Cocaine Trafficking In The Caribbean And West Africa In The Era Of The Mexican Cartels

This book deals with three major developments within the illicit drug trade of the Caribbean Basin that not only changed the nature of the illicit trade but has expanded the expanse of the trade as it now impacts Africa and Asia making it truly globalised. The three major developments dealt with are: the trafficking jump to West Africa by Caribbean Basin drug trafficking organisations, the rise to dominance of the Mexican cartels in the illicit trade of the Caribbean Basin and the evolution and nature of Caribbean gangland and its organic links to the illicit drug trade.

This book deals with three major developments within the illicit drug trade of the Caribbean Basin that not only changed the nature of the illicit trade but has expanded the expanse of the trade as it now impacts Africa and Asia making it truly globalised. The three major developments dealt with are: the trafficking jump to West Africa by Caribbean Basin drug trafficking organisations, the rise to dominance of the Mexican cartels in the illicit trade of the Caribbean Basin and the evolution and nature of Caribbean gangland and its organic links to the illicit drug trade.

International criminal networks mainly from Latin America and Africa -- some with links to terrorism -- are turning West Africa into a key global hub for the distribution, wholesaling, and production of illicit drugs. These groups represent an existential threat to democratic governance of already fragile states in the sub-region because they are using narco-corruption to stage coups d'état, hijack elections, and co-opt or buy political power. Besides a spike in drug-related crime, narcotics trafficking is also fraying West Africa's traditional social fabric and creating a public health crisis, with hundreds of thousands of new drug addicts. While the inflow of drug money may seem economically beneficial to West Africa in the short-term, investors will be less inclined to do business in the long-term if the sub-region is unstable. On net, drug trafficking and other illicit trade represent the most serious challenge to human security in the region since resource conflicts rocked several West African countries in the early 1990s. International aid to West Africa's "war on drugs" is only in an initial stage; progress will be have to be measured in decades or even generations, not years and also unfold in parallel with creating alternative sustainable livelihoods and addressing the longer-term challenges of human insecurity, poverty, and underdevelopment.

This report is one of several studies conducted by UNODC on organized crime threats around the world. These studies describe what is known about the mechanics of contraband trafficking - the what, who, how, and how much of illicit flows - and discuss their potential impact on governance and development. Their primary role is diagnostic, but they also explore the implications of these findings for policy. Publisher's note.

This book represents a different approach in the study of the Sahel region in North Africa. Due to the hybrid security threats sweeping across the area, the whole region becomes a new security complex different from Middle East and more related to Western and Central Africa developments, including the impact of drug-trafficking coming from Latin America. This book discusses how the Transnational Organized Crime-Terrorism Nexus has created a very different dynamics from Middle East’s, hitting hard to people, societies and states there. The contributors argue that the countries in the area and the European Union should recognize this new complex and respond properly and differently to this situation.

The 2019 World Drug Report will include an updated overview of recent trends on production, trafficking and consumption of key illicit drugs. The Report contains a global overview of the baseline data and estimates on drug demand and supply and provides the reference point for information on the drug situation worldwide.

When widespread state-criminal collusion persists in transitions from autocracy to democracy, electoral competition becomes a catalyst of large-scale criminal violence.

The Report continues to provide in depth trend analysis of the four main drug markets in its first section. In addition, to mark the one hundred year anniversary of the Shanghai Opium Commission, and one hundred years of international drug control, the Report contains an in-depth look at the development of the international drug control system. The Report also contains a small statistical annex which provides a detailed look at production, prices and consumption. As in previous years, the present Report is based on data obtained primarily from the annual reports questionnaire (ARQ) sent by Governments to UNODC in 2007, supplemented by other sources when necessary and where available. Two of the main limitations herein are: (i) that ARQ reporting is not systematic enough, both in terms of number of countries responding and of content, and (ii) that most countries lack the adequate monitoring systems required to produce reliable, comprehensive and internationally comparable data. National monitoring systems are, however, improving and UNODC has contributed to this process.