2023-11-09 13:16:10
Coca fields in Guatemala, taken over by the army during an operation carried out in August 2022. MINISTRY OF DEFENSE – GUATEMALA
In February 2022, Colombian police intercept the telephone conversation of a suspected drug trafficker from Bogota about to make a large sale with a Mexican buyer. The seller assures that he has“a hundred boxes of high-end white shoes”, or as many kilograms of very good quality cocaine. No wonder the Colombian authorities, who have been battling powerful local cartels for decades. What is even more so is that the seller explains that the coca leaf was not grown in Colombia, the historical cradle of this production, but two thousand kilometers further north, in Guatemala. A country until recently almost non-existent on the world map of coca production.
This enlightening exchange is among the millions of confidential court documents reviewed by a consortium of international journalists as part of the investigation « NarcoFiles », published in several parts since Monday November 6. This investigation is based on 13 million internal files from the Colombian Attorney General’s office hacked in 2022 by the Guacamaya cyberactivist group, which accuses the judicial institution of promoting drug trafficking. Coordinated by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and the Latin American Center for Investigative Journalism (CLIP), this investigation opens a new window on the “new criminal order” who governs the global cocaine trade.
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“Real criminal cooperatives”
This data leak reveals a little-documented trend that has been reshaping the global cocaine trade for several years. The days of Pablo Escobar, where a single cartel dominated the entire supply chain, are over. In recent years, smaller groups and local actors have taken over some of the trafficking. Often collaborating with each other, but also with larger cartels, they each bring specialized skills to different stages of the smuggling process. This trend, facilitated by communication technologies, the globalization of the drug trade, the expansion of markets and the fragmentation of formerly monolithic groups, complicates judicial repression.
In a few years, the entire organization of criminal groups has been remodeled. These groups work together piecemeal to conceal, transport and sell the cocaine before laundering the financial proceeds, through real estate investments, cash transfers by “mules” or arrangements in Emirati tax havens or Hong Kong.
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