In a significant statement to the Senate Armed Services Committee, on March 13th 2014, Commander of US Southern Command, General John F. Kelly, underlines his four priorities: continuing to managing human detention at Joint Task Force Guantanamo, contrast transnational organized crime, building partner capacity, and planning for contingencies.
After exposing his concern over the impact of budget cuts relating to the number of vessels patrolling the area General Kelly express his view over threats that could come from that area.
Between these threats one of the most dangerous is Transnational Organized Crime.
All Latin America is bearing an unprecedented expansion of criminal networks, responsible for destabilizing the region.
Criminal organizations, in fact, could use pathways to US territories to smuggle drugs or humans into the United States. This threat is supposed to generate violence and fuelling illicit economy, posing a serious danger to democratic institutions.
Central America is the most unequal and insecure region in the world. In some case this is the result of direct influence of drug trafficking organizations. Due to large drug revenue, they use to corrupt border agents, judges, police members and even entire villages. This situation pose a serious risk not only for the rule of law but even to the financial stability.
The US Southern Command area of responsibility is the distribution hub for drug trafficking destined for the US. The majority of heroin sold in the United States comes from either Colombia or Mexico, and we are seeing a significant increase in heroin-related overdoses and deaths in US.
Furthermore opium poppy production appears to be increasing in Guatemala. Thousands of tons of precursor chemicals are trafficked into the West coming from China, aiding Mexican drug cartels that are extending production of US bound methamphetamine into Guatemala, Nicaragua and potentially other Central America countries. With an estimated 84 billion USD in annual global sales, cocaine trafficking remains the most profitable activity for criminal network operating in the region.
After its arrival in Central America, huge cocaine shipments is broken down into multiple smaller shipments for transit into Mexico and the United States, making large interdictions at the US border extremely difficult.
Cocaine Trafficking remains the predominant security challenge throughout the entire region, involving all the Caribbean area. According to US Customs and Border Protection there was a 483% increase in cocaine washing up on Florida's shore in 2013 compared to 2012.
Partly due to a sensible reduction in contrast activity, old trafficking routes seem to be reviving.
In 2013 US bound cocaine flow trough the Caribbean corridor increased to 14% of the overall estimated flow. This number is likely higher and is supposed to grow.
The discovery of cocaine processing lab equipment in the Dominican Republic suggest criminal organizations may be seeking to broaden production in the Caribbean.
As cocaine smuggling from the Dominican Republic into Puerto Rico has increased, so too have violence, crime and corruption. Once cocaine successfully reaches Puerto Rico, it has reached the US homeland. Most of the cocaine arriving in Puerto Rico is successfully transported into the US.
According to DEA, smugglers are likely to transport Colombian heroin, via Venezuela, to Puerto Rico to ship it to Miami, New York and Huston.
Traditional figures of cocaine lords like Pablo Escobar seems to be substituted with cocaine corporations with branches all over the world, including 1.200 american cities, as well as criminal enterprises like the violent transnational gang Mara Salvatrucha, or MS-13, that specialize in extortion and human trafficking. The FBI has warned that MS-13 has a significant presence in California, North Carolina, New York and northern Virginia, and is expanding into new areas of the US, including Indian reservations in South Dakota. (cm)