Power to drug rings

Press, 1 September 1980, Page 18

Power to drug rings

By

HUGH O’SHAUGHNESSY

in London

The value of narcotics exports from Latin America is reaching gigantic proportions and the drug traffickers, who are netting thousands of millions a year, are bidding for power in many countries of' the region. The immense funds they have at their disposal are allowing /them to buyup or eliminate anyone who stands between them'and the golden rain of ' profits." .■. ' v; '■ ' ■ In Bolivia exports of cocaine are estimated by /United States investigators "■to be • worth - around $lOOO. , million year, making it by ;?.; far. the country’s top export. In Colombia the narcotics • trade is conservativelyestimated .to be-iyyorth around’ . $4OOO 'million',a/year, mostly .• -in mariiuana co- f ' .. caine. It - far outstrips - in .. I value Colombia’s traditional - • exnort, coffee. • ; f .. drug connection Is

becoming ‘ increasingly powerful in the Caribbean.. In Jamaica the value of illegal exports of locally grown marijuana, or “ganja,” as it is known, could be as big as all other exports, put together. Traffickers are key figures in the: Bahamas,. the : string of islands off Florida, the more deserted of which serve as markets for narcotics in transit from South America or Jamaica to the United States. Recent reports also list the growing importance of the Turks and Caicos, a tiny group of British islands between the Bahamas and , Haiti. The population of this forgotten* British colonly 'is estimated at ■. ho more than: 7500 people, but its strategic / location• as the • link Hn the . communications chain be- * ttyeen®"- drug 7/? producers in ?LhtufeAmerica; and peddlers < •'? arid 7 ’addicts, in ’the-Umted, . '•’Ms-• - " ■

■ States is said to be increasingly valuable as .traffickers attempt to outwit the United States Coastguard and other law.enforceihent agencies. The rise to power of General Luis Garcia Meza in Bolivia last month has set alarm bells ringing in Washington. The Carter Administration sees his coup as a clear-cut victory for the traffickers, whom they consider to be his principal backers. Washington fought long and hard to frustrate the military coup this year, but eventually powerfull narcotics traders based in the city of Santa Cruz, Bolivia’s principal narcotics centre, had their way. The civilian political establishment was swept away a few weeks ago by officers with close connections with the narcotics trade/’ . — Copyright,: London Observer'Service.