metric-ton decrease in Peru and Bolivia.
Not only have the dynamics of cocaine production changed over the past decade, but there have also been signs of shifting cultivation patterns and improved techniques. UNODC’s surveys consistently reveal signs that farmers are improving and adapting their cultivation techniques, both to increase yield and to hide crops. In Bolivia, for example, fertilizers and pesticides have been widely used for coca cultivation, but it was only until 2003 that the irrigation of coca fields has become common.[8] Farmers are also interspersing their coca crop with other licit crops, such as rice, cassava, pineapple, and citrus trees. They time the addition of the coca crop to the licit crop carefully, when the licit crop is at about half of its maturity. This technique is especially popular in regions where the most eradication takes place as it has been a common method of avoiding regulation. Similarly, coca cultivation in Colombia is characterized by a high degree of mobility as farmers shift tactically to avoid eradication and exploit new growing areas.
Cocaine is produced using two distinctive laboratory conversion stages: coca leaf to cocaine base, and cocaine base to cocaine HCI. As previously mentioned, Colombia’s role as the world’s largest producer of both cocaine base and cocaine HCI is a relatively new phenomenon. Historically, hundreds of tons of cocaine base were imported from Peru and Bolivia to Colombia every year, where it was further refined into cocaine HCI and then exported to foreign illicit drug markets, including the US and Europe. This changing dynamic and shift of production dependencies within the Andean region has provided Colombia with greater control over cocaine production and distribution. Scientific fieldwork carried out by the DEA in Colombia from early 1999 through mid-2000 has shown startling results, considering this changing production dynamic, has revealed Colombia’s capabilities for greater production efficiency and higher purity yields. For example, work by the DEA has determined that Colombian cocaine base cooks require approximately 1 metric ton of fresh leaf (the equivalent of 260 kilograms of dryleaf) to produce 1 kilogram of 100 percent pure cocaine base. By contrast, Bolivian cooks require 386 kilograms of dry leaf to produce 1 kilogram of cocaine base, and Peruvian cooks require 400 kilograms of dry leaf[9], much more than their Colombian counterpart. Such findings have had a dramatic impact on the USG’s perception of the Colombian cocaine threat.
Pharmacology:
Cocaine in its purest form is an off-white or pink chunky product. Cocaine appearing in powder form is a salt, typically cocaine hydrochloride; however, cocaine is frequently adulterated or “cut” with various powdery fillers to increase its volume. The substances most commonly used to dilute cocaine are baking soda, sugars, such as lactose, inositol, and mannitol, and local anesthetics, such as lidocaine. This form of cocaine is often a white or off-white powder.
The color of “crack” cocaine depends on several factors including the origin of the cocaine used, the method of preparation (with ammonia or sodium bicarbonate), and the presence of impurities, but will generally range from a light brown to a pale brown. While these factors also affect its texture, “crack” cocaine takes on a range from a crumbly texture to a hard, almost crystalline nature, going from light to dark respectively.[10]
Forms of cocaine:
Cocaine sulfate
Cocaine sulfate is produced by smashing coca leaves along with water and dilute sulfuric acid. This is often accomplished by putting the ingredients into a vat and stamping on it, similar to the traditional method of crushing grapes. The sulfate itself is an intermediate step to producing cocaine hydrochloride.
Cocaine hydrochloride
Cocaine hydrochloride (HCI) is the standard form of finished cocaine. Because the substance is very stable and soluble in water, it is the most suitable for snorting or injecting. In the seventies, it was commongly used by dissolving it in a glass of Coca-Cola (this was after cocaine had been removed as an ingredient), making a drink names “Coke and Coke” (cite).
Freebase
While the salt form of cocaine is hydrochloride, the base form is called “freebase”. Unlike its salt counterpart, the base is insoluble in water and is therefore not suitable for drinking, snorting, or injecting. Instead, it vaporizes at a low temperature, which makes it suitable for smoking. Freebase cocaine is produced first by dissolving cocaine hydrochloride in water. Once dissolved, cocaine hydrochloride separates into protonated cocaine ion and chloride ion, while the remaining solids, which are not cocaine, are removed by filtering. Then, a base, typically ammonia (NH3), is added to the solutoin to remove the extra proton from the cocaine. Because freebase cocaine is insoluble in water, it precipitates out and the solution becomes cloudy. To recover the breebase, ether is added to the solution and the mixture is shaken vigorously; after this, the ether is siphoned off and left to evaportae, leaving behind a nearly pire freebase.
Because the cocaine is immediately absorbed into the blood through the lungs, many cocaine users prefer smoking freebase to other methods of cocaine use. The rush is much more intense, since the substance reaches the brain in about five seconds, but the effects do not last as long. This characteristic of freebasing makes the drug especially dangerous as users often continue to smoke freebase until its gone, instead of waiting the five to ten minutes for the high to finish, thus resulting in overdose.
What’s important to note is that the term “freebasing” refers to the process done by users to change finished cocaine HCI product back to cocaine base, in what could be considered a production refersal process.
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is another form of cocaine created by users from finished cocaine HCI, similar to that of freebase. The difference is found in its production; instead of using ether to produce freebase cocaine, producers began to omit the step of removing the freebase cocaine precipitate from the ammonia mixture. The end result is that the cut, in addition to the ammonium salt, remains in the freebase cocaine after the mixture is evaporated. The “rock” that forms contains a small amount of water, which, when heated, boils and makes a crackling sound; thus, this substance was named “crack”.
Crack is a unique form of cocaine for it offers a strong cocaine experience in small, low-priced packages. In the United States, crack cocaine is often sold in small, inexpensive doses often referred to as “nickels” or “nickel rocks” (because of its five dollar price), “dimes” or “dime rocks,” “twenties,” or “forties.” Average users of crack cocaine are typically 30 years and older inner-city residents of a lower income bracket.
Street Terms:
Street terms for cocaineAll American drug / Icing
Aspirin (powder cocaine) / Jelly
Barbs / Lady
Basa (crack cocaine) / Mama coca
Base (crack cocaine) / Mojo
Bernie / Nose stuff
Big C / Oyster stew
Black rock (crack cocaine) / Paradise
CDs (crack cocaine) / Pariba (powder cocaine)
Candy sugar (powder cocaine) / Pearl
Coca / Real tops (crack cocaine)
Crack / Rocks (crack cocaine)
Double bubble / Roxanne (crack cocaine)
Electric Kool-Aid (crack cocaine) / Scorpion
Flave (powder cocaine) / Sevenup
Florida snow / Snow white
Foo foo / Sugar boogers (powder cocaine)
Gin / Twinkie (crack cocaine)
Gold dust / Yam (crack cocaine)
Happy dust / Zip
Colombian Cocaine Trafficking Groups and the Decentralization of Cocaine Trade:
Colombian drug traffickers are chiefly responsible for most of the world’s cocaine base production, cocaine HCI production, and cocaine wholesale distribution. From the late 1980s through the mid-1990s, first the Medellin Cartel, and then the Cali Cartel, dominated all aspects of international cocaine trade, from wholesale production to wholesale distribution in the United States and Europe, until aggressive counter-drug efforts by Colombia and the US caused the dissolution of these cartels and the decentralization of the drug trade.
In the late 1980s, the Medellin Cartel was run by the Ochoa brothers (Juan David, Jorge Luis, and Fabio). But, as these leaders faced increasing government pressures, they surrendered to the Colombian Government in late 1990 and early 1992, assuming they would face lenient sentencing. Following their surrender, two more chief drug lords of the Medellin cartel, Jose Rodriguez-Gacha (December 1989) and Pablo Escobar (December 1993), were violently murdered. As a result, the Medellin cartel broke up and gradually lost its secure lock on the international cocaine market.
By the early 1990s, a loose association of five independent drug trafficking groups, collectively known as the Cali Cartel, succeeded the Medellin Cartel in dominating the international market.[11] However, the capture of the Rodriguez-Orejuela brothers in 1995, the death of Jose Santacruz-Londone, and the surrender of Helmer “Pacho” Herrera in September 1996 drove the Cali Cartel to a fate similar to that of the Medellin Cartel. Following the dissolution of these powerful cartels, experienced drug traffickers jumped on the opportunity to increase their roles and positions in the cocaine trade. What resulted was a decentralized drug trade which led to a subsequent change in how drug trafficking groups operated.
Today, Colombian traffickers typically specialize in one aspect of the cocaine industry, unlike their cartel predecessors. This is in part a result of the cocaine trade’s fragmentation, but also a product of the reintroduction of extradition in Colombia, which occurred in December of 1997. Because traders can be extradited to the US, as was a recent trader Alejandro Bernal Madrigal (aka Juvenal), major Colombian traffickers are increasingly willing to allow their foreign criminal associates an expanded international role.