The Effects of the Latin American Economy on Drug Wars

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The Effects of the Latin American Economy on Drug
Wars

• Paul Mascali

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Thesis Question

• How has the economy in Latin America affected
  the drug wars and the smuggling of illegal
  substances?
• Should it be Brought to a Morally Halting End, or
  Shall we let it Prevail to Keep the Economy from
  Falling Apart?

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Latin American History

• 1820 nearly all of Latin American won its freedom
  from Spain
• it was divided into more than 20 weaker countries
  by race, wealth, and geography

http//www.visitlatinamerica.com/images/latin-amer
ica-map.jpg
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Latin American Income

• Brazil 2008
• Population- 191 million
• Unemployment-8.7
• Labor force-175 million
• Trade Partners
• U.S., China, Argentina, Germany, Japan, Nigeria,
  Netherlands

• Mexico 2009
• Population -109 million
• Unemployment- 3.7
• Labor force- 105 million
• Population below poverty line40
• Trade Partners
• US, China, South Korea, Japan

Columbia 2009 Unemployment rate14.2 Labor
force20.34 million Population below poverty
line55 Trade partnersUS , Brazil, Mexico,
Venezuela, China, Japan, Germany
http//cdn.wn.com/o25/ph//2009/01/22/8ef2af1842a34
9f036c66ec1fe23415a-grande.jpg
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Predicted Economic Changes

• economic boom has taken place because of cash
  crops
• Europe and America do not buy outside products
  such as the ones from Latin America

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Corruption in Latin America

• President Alberto K. Fujimori was sentenced to 25
  years in prison
• Jorge Garcia-Injustice has been committednow we
  must take to the streets to make ourselves heard

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What is the International Global Drug Trade?

• The global trade in illegal drugs is worth 400
  billion a year. This business is one of the most
  lucrative and dangerous of all criminal
  businesses. Globalization, banking deregulation,
  and free trade agreements play into the hands of
  drug organizations, some of which have the skills
  to reach multinational businesses. The illegal
  drug trade or drug trafficking is a global black
  market consisting of the cultivation,
  manufacture, distribution and sale of illegal
  controlled drugs

20 tons of cocaine coming into the U.S
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Understanding The Global Drug Trafficking Market

• The drugs business, like any other industry, is
  governed by the laws of supply and demand. If
  there is a shortage of raw material, be it coca
  leaf or opium, the price goes up, too much and
  the price goes down. The producers, whether they
  are peasant farmers in the Andes or synthetic
  drugs manufacturers in Europe, aim to minimize
  their costs and maximize profit

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How it all Began The Opium WarsThe Global Drug
Trade Back Then

• Growing opium in India, the East India Company
  shipped tons of opium into Canton which it traded
  for Chinese manufactured goods and for tea
• This trade had produced a country filled with
  drug addicts, as opium parlors proliferated all
  throughout China in the early part of the
  nineteenth century
• British traders generously bribed Canton
  officials in order to keep the opium traffic
  flowing
• The effects on Chinese society were devastating.
  There are few periods in Chinese history that
  approach the early nineteenth century in terms of
  pure human misery and tragedy
• In an effort to stem the tragedy, the imperial
  government made opium illegal in 1836 and began
  to aggressively close down the opium dens

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The Global Drug Trade Present Day
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The number of people worldwide who used an
illegal drug at least once last year was 200
million
There are 1.7 million drug related arrests in
the U.S alone
The Global Drug Trade in America
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(No Transcript)
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Drug War in Mexico

• Number of gangland killings have reached 5,376
• A 117 percent increase of deaths have occurred in
  the year
• Profits of the illegal drug trade has
  strengthened the ranks of the drug lords in
  Mexico
• excess profits the drug lords have hired
  politicians, judges, prison guards, and police
  officers

http//media.photobucket.com/image/mexican20drug
20war/pushpinderbagga/march/mexicandrugmafia/mexic
an-drug-war-boston-pictures-10.jpg
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Colombian Drug Trade
Marijuana
Cocaine

• During the 1970's the Colombian Drug Lords began
  focusing their attention on supplying a vast
  amount of cocaine
• In the late 1980's when law enforcement began to
  really crack down on the transporting of coca
  base to Colombia, the Colombians began planting
  and growing there own coca plants
• cocaine can be transported much more easily and
  has a much higher profit than does marijuana.

• Colombia didnt start supplying marijuana to
  excess until the late 1960s
• The origin of the marijuana boom can be traced to
  a search by US consumers for a new supply source
  of marijuana.
• The new Colombian drug lords soon took over the
  producing and distributing of the marijuana that
  was produced in Colombia.

http//www.healthjockey.com/images/marijuana-herb.
jpg
http//www.typicallyspanish.com/spain/uploads/2/co
caine_lines_on_a_mirror_1__1_.jpg
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Colombian Smuggling

• Daniel Rendon Herrera was a Columbian drug cartel
• captured on April 16, 2009
• Rendon had a 2-million bounty on his head in
  Colombia and has been indicted in U.S. federal
  court on charges of smuggling 100 tons of cocaine
  
• In a raid in August on a Rendon arsenal,
  authorities seized 140,000 rounds of ammunition,
  among the largest illegal munitions caches ever
  found in Colombia.
• Rendon's henchmen were responsible for more than
  3,000 killings in recent years.

http//images.tvnz.co.nz/tvnz_images/news2009/sout
h-america/Daniel_Rendon_Herrera_2.jpg
http//www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-f
g-colombia-drugbust16-2009apr16,0,2299612.story
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Economy Drug Trade Analyze
Drug Problem New productions and imports of
marijuana Cocaine being produced in Colombia Drug
smugglers supplying the world with massive
amounts of drugs

• Colombia Economy
• Unemployment rate14.2
• Population below poverty line55

• Mexican Economy
• Unemployment- 3.7
• Population below poverty line40

Drug Problem gangland killings have reached
5,376 117 percent increase of deaths have
occurred in the year
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Is it an Economically Smart Idea to Rid of the
Drug Trafficking Market Altogether?

• The decriminalization of drugs in the United
  States would inevitably lower or eliminate the
  risks of drug trafficking and, consequently, the
  huge profit margins of drug traffickers will be
  lost to make society a more safe place
• But trying to stop drugs at the border or at the
  source makes no economic sense, so long as drugs
  remain illegal in the United States. In the
  illicit drug industry, most of the value of those
  drugs (as much as 90 percent) is added after they
  enter the United States. That merely reflects the
  fact that the risk premium of selling drugs
  increases as the drugs approach the point of
  retail sale.
• The illicit drug trade is a legitimate drug
  market and thus brings in revenue and jobs if
  riding of the market altogether, third world and
  developing nations will be especially hit hard
• The size of the world's illicit drug industry is
  equivalent to 0.9 of the world's Gross Domestic
  Product or higher than the GDP of 88 of the
  countries in the world

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Is it even possible to stop the Illicit Drug
Trade? In third world countries? In America?

• Drug trafficking has become a major asset to the
  economies of many nations, mostly third world
  nations because they depend on their cash crop
  (the illicit drug) to sell greatly. Efforts to
  exterminate crops and outlawing of traffic put
  only a small dent in the profit margins of
  traffickers since the trade is so massive, it
  would take years and years to end the trafficking

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Anti-Drug Trafficking Efforts go Global

• Countries all over the world are working with
  the United Nations to stop the international
  illicit drug trade
• Drug cultivation in South America (Peru and
  Bolivia, third largest producers for cocaine) are
  down 70
• Participating countries in the Western Hemisphere
  are confronting the drug trade
• Mexican Anti-Drug Trafficking organizations have
  been cracking down on the violence that goes
  along with the drug trade more than ever before
• Cocaine drug addicts have dropped in the U.S by
  3.4 million alone
• Colombias government, notoriously known for its
  drug trafficking in cocaine has been making great
  strides in the reduction of cocaine cultivation
• The U.S Drug Enforcement Agency is a well funded
  organization known worldwide. It has been working
  closely with the UN by making communities world
  wide safe from the abuse, violence, and
  corruption that goes along with the trade of
  illicit drugs

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OrShould it Morally be Put to an End?
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Is the World Today a Better Place to Live in?

• While the Latin American countries Economy is
  suffering the world is not a better place to live
  in
• Corruption in Latin America is at an all time
  high
• Drug Cartels are supplying Latin America and
  United States with drugs on the streets

No
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Pictures Cited

• http//www.gtipphotos.state.gov/cc_gallery/gallery
  /images/4.1419_Brick-making2.jpg (picture of
  little boy slide 1)
• http//media.photobucket.com/image/drugs/jimstaro/
  fort_bragg_drugs_071129_ms.jpg (marijuana slide
  1)
• http//www.wired.com/images_blogs/wiredscience/ima
  ges/2008/02/19/ecstasy.png (ecstasy slide 1)
• http//www.borgenproject.org/sitebuilder/images/Af
  rica_poverty-383x480.png (poverty slide 1)
• http//kalodhvani.org/contents/photography/photogr
  aphs/history/13.jpg (opium den slide 2)
• http//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60
  /MV_Gatun_Cocaine_seizure_by_USCG.jpg (cocaine
  shipment slide 2)
• http//web.stratfor.com/images/northamerica/map/Me
  xican-drug-cartels-map-2.jpg (drug trade map
  slide 3)
• http//lawblog.legalmatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2
  009/02/drugs.bmp (picture of drugs slide 4)
• http//www.dc.state.fl.us/pub/timeserv/annual/char
  t31.GIF (fiscal year graph, US drug graph slide
  4)
• http//www.cityofdouglaswy.com/vertical/Sites/7B5
  2347BB1-2476-45A1-A80E-FDF4BD158A357D/uploads/7B
  CB8221C6-27BE-4B2D-AE32-F84CCFD582EA7D.JPG (meth
  use over 10 years slide 6)
• http//a.abcnews.com/images/Nightline/ht_meth_teet
  h_071001_ssh.jpg (meth slide 6)
• http//blogs.nyu.edu/blogs/gh5/ip/drugdoj.gif
  (drug trade arrests slide 6)
• http//www.novanewsnow.com/imgs/dynamique/articles
  /gros/WashedDrugsNet_1.jpg (slide 8)

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