Statement by:
Michael S. Vigil
Special Agent in Charge
Caribbean Field Division
Drug Enforcement Administration
United States Department of Justice
Before the:
Subcommittee on Criminal Justice, Drug Policy and Human
Resources
Date:
April 12, 2000
Note: This document may not reflect changes made in actual delivery.
Mr. Chairman, Members of the Subcommittee: I appreciate the opportunity to
appear today to discuss the issue of drug trafficking throughout the
Caribbean and specifically, Haiti. I would first like to thank the
Subcommittee for its continued support of the Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) and overall support of drug law enforcement.
As all of you are aware, the international drug syndicates operating
throughout our hemisphere are resourceful, adaptable, and extremely powerful.
These syndicates have an unprecedented level of sophistication and are more
powerful and influential than any of the organized crime enterprises
preceding them. Traditional organized crime syndicates, operating within the
United States over the course of the last century, simply cannot compare to
the Colombian and Mexican drug trafficking organizations functioning in this
hemisphere. These drug trafficking organizations have at their disposal an
arsenal of technology, weapons and allies, corrupted law enforcement, and
government officials enabling them to dominate the illegal drug market in
ways not previously thought possible. The leaders of these drug trafficking
organizations oversee a multi-billion dollar cocaine and heroin industry that
negatively affects American life.
Trafficking through the Caribbean to the United States:
The Caribbean has long been an important transit zone for drugs entering
the United States and Europe from South America. The drugs are transported
through the region, to both the United States and Europe, through a wide
variety of routes and methods.
The primary method for smuggling large quantities of cocaine through the
Caribbean to the United States is via maritime vessels. Go-fast boats (small
launches with powerful motors), bulk cargo freighters, and containerized
cargo vessels are the most common conveyances for moving large quantities of
cocaine through the region. Drug traffickers also routinely transport smaller
quantities of cocaine from Colombia to clandestine landing strips in the
Caribbean, using single or twin-engine aircraft. Traffickers also airdrop
cocaine loads to waiting land vehicles and/or maritime vessels.
Couriers transport smaller quantities of cocaine on commercial flights
from the Caribbean to the United States. Couriers transport cocaine by
concealing small multi-kilogram quantities of cocaine on their person or in
baggage. Couriers also transport small quantities (up to one kilogram) of
cocaine by ingesting the product.
Compared to cocaine, heroin movement through the Caribbean is limited.
Heroin is generally not consumed in the Caribbean, but rather is transshipped
to Puerto Rico or the Continental United States. Almost all of the heroin
transiting the Caribbean originates in Colombia. Couriers generally transport
kilogram quantities of Colombian heroin on commercial flights from South
America to Puerto Rico or the Continental United States, concealing the
heroin on their person or in baggage. Couriers also transport smaller
quantities (up to one kilogram) of heroin by concealing the heroin through
ingestion. The couriers sometimes make one or two stops at various Caribbean
islands in an effort to mask their original point of departure from law
enforcement.
Jamaica remains the only significant Caribbean source country for
marijuana destined to the United States. Go-fast boats from Jamaica often
transport multi-hundred kilogram quantities of marijuana through Cuban and
Bahamian waters to Florida.
The Caribbean also plays an important role in drug-related money
laundering. Many Caribbean countries have well-developed offshore banking
systems and bank secrecy laws that facilitate money laundering. In countries
with less developed banking systems, money is often moved through these
countries in bulk shipments of cash -- the ill-gotten proceeds of selling
illicit drugs in the United States. The ultimate destination of the currency
and/or assets is other Caribbean countries or South America.
Haiti: Drug Trafficking Crossroads of the Caribbean:
Haiti is strategically located in the central Caribbean, occupying the
western half of the island of Hispaniola, which it shares with the Dominican
Republic. At 27,750 square kilometers, the country is slightly larger than
the state of Maryland. With the Caribbean to the south, and the open Atlantic
Ocean to the north, Haiti is in an ideal position to facilitate the movement
of cocaine and heroin from Colombia to the U.S. DEA is represented on the
Island of Hispaniola by the Port-Au-Prince Country office in Haiti and the
Santo Domingo Country Office in the Dominican Republic.
The island of Hispaniola is just under 430 miles from Colombia's most
northern point, and easily accessible by twin engine aircraft hauling
payloads of 500 to 700 kilos of cocaine. The two countries on the island,
Haiti and the Dominican Republic, share similar coastal features,
facilitating intra-island boat traffic. Just as is the case with the
Dominican Republic, Haiti presents an ideal location for the staging and
transhipment of drugs. Furthermore, there is effectively no border control
between the two countries, allowing essentially unimpeded traffic back and
forth. In addition, there is no effective law enforcement or judicial system
in Haiti, so there are few legal impediments to drug trafficking. Recently,
DEA has significantly increased manpower on Haiti (from one to seven Special
Agents) and increased interdiction efforts to counter air drops and identify
freighter shipments. However, recent statistics released by The Interagency
Assessment of Cocaine Movement (IACM), in which the DEA participates,
indicates that approximately 15 % of the cocaine entering the United States
transits either Haiti or the Dominican Republic.
Due to the numerous uncontrolled points of entry and internal instability,
vast amounts of narcotics from South America arrive in Haiti after being
transported across the porous border with the Dominican Republic, and then
shipped on to Puerto Rico. Just 80 miles from the East Coast of Hispaniola,
Puerto Rico is easily accessible from Hispaniola by plane or boat. The key to
the drug trade in Puerto Rico is the island's U.S. Commonwealth status. Once
a shipment of cocaine, whether smuggled from Haiti or the Dominican Republic
by maritime, air, or commercial cargo, reaches Puerto Rico, it is unlikely to
be subjected to further United States Customs inspections en route to the
continental U.S.
Trafficking Routes and Methods in Haiti:
Drug smuggling through Haiti is aided by the country's long coastline,
mountainous interior, numerous uncontrolled airstrips, its 193-mile border
with the Dominican Republic, and its location in the Caribbean. Haiti's
thriving contraband trade, weak democratic institutions, and fledgling police
force and judiciary system, contribute to its utilization by drug traffickers
as a transshipment point.
As is the case throughout much of the Caribbean, the primary method for
smuggling cocaine into Haiti is via maritime vessels. Traffickers also
smuggle cocaine from Colombia into Haiti via general aviation; either by
airdrops at sea or by landing at clandestine strips. Other common conveyances
for smuggling cocaine into Haiti include cargo freighters, containerized
cargo vessels, fishing vessels, and couriers on commercial aircraft.
As cocaine enters Haiti, it is usually stored locally until it can be
shipped to the United States or other international markets. Cocaine is often
smuggled out of Haiti in containerized cargo or on bulk cargo freighters
directly to Miami. The cocaine shipments aboard cargo freighters are
occasionally off-loaded to smaller vessels prior to arrival in the
Continental United States (CONUS). Cocaine is also sometimes transferred
overland from Haiti to the Dominican Republic for further transshipment to
Puerto Rico, the CONUS, Europe, and Canada.
There are three primary smuggling routes for cocaine through Haiti. The
first brings cocaine from Colombia into Haiti via general aviation conducting
airdrops at sea. The second route is from source countries, via Panama or
Venezuela, by commercial shipping. The third route is from source countries,
via Panama or Venezuela, in coastal vessels or fishing vessels.
The Toll of the Drug Trade in Haiti:
As in most locales where the cocaine trade flourishes, competition for
control of the local market has resulted in an escalation of drug-related
crime and violence. Tragically, as we have seen in Colombia, Mexico and the
United States, violence and corruption are attendant to the drug trade.
Reports of drug corruption are widespread and numerous. Haiti's long history
of economic and political instability has increased the attractiveness of the
country as a significant transit point. Furthermore, Haiti lacks a
functioning judicial system and a credible law enforcement element, making
traffickers feel safe from potential arrest and prosecution.
Since the inception of the Haitian National Police (HNP) in 1996, limited
progress has been made. As presently configured, the HNP lacks logistical
support and training, a unified drug intelligence system, command and control
capability, and resources. Furthermore, several incidents have occurred which
have further destabilized the leadership and effectiveness of the HNP.
Firstly, on October 7, 1999, the Haitian Secretary of State for Public
Security Robert Manuel formally resigned and left Haiti with his family for
Guatemala. Following this, on October 8, 1999, an advisor to HNP Director
Pierre Denize and confidante of President Preval and former President
Aristide was assassinated. It was learned shortly after the assassination
that the advisor, Jean Lamy was the potential successor to Manuel. Finally,
during the evening of October 14, 1999, an assassination attempt was made
against Mario Andersol, head of the Judicial Police.
To further exacerbate this tenuous condition, the Haitian judicial system
lacks any meaningful criminal code or drug laws. Prosecutions move at a
snails pace and convictions are almost nonexistent. Defendants are oftentimes
detained without any legitimate cause and a number are still incarcerated
despite being granted orders of release. As a result, a significant obstacle
for the DEA is the lack of a law enforcement entity capable of conducting
investigations and making arrests and seizures that will stand up to judicial
scrutiny. Haiti has, regrettably, made only the most tentative steps in the
direction of viable drug laws or effective law enforcement.
A Hemispheric Law Enforcement Response:
With the assistance of state and local partners domestically as well as
counterparts in foreign governments, DEA works to build cases against, and
ultimately incarcerate, the leaders of these sophisticated criminal
syndicates as well as the underlings they send to other countries. Over time,
this strategy serves to steadily degrade a criminal organization's ability to
conduct business, leaving it even more vulnerable to law enforcement
strategies. Successful cases against the leaders of international drug
trafficking groups most often originate from investigations being conducted
in or having a nexus to, the United States.
As such, in an attempt to augment this strategy, DEA enhanced the
Port-Au-Prince Country Office (PAPCO) in August 1998, by increasing manpower
and immediately deploying six Special Agents. Presently, the office is
staffed by one (1) Country Attache, six (6) Special Agents (S/A) and one (1)
Administrative Support Specialist. In an attempt to further enhance and
invigorate counterdrug activities in Haiti, the PAPCO office has established
an Airport Task Force, a Street Enforcement/Interdiction Task Force and a
Maritime Interdiction Task Force. Each of the respective task force groups
has developed an area of expertise for both the DEA S/A's and HNP officers
alike. Primarily, the long term goal of each of these units is to target,
then immobilize major trafficking organizations through the arrest,
prosecution and conviction of its' principal members. In addition, each group
attempts to maintain and foster cooperative efforts with their HNP
counterparts.
In Haiti, a viable counterdrug strategy must incorporate an interdiction
component that is furnished critical, time sensitive intelligence. The
vastness of the Caribbean Corridor, combined with traffickers' use of
sophisticated compartments utilized in freighters, and the sheer volume and
variety of commercial cargo flowing through the Caribbean, make a meaningful
interdiction program almost completely dependent on quality intelligence.
As a result, the Caribbean Field Division, in an attempt to diffuse this
intelligence void, created the UNICORN system (Unified Caribbean On-Line
Regional Network). With this system, participating Caribbean law enforcement
agencies can share photographs, data, and information concerning various
targets, locations, and groups involved in drug trafficking and money
laundering. The Drug Enforcement Administration loans the equipment to
participating agencies and provides training to host-nation counterparts, as
well as installing and implementing the system.
The UNICORN system has already reaped tremendous benefits, as exhibited in
the success of Operations Columbus, Genesis, and most recently, Conquistador.
These enforcement operations, planned and coordinated by the Caribbean Field
Division, have severely disrupted drug trafficking organizations throughout
the Caribbean region. The first of these operations, dubbed Genesis, was a
bi-national initiative designed to foster cooperation between Haiti and the
Dominican Republic. Due to a mutual, long-standing mistrust, Haiti and the
Dominican Republic had never before coordinated anti-drug efforts. The second
action, titled Operation Columbus, was a multi-national operation, comprised
of fifteen nations and their respective law enforcement agencies. The final
initiative, the recently concluded Operation Conquistador, was a
multi-national regional operation designed to expand upon the successes
realized in Operation Columbus. The following is a brief synopsis of each
operation:
Operation Genesis:
In concept, Operation Genesis was designed to foster and maintain
cooperation between Haiti and the Dominican Republic. This operation, which
was conducted during November 1998, resulted in 126 arrests throughout Haiti
and the Dominican Republic. Prior to Operation Genesis, Haiti and the
Dominican Republic had never before coordinated their anti-drug efforts.
However, the results garnered through Operation Genesis will undoubtedly
assist in improving the ability to coordinate anti-drug efforts on the island
of Hispañola.
The long-term objectives for Operation Genesis were to promote the
exchange of information between Haiti and the Dominican Republic, facilitate
the integration and coordination of Haitian and Dominican anti-drug efforts,
establish a mechanism that will support the counter-drug effort, develop
institutional mentoring and training, and disrupt drug trafficking operations
that are being conducted on the island of Hispañola.
The operation was executed in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic, using
roadblocks at strategic locations and border crossing points, interdiction
operations at the international airports and seaports, and United States
Coast Guard maritime interdiction along the southern coast of
Hispañola.
Operation Genesis resulted in unprecedented exchanges of law enforcement
cooperation by both the Dominican Republic and Haiti. As a result, the
Haitian National Police (HNP) assigned an officer and an analyst to the
Dominican National Drug Control Agency's (DNDC) Santo Domingo office, and
four (4) more HNP officers were stationed at Dominican border crossing
points. DNDC officials, on the other hand, were assigned to the HNP
headquarters at Port-au-Prince, as well as several Haitian border crossing
points.
The exchange of information was further expedited by the UNICORN system,
which facilitated data base checks of suspicious persons and vehicles that
were stopped. The information was sent to the Caribbean Field Division
(CFD)/San Juan office where system checks were performed. The information was
then sent back to the HNP via the UNICORN system.
Operation Columbus:
Operation Columbus was a multi-national regional effort involving the
island nations of the Caribbean, in addition to Colombia, Venezuela and
Panama. The operation focused on air, land, and maritime interdiction,
eradication and clandestine airstrip denial. DEA's Santo Domingo Country
Office and Trinidad and Tobago Country Office served as the northern and
southern command posts. The UNICORN system was used to facilitate the
exchange of actionable intelligence. Operation Columbus's principle
objectives were:
- The development of a cohesive/cooperative environment among source and transit countries,
- Disruption of drug trafficking activities,
- The consolidation of the counterdrug efforts in the Caribbean transit zone,
- The continued development of a comprehensive regional strategy.
Operation Conquistador:
Operation Conquistador was a 17-day multinational drug enforcement
operation involving 26 countries of the Caribbean, Central and South America.
The operation was simultaneously launched on March 10, 2000, in Panama,
Colombia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, Suriname, Trinidad & Tobago,
Montserrat, Dominica, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua, Anguila, St. Martin, British
Virgin Islands, Barbuda, Grenada, Barbados, St. Vincent, St. Lucia, Aruba,
Curacao, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, and the Commonwealth of Puerto
Rico. The primary objective of Operation Conquistador was to develop an
effective regional strategy intended to disrupt drug trafficking activities
and criminal organizations operating throughout the Caribbean.
Operation Conquistador's main objectives were: 1) The development of a
cohesive and cooperative environment between source and transit countries; 2)
The integration within each country of all counterdrug entities; 3) The
continued development of a comprehensive regional strategy; 4) To facilitate
the exchange of information between the participating countries with the use
of the Unified Caribbean On-line Regional Network (UNICORN); 5) The mentoring
and training of counter-drug entities in host countries ; 6) To impact and
disrupt drug trafficking organizations in the Caribbean area and source
countries.
Command and control of the operation was executed from the DEA Caribbean
Field Division in San Juan, PR, with forward command posts in Trinidad &
Tobago and Dominican Republic. The U.S. Coast Guard provided expanded
presence of interdiction assets throughout the Caribbean and executed air and
maritime command and control of sea and airborne drug interdiction assets
from all countries. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF)
conducted traces of all seized weapons. The operation concluded on March 26,
2000.
Although the arrests and seizures in Operation Conquistador were extremely
impressive, they, however, were secondary to the cooperation and coordination
among the 26 countries that participated in this endeavor. Despite limited
resources and infrastructure in many of the countries, all responded with
notable efforts and results. Throughout the duration of the operation, all
participants exchanged information with each other through the UNICORN
system.
Conclusion: The Road Ahead:
Haiti requires a great deal of progress before they are able to
effectively impede and diminish drug trafficking. A working legislature is
required to implement counterdrug legislation. Conspiracy and asset
forfeiture laws especially deserve attention. The Haitian judicial system
must be reformed and modernized to uphold the rule of law.
Haitian law enforcement requires extensive training and resources. The
Haitian Coast Guard requires more bases, especially on the south coast. Also,
airport and port security should be strengthened. Until such reform is
undertaken, Haiti will continue to be used as a significant transshipment
point for illicit drugs.
Presently, the DEA has an effective working relationship with key
officials in the HNP, Judicial Police, and other members in the Haitian
government. With this in mind, DEA will continue to aggressively address the
trafficking threat in Haiti and improve the ability of DEA personnel assigned
to the island to confront this threat. We will continue to plan U.S. law
enforcement operations, in conjunction with the HNP. These operations will
include enhancing the capabilities of drug units, investigating money
laundering operations, improving the HNP's drug interdiction capacity and
providing the basic framework for a drug intelligence system.
DEA will remain actively engaged with our Haitian counterparts to develop
a respectable, dedicated, and corrupt free drug unit. Over time, trafficking
organizations that rise to prominence in Haiti can be effectively dismantled,
provided the Haitian National Police continue to progress and enhance their
law enforcement and judicial capabilities.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify today, Mr. Chairman. I will be happy to respond to any questions you or the members of the Sub-Committee may have.
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