Drug are operated by powerful, wealthy, murderous criminals. The Colombian cartels are extremely powerful and a major force in global drug trade, and the Colombian government. Colombia drug cartels have been responsible for trafficking drugs into the United States, committing horrible violent crimes, and bribing high profile officials. Since the 1970’s, Colombia has been the most violent drug trafficking organizations in the world. According to PBS Frontline, traffickers have built sophisticated smuggling equipment, such as a high tech submarine that was discovered by the Colombian National Police. Colombian cocaine traffickers had hired engineering experts from Russia and the United States to help with the design of the submarine, which would be used to secretly ship large quantities of cocaine to the United States.
In the mid 1970s, marijuana traffickers in Colombia began exporting small quantities of cocaine to the United States hidden in suitcases. At that point, cocaine could be processed for $1500/kilo in jungle labs and could be sold on the streets of America for as much as $50,000/kilo. (PBS Frontline)
There are two major drug cartel groups in Colombia, the Medellin and Cali cartel. Pablo Escobar, a common street thief who masterminded the criminal enterprise became known as the Medellin cartel. The men from Medellin would fly cocaine in small airplanes directly into the United States. The large quantities for cocaine in the United States led to huge profits, which the cartel began re-investing into more sophisticated labs, better airplanes and even an island in the Caribbean where the planes could refuel.
Pablo Escobar was responsible for the murder of hundreds of government officials, police, prosecutors, judges, journalists and innocent bystanders. By the beginning of the 1990s Pablo Escobar had built the largest and most profitable illegal, undercover industry in the world. The cartel began to self-destruct as the violence and power grew. Many of them were gunned down by Colombian Police. Pablo Escobar was hunted down and killed by the Colombian police after a long battles.
The Cali Cartels were rivals with the Medellin cartels. The men from Cali were less flashy and smuggled as a sophisticated business, re-investing their profits in businesses. The Cali cartel began to attack the Medellin cartel and competition became more and more violent. The Cali Cartels had been dominating more of the cocaine trade.
They hired lawyers to study the moves of the DEA and the US prosecutors. In the past ten years, both the former president of Colombia and hundreds of Congressmen and Senators have been accused of accepting campaign financing from the Cali cartels.
But, the leaders were tracked down in the mid 1990’s and are currently serving 10 to 15 year prison terms. Many believe they actually worked out an arrangement with the Colombian government that they would not be extradited to a U. S. prison cell. DEA agents believe they are still running their empire from their prison cells.After the destruction of both the Cali and Medellin cartels, there have been smaller groups. One group smuggles the drugs from Colombia to Mexico. Another group controls the jungle labs.
The Colombian National police believe there are more than 300 active drug smuggling organizations in Colombia today. Colombian government is just too weak to confront the cartels. Though there will never be a successful way to stop these cartels entering in and out of our country. The only thing we can do is defend our borders. Let's hope President Obama will work with the president of Mexico and Colombia to come up with a plan to help the war on drugs.
Sources:
http://www.pbs.org/pages/frontline/shows/drugs/colombian.html
http:// www.msnbc.msn.com/
http://www.thefreshscent.com/.../
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