01 March 2006
U.S. Report Cites Drug Transport Through Mexico, Central America
State Department annual report also discusses illegal drugs in Canada
By Eric Green
Washington File Staff Writer
Washington -- Mexico and Central America remain major transshipment points for sending illegal drugs from South America into the United States, says the U.S. Department of State in its 2006 International Narcotics Strategy Report, released March 1.
The report -- issued annually at the mandate of the U.S. Congress -- says that 70 percent to 90 percent of the cocaine destined for the United States passes through the Mexican mainland or the country's periphery. (See related article.)
Mexico also served as the main foreign source of marijuana consumed in the United States, while also serving as a major supplier of heroin and methamphetamine, the report said.
During 2005, Mexican authorities arrested numerous drug traffickers in an attempt to dismantle major drug cartels operating in Mexico, the report said.
The Central American nations also are being used as transit points for drugs shipped into the United States, the report added. The principal U.S. counternarcotics goal in this region, said the report, is to help the Central American nations develop a sustainable infrastructure to combat its drug problems effectively.
Belize, for example, is a significant transshipment point for illicit drugs between Colombia and Mexico. The report said Belize's contiguous borders with Guatemala and Mexico, large tracts of unpopulated jungles and forested areas, a lengthy unprotected coastline, hundreds of small islands and numerous navigable inland waterways, combined with the country's undeveloped infrastructure, "add to its vulnerability to drug trafficking."
Costa Rica is one of the countries "straddling the critical drug-transit corridor" between South American drug suppliers and the U.S. market, and has become a "major transshipment point" for narcotics to the United States and Europe, said the report.
The report praised the government of Costa Rica for demonstrating "professionalism and reliability" as a hemispheric partner in combating the "ever-changing and growing drug-trafficking trade."
El Salvador is described by the report as a "transit country" for shipping cocaine and heroin. The report said that although El Salvador is not a major financial center, assets forfeited and seized as a result of drug-related crimes amounted to more than $521,000 in 2005. The report said that in 2005, El Salvador's government -- in cooperation with other Central American countries -- implemented "Operation Controlled" to interdict narcotics trafficking through Central America. The operation established joint patrols by the counternarcotics police of each country along the unmonitored areas in Central American border regions.
Guatemala is described by the report as a "major drug-transit country" for cocaine and heroin en route to the United States and Europe. In spite of the Guatemalan government's "substantial" counternarcotics efforts in 2005, the report said, large shipments of cocaine continue to move through the country by air, road and sea.
Honduras is another transit country for shipments of cocaine, with recent reports indicating increased drug trafficking. The report said the United States, in conjunction with Honduran government maritime efforts, has been successful in apprehensions and arrests of people and ships involved in drug trafficking.
Another "significant transshipment point" for South American cocaine and heroin destined for the United States is Nicaragua, said the report. International criminal organizations move illicit drugs through Nicaragua by land, sea and air, with major trafficking routes on both coasts and along the Pan American Highway.
Despite the Nicaraguan government's "determined effort" to fight both domestic drug abuse and the international narcotics trade, the report said that "limited resources and an ineffectual, corrupt, and politicized judicial system hamper these efforts."
Panama is described in the report as a "major nexus" for international crime and an important transshipment point for drugs destined for the United States and Europe. On the positive side, the report said that U.S. counternarcotics and law enforcement cooperation with the Panamanian government continues to improve. With U.S. assistance, Panama's law enforcement agencies are being restructured to "enhance their ability to fulfill their missions" to fight the illegal drug trade, said the report.
CANADA
Canada, the report said, is primarily a drug-consuming country, but remains a "significant" producer of high-quality marijuana and a transit point for precursor chemicals and over-the-counter pharmaceuticals used to produce such synthetic drugs as methamphetamine.
St. Lucia, St. Maartin, Trinidad and Tobago, Haiti, Jamaica and Antigua, in the Caribbean, are the most common transit points for cocaine en route to Canada, the report said. It added that outlaw motorcycle groups, Italian and Caribbean crime groups and Canadian-based independent organized groups are the principal smugglers of large cocaine shipments into Canada. Colombian brokers serve as intermediaries between Canadian drug organizations and Colombian drug producers.
The report added that opium and heroin seizures in Canada have risen steadily. The report said the Royal Canadian Mountain Police indicated that the opium and heroin originated in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iran and India and usually are routed to Canada through a European country or the United States, often by Asian traffickers.
The text of the report's section on Canada, Central America, and Mexico is available on the State Department Web site, as is the full text of the two-volume 2006 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report is available on the Department of State web site.
(The Washington File is a product of the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State. Web site: http://usinfo.state.gov)
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