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Results for counternarcotics

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Author: Espach, Ralph

Title: Criminal Organizations and Illicit Trafficking in Guatemala’s Border Communities

Summary: Contraband routes in Guatemala traditionally controlled by local groups are coming ever more under the control of the Mexican cartels. Around half of the nation’s territory is believed to be under the control of criminal organizations. Local criminal organizations have long penetrated the Guatemalan police, army, courts and government, and Guatemala’s gangs are extremely violent. However, the Mexican cartels with their financial resources, military grade weapons, and reputation for indiscriminate killing and brutality have elevated these threats. Today Guatemala and its neighbors Belize, Honduras, and El Salvador, have homicide rates among the highest in the world. Guatemala’s murder rate is as high as those during the worst years of the civil wars in the 1980’s. Impunity for traffickers and murderers is the rule, not the exception. Drug trafficking networks operate most intensely in communities along or near smuggling routes, many of which are located in border regions. Guatemala has more than 800 miles of borders which cross forests and mountain ranges and are seldom monitored or even marked. The communities close to the borders tend to be rural and engaged in subsistence farming often with little or no government presence in the form of clinics, schools, or police. Without the presence of state institutions, these communities are left vulnerable to exploitation at the hands of criminal groups which use a variety of tactics, including not only threats and violence but also the distribution of money, public services, and other benefits to obtain compliance, acceptance, and even the support of local residents.

Details: Alexandria, VA: CNA Analysis & Solutions, 2011. 96p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 27, 2012 at: http://www.cna.org/sites/default/files/research/IPR%2015225.pdf

Year: 2011

Country: Guatemala

URL: http://www.cna.org/sites/default/files/research/IPR%2015225.pdf

Shelf Number: 124277

Keywords:
Border Security
Counternarcotics
Criminal Cartels
Drug Trafficking
Organized Crime (Guatemala; Latin America; Central

Author: Gberie, Lansana

Title: Crime, Violence, and Politics: Drug Trafficking and Counternarcotics Policies in Mali and Guinea

Summary: Key Findings • There has been a general increase in drug trafficking in West Africa. Regional institutions such as the Economic Community of West African States have made some effort to counter the impact of drug transit and consumption in the region, but this has had a limited effect in Guinea and Mali. • Guinea and Mali, along with the rest of the region, are reportedly experiencing increased local consumption of illicit drugs, which poses challenges related to treatment, harm reduction, security, and human rights. • In both Guinea and Mali, drug traffickers have exploited widespread poverty and corruption to co-opt government officials, military and law enforcement officers, and political and traditional leaders into an opportunistic network that underpins a very profitable criminal enterprise. • Both countries have experienced serious political turmoil that has brought to light the role drug trafficking has played in provoking internal unrest and coups d'état. • Mali, which experienced a major international intervention following a 2012 coup as well as Tuareg and Islamist uprisings in its northern regions, has passed numerous counter-narcotics measures into law. Generally punitive in approach, their implementation and enforcement have been lacking. • Guinea has proven to be highly resistant to changing its domestic counter-narcotics policies, most likely due to the penetration of drug traffickers in state institutions. Policy Recommendations • Both countries should adopt the recommendations made by a 2014 report by the West Africa Commission on Drugs (WACD), Not Just for Transit: Drugs, the State and Society in West Africa, which emphasized decriminalizing some degree of drug use and possession for personal use. • Mali is likely to support the approach proposed by the WACD at the 2016 Special Session of the United Nations General Assembly on the World Drug Problem (UNGASS 2016), while Guinea has thus far taken no position on the UNGASS 2016 treaty review process.

Details: Washington, DC: Brookings, 2016. 17p.

Source: Internet Resource: Accessed February 16, 2017 at: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Gberie-Mali-and-Guinea-final.pdf

Year: 2016

Country: Mali

URL: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Gberie-Mali-and-Guinea-final.pdf

Shelf Number: 146977

Keywords:
Counternarcotics
Drug Enforcement
Drug Trafficking
Illicit Drugs