discussion response wk 5 ana
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#1 Coca cultivation was at its infancy cultivated for the traditional consumption involving medicinal use as well as religious, or even to satisfy hunger and thirst. By the 1870s American medicine, pharmacists, and entrepreneurs were actively discovering coca. It was soon among the most widespread additives in popular patient remedies and tonics, prescribed for a vast range of conditions and ills, real and imagined, by 1900, Americans were the world’s largest and most avid consumers (Gootenberg, 2012). The United States actively endorsed initial Andean coca trades and in 1877, Peru only exported 8,000 kilograms of coca; Bolivia was an early uncertain supplier too. Yet coca-cocaine is now cultivated mainly in large parts of Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia with the purpose of now being trafficking and other illicit activities such as money laundering (Vellinga, 2007). Coca-cocaine has impacted not only the legal economy of Central American countries, but it is also now a value chain that has affected the structure of power and politics. The expansion and proliferation of coca-cocaine have also shifted what we perceive as socially acceptable behavior, this is more so the case in central American countries that depend on coca fields and their cultivation to feed their families. According to Vellinga, the coca-cocaine chain ties the production and trafficking activities in the source countries as well as the Northern countries which begins with coca-growing, production, wholesaling, exporting, and street-level dealing (Vellinga, 2007). Yet what has shifted in the commodity value chain of coca-cocaine is the fact that smaller-scale operations have exponentially grown, mainly due to the breakdown of larger-scale operations in order to avoid detection and increase distribution. For example in Peru, those who previously were just selling coca leaf, have progressed to smaller coca-paste production in order to gain a greater share of the value-added and be able to sell directly to representatives of wholesalers who then connect to exporters, and lastly, those exporters reach out to international operating organizations to complete the trafficking ( Vellinga, 2007). It is nonetheless a complex operation that thrives off long-term structural poverty and underdevelopment. Not to mention that there are no other economic alternatives, for citizens of developing countries, their options are scarce, with illegal immigration as one of their options. A factor that facilitates the operation of coca-cocaine is its easy cultivation procedure that does not require large amounts of skilled labor, instead, its cultivation has been able to adapt to the underdeveloped rural economy. For instance, land preparation, coca seedlings, use of fertilizers and equipment can cost up to $170 per hectare and this same hectare can yield up to three metric tons per year, equal to seven or eight kilograms of cocaine where one kilogram can be sold for up to $8,700 dollars (Vellinga, 2007). The profits are immense and as long as there is a demand for the drug, the value chain will continue to increase and become more complex. Question 2 The legalization of all drugs I do not believe would decrease the number of drug-related violence/ crimes, yet I do believe that criminal organizations such as drug cartels will be weakened. For instance, the legalization of Marijuana has led to the Sinaloa cartel having to refit its inventory to mainly focus on harder drugs such as cocaine and fentanyl. We can also assume that legalizing all drugs will lead to cleaner drugs offered to the public and regulated, which will nonetheless create a market to help the economy. Gangs will also suffer as they will lose clients unless prices are dropped to a point where now drug cartels and narcotics are in competition with a bigger market for the best price. Coca, for example, has plenty of practical dietary, cultural and medicinal uses, while also serving as a vital component to the regional ecosystems, yet it still maintains the stigma of drug abuse and addiction. With an overwhelming thirty-six thousand deaths linked to drug cartel involvement just in 2018, Mexico’s internal structure has been damaged due to the violence over turf wars, and the corruption of officials who have turned a blind eye on operations for profit (Lee, Renwick, & Labrador, 2019). As an insider threat to its own nation, drug cartels, and in this case, the Sinaloa cartel has been known to be involved in the decapitations of its people without discrimination, acts of violence such as leaving bodies hanging from bridges in order to deliver a message of power (Campbell, n.d.). I take particular interest in the Sinaloa Cartel because even as its leader being incarcerated, the organization maintains its status as the most complex and organized Mexican cartel. Such intimidation within Mexico’s borders has led to a significant decrease in tourism, battered economy, and has led millions to escape their country from the violence, seeking refuge in the U.S. through illegal immigration. Just in FY 2019, CBP reported having made 977,509 apprehensions throughout the southwest border (“Southwest Border Migration FY 2020 | U.S. Customs and Border Protection,†2020). What is significant about the latter numbers is that drug cartels have driven millions out of their homes, placing them through a treacherous path to migration, which many times leads to deception and families being deserted in the desert after the ransom has been collected by the coyote. Through intimidation, thousands are also pressured to smuggle drugs into the U.S. as mules to support their families and not face the repercussions of leaving the cartel. With the same token, criminals escaping persecution cross the border, smuggling both weapons and illicit narcotics. While the organization has been known to hold a decentralized structure, it has empowered the organization to shift with the competitive environment of drug trafficking. This versatility has resulted in the group having a dominating presence in Europe, West Africa, Southeast Asia and even U.S. soil (Beittel, 2011). Statistics indicate that the organization has controlled up to 60% of Mexico’s drug trade by 2012 with profits as high as $3 billion which had been invested on the corruption of political figures and the representation of the cartel in almost 50 countries (“Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations,†2019). While there is a robust amount of operations in 17 Mexican states, operatives of the cartel range in activity from New York City to Buenos Aires, and essentially in any large city where drugs and crime are interrelated (“Sinaloa Cartel,†2019). References Beittel, J. S. (2011). Mexico’s Drug Trafficking Organizations: Source and Scope of the Rising Violence. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy1.apus.edu/docv… Campbell, H. (n.d.). The Impact of Drug Violence on Mexican Border Communities. Retrieved from https://www.foreign.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Campb… Gootenberg, P. (2012). Cocaine’s Long March North, 1900-2010 . Latin American Politics and Society, 54(1), 159–180. Retrieved from https://www-jstor-org.ezproxy1.apus.edu/stable/41485345?pq-origsite=summon&seq=1#metadata_info_tab_contents Lee, B., Renwick, D., & Labrador, R. (2019, October 22). Mexico’s Drug War. Retrieved from Council on Foreign Relations website: https://www.cfr.org/backgrounder/mexicos-drug-war Mexico: Organized Crime and Drug Trafficking Organizations. (2019). In Congressional Research Service. Retrieved from https://fas.org/sgp/crs/row/R41576.pdf Sinaloa Cartel. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.insightcrime.org/mexico-organized-crim… Southwest Border Migration FY 2020 | U.S. Customs and Border Protection. (2020). Retrieved from U.S. Customs and Border Protection website: https://www.cbp.gov/newsroom/stats/sw-border-migra… Vellinga, M. (2007). The Illegal Drug Industry in Latin America: The Coca-Cocaine Commodity Value Chain. Iberoamericana. Nordic Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Studies, 89–105. Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezproxy2.apus.edu/docv… |
