NCJ Number
120765
Date Published
1989
Length
263 pages
Annotation
This study profiles the South American cocaine industry, describing the industry's economic dimensions, its search for power and legitimacy, its place on the political spectrum, and the challenges it poses to U.S. policy.
Abstract
After a description of the main features of the production-logistics chain for cocaine -- from the cultivation of coca leaves to the export of the finished drug from South America -- the book discusses the impact of the cocaine trade on South American economies. The evolution, composition, and strategies of pro-coca organizations (the coca lobby) in the Andean countries are then discussed. A review of the structure and operation of cocaine trafficking syndicates includes a discussion of how these entities participate in the political systems of the Andean countries. The complex relationship between the cocaine industry and guerrilla organizations in Colombia and Peru is examined, followed by an analysis of the participation of communist regimes (Cuba and Nicaragua) in international drug trafficking. Chapters address the political and bureaucratic determinants of drug law enforcement in the cocaine-exporting countries, recent public debates and institutional alignments on drug policy in these countries, and the dilemmas the United States confronts when attempting to implement antidrug programs in South American source countries. Chapter notes, 156-item selected bibliography, glossary, subject index.