NCJ Number
151620
Date Published
1994
Length
36 pages
Annotation
This review of narcotics control efforts being conducted in Central America and assisted by the United States concludes that these interdiction efforts have had little impact on the flow of drugs into the United States.
Abstract
Despite various United States Government interdiction efforts, Central America continues to be a primary transshipment point for cocaine shipments to the United States. The available data suggest that the supply of drugs entering the United States via Central America remains virtually uninterrupted. Law enforcement officials report that drug traffickers have adjusted their modes of operations to evade air interdiction efforts and are increasingly using sea and land transportation, which is very difficult to detect, to move drugs through Central America to the United States. Although several United States Government agencies are working with some Central American countries on small projects to address these new modes of trafficking, the outcome of these efforts is uncertain due to the limited capabilities of host countries and shifts in the United States program emphasis from drug interdiction in the transit countries toward intercepting drugs and disrupting drug organizations in the source countries of South America. Appended background and methodological information, results, tables, and list of related reports