Recently BBC published an article about how authorities captured a submarine designed for smuggling drugs (carrying over 7 tons) called Farc's drug submarine seized in Colombia. The submarine is supposed to be able to travel all the way from Colombia to Central America with no stops in between. Druglords are being forced to more and more extreme methods of smuggling their drugs.
Farc is a a revolutionary group in Colombia who's goal is to to make colombia marxist. They are just one of the many groups involved in the ongoing conflict in Colombia. They prefer to use guerilla tactics, and in 2010 they admitted to killing over 450 government soldiers and wounded over 200o soldiers. So, how do they finance all this?
Originally they used drug taxation in the areas that they controlled which resulted in millions of dollars every year. As time went on they started to kidnap for ransoms, rob banks, steal large parts of land, and sell drugs. As time goes by more and more drugs are being found and taken. Farc and other druglords are losing money and are being forced to find new ways to traffic their drugs to support themselves. This need lead them to submarines and other creative ways of trafficking their drugs. So what will be their next move?
Good post Colan!
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, the horrific consequences of drug trafficking cannot be fully address without the full cooperation of all the nations involved...including the United States. However, that has proven to be a challenging problem to tackle. Meanwhile, thousands of people are falling victim to the violence and ultimately it could destabilize governments in places like Mexico, where the problem has been particularly acute.