Guayaquil (photo: Wikimedia Commons)

Ecuadorian authorities have seized 1.3 tonnes of cocaine in the port city of Guayaquil after three anti-drug operations between 25^th and 27^th April.

Guayaquil, in the Guayas province to the west of Ecuador, was targeted by police who arrested five people after finding 143 camouflaged packages of cocaine. The drugs were reportedly being prepared for distribution within Ecuador and abroad.

Interior Minister, José Serrano, explained that the first seizure of cocaine took place close on a coastal road close the city’s perimeter on the 25^th April. “An urban patrol intercepted a car in which four suitcases were found with blocks of cocaine weighing 215 kilograms,” he told press.

According to the country’s anti-drug director, Juan Carlos Barragán, the drugs were planned to be transported in containers from the port of Guayaquil, through a criminal system called “Gancho Ciego”, before being trafficked as far afield as Antwerp, Belgium. On board a cargo of pottery bound for Belgium, police found over a tonne of cocaine.

“The work of the Ecuadorian police in recent days has been important. We are not only making seizures, but we are bringing the members of these organisations to justice,” said Serrano.

The ministry noted that in the first four months of the year, seizures of drugs in Guayas reach almost 4 tonnes, compared to 10 tonnes nationally.

Ecuador, traditionally considered a transit country for drugs to the United States and Europe, confiscated 42 tonnes of drugs in 2012 compared to 26 tonnes the previous year, and 18 tonnes in 2010.

A cocaine ‘factory’ on the Ciudad Perdida trek, Colombia. (Photo: Nick Leonard)

Venezuelan authorities discovered and subsequently dismantled 21 drug laboratories dedicated to the production of cocaine, at only 150m from the border with Colombia.

Located in the town of Jesús María Semprum in the North East province of Zulia, the factories contained more than four tones of the illicit drug. Specifically, the raid yielded a total of 4,190 kg of cocaine, cocaine hydrochloride, and cocaine base.

Minister for the Interior and Justice, Néstor Luis Reverol, revealed in an interview with state news channel VTV that the operation would not have been possible without the help of over 200 security personnel of the Bolivarian National Guard, and the support of the National Anti-Drug Office (ONA). He praised them for the “laudable” efforts whilst also commending the strength of the government in “keeping their promise as regards the war against drugs”.

Many of the details regarding the raid remain unknown, and it is not clear whether they encountered any armed resistance or if any arrests were made. Reverol did concede however that a second operation also took place, this time in the Eastern border state of Táchira, where 600 kgs of cocaine were discovered. He went on to reveal that the drugs were found travelling in a vehicle with a “false bottom” and that, in this case, two people were arrested and efforts to locate and dismantle the rest of the cartel are underway.

According to official statistics from the National Anti-Drugs Office, in 2012 Venezuelan authorities seized more that 45 tonnes of various drugs throughout the country: 27,000 kg of which were cocaine, and another 17,000 kg were marihuana.

Reverol went on to state, “we will continue to ratify our government’s battle against an international drugs industry” and that they would not allow the country to be used as a base from which to process and make these “illicit substances”. In September 2012 a top drug trafficker nicknamed “Crazy Barerra” was apprehended in Venezuela.

Police dog identifying illegal drugs (Photo: AFIP)

The Federal Administration of Public Income (AFIP) has stopped more than 22,000 packs of illegal slimming drugs from circulating on Argentina’s black market.

AFIP seized three cases of the drugs, totalling $3.5bn in value, which were shipped into the country in mis-labelled containers. According to the customs declaration, the boxes should have contained electrical equipment, and entered the country via courier.

According to media reports, the drugs were made in China and were heading to Paraguay. However, labels on the containers were printed in Portuguese, so it is thought that the delivery was meant for Brazil.

According to a press release by AFIP, the appetite suppressant drugs contain hydrochloride of sibutramine, a substance that is banned in Argentina due to its side effects. The highly-sought after drug, which is frequently sold on the black market via ‘virtual pharmacies’, is linked to causing serious health problems, such as strokes and heart failure.

The illegal sale of false or adulterated medicines is a major problem in Argentina. The Argentine Pharamceutical Confederation (COFA) estimates that more than 30 million boxes are sold every year on the black market.

Bolivia won readmission to the United Nations Convention on Narcotic Drugs yesterday when the organisation voted to recognise the chewing of coca leaves as a legal, cultural practice in the Andean country.

President Evo Morales, himself head of the country’s largest coca-producing union, pulled Bolivia out of the organisation in June 2011 in protest against their 50-year classification of the plant as an illegal drug. He then asked for readmission six months later, under the condition that the chewing of coca leaves be recognised as legal within his country.

Bolivia’s constitution, sanctioned in 2009, protects the practice of chewing coca leaves, a mild stimulant which is used sometimes in religious ceremonies among Andean indigenous communities.

Bolivia’s readmission would have needed the veto of one third, or 62 of the organisation’s 184 member countries, to be blocked. Only 15 countries voted against the measure, among them the United States, the United Kingdom, Russia, Canada, Ireland, Germany, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Portugal, Israel, Japan, and Mexico.

“This is the first time that a country has done this [left and been readmitted]”, said British ambassador to Bolivia Ross Denny. “It was successful for Bolivia because they will return under new conditions, which may ultimately weaken the 1961 convention and international conventions.”

Coca leaves were declared an illegal substance in the 1961 United Nations convention.

“This is a victory for our culture, our indigenous people and social movements”, said Bolivian Vice minister of Coca and Development Dionisio Núñez. “It corrects an historic error after nearly 50 years. Coca in its natural state isn’t a drug”.

The Bolivian government allows for 12,000 hectares of land to be used for the cultivation of coca leaves for chewing, infusion, and religious rituals. According to the 2011 report of the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, however, as many as 27,200 hectares may be put towards coca production in Bolivia, much of which is destined for neighbouring countries Brazil and Argentina in the form of cocaine or “pasta básica”, more commonly known as “paco”.

Morales expelled U.S. antinarcotics agents from Bolivia shortly after assuming the presidency in 2006.

“The chewing of coca forms part of our identity, our culture, because it is not just producers who chew it, but truck drivers, students, and various sectors of society”, Morales said.

The Bolivian government announced celebratory gatherings of “acullicu”, or chewing, in La Paz and Cochabamba this Monday.

The producers of coca leaves from Peru met today to discuss current problems they are facing and also to express their solidarity and support for the legalisation of the ancient plant in international law.

The National Conference of Agricultural Producers of the Coca Basins of Peru (CONPACCP) held its meeting in the city of Lima where they demanded that the United Nations Convention on Narcotic Drugs annul the sanction on chewing coca leaf.

Leaders of the conference value chewing coca leaves as a traditional practice in several Andean countries.

The Peruvian producer of coca leaf and leader of the coca growers in Quillabamba basin in Cusco, Genaro Cahuana, said that the coca growers will continue to fight if the United Nations rejects Bolivia’s request.

In 2011, Bolivia withdrew from the convention, however demanded its reinstatement in 2013 under the condition that sanctions be lifted against coca chewing. Bolivian president Evo Morales has prompted an international campaign to legalise the traditional uses of coca.

The constitution of Bolivia does not consider coca a drug, recognising it as ancestral heritage and cultural in origin.

Bolivian authorities reported that in the coming hours the United Nations Convention on Narcotic Drugs will give its ruling on the possible legalisation of chewing coca leaf.

Uruguayan president, José Mujica, has defended his government’s move to legalise marijuana, saying that it is the best way to combat drug trafficking.

He said, “in recent decades, the worst scourge for Latin America has been the constant growth of drug trafficking.” He also highlighted that one in every three prisoners in the country are there for “crimes related to drugs”.

However, Mujica recognised that more time was needed to inform the population and gain public support for the measure.

Mujica recently ordered that the bill to legalise the consumption of marijuana and the state-running of its production and sale be halted, despite having majority support in Congress, after polls showed 64% of the population was against the idea. Mujica said he intended to generate wider public support and hold public debates on the issue before moving the bill forward.

This comes in the same week as Bolivian president, Evo Morales, publicly expressed his hope for a verdict on the Andean country’s appeal for the Vienna Convention on Drugs to recognise the practice of coca leaf chewing. Such a move would allow the Andean nation to reenter the Vienna Convention.

Morales went on to say that coca chewing formed part of the cultural identity of all Bolivians, saying the practice is even recognised in the country’s 2009 constitution.

In June this year Bolivia began an international campaign for the recognition of the practice of coca leaf chewing. At the same time, Bolivia withdrew from the Vienne Convention. It is hoped that January will bring a response on the Bolivian appeal.

With the assistance of social workers, health specialists, and psychologists, 2,000 heavily armed police forcibly moved 231 drug addicts from the neighbourhoods of Manguinhos and Jacarezinho, also known as ‘Crackland’ – Rio’s largest open-air drug market – to treatment centres.

“These people should be treated and cured”, said Mariano Beltrame, chief of security of the state of Rio, adding “In no way will they be able to return to Jacarezinho or Manguinhos, which are now occupied.”

‘Crackland’ residents, hundreds of whom are addicted to the drug, typically eke out a living by searching the garbage for recyclables and things to sell, the money from which they use to satisfy their addiction.

“Helping the people is much easier now with the police in the neighbourhoods offering protection”, said Daphne Braga, coordinator of Bienestar Público’s efforts in the area.

She added “working with drug addicts is a very slow process. We can speak with someone one, two or three times, and keep trying, only to find out that the addict is not actually ready to start fighting the problem.”

Of the 231 addicts taken to the treatment centre, 215 are adults with no obligation to remain there. According to the Health Department, many of them left on Tuesday evening. Unable to return to ‘Crackland’, it is unclear where they will go.

The occupation of the slums Manguinhos and Jacarezinho was preceded by the removal by garbage collectors of over 200 tonnes of trash from the city streets, as well as the refurbishment of street lamps on more than 300 blocks.

In 2010 President Dilma Rousseff launched a US$253m campaign against drug trafficking in the country, as well as pledged US$2bn to be put towards the establishment of drug treatment centres. Critics accuse the government, however, of only making superficial changes for the sake of appearance, anticipating the crowds that will descend on Brazil for the upcoming 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics.

Santa Fe Chief of Police Hugo Tognoli resigned this morning after a Rosario court ordered his arrest yesterday and called for his home and office to be searched. He is accused of providing information to a local drug lord to avoid arrest, and of arranging drug sales for traffickers in Santa Fe province.

Tognoli’s alleged involvement in the drug business was discovered during an Airport Police investigation into a local human-trafficking and prostitution network. In a wire-tapped phone call, the proprietor of a brothel asked High Commissioner Oscar Ledesma how to go about arranging the sale of cocaine. Ledesma responded in a text message “30,000 (per month) directly to Tognoli.”

At the time, Tognoli was not yet chief of police, but rather head of the Directorate for Prevention and Control of Addictions.

The ex-Chief of Police is also believed to have provided information to a drug lord, who was being followed by unmarked cars on 25th November 2011; because of the tipoff, the suspect managed to escape.

Tognoli denies the allegations and placed his cellular phone at the court’s disposal in order to check his calls and messages. His resignation was accepted this morning by Santa Fe Minister of Security Raúl Lamberto.

“I do not want to be a hindrance to either the government or to justice. For this reason, I place my resignation on the table,” he said, adding that “a claim of this magnitude limits my capacity for action in the fight against crime.”

It has still not been confirmed if Cristian Sola, Tognoli’s subordinate and second in the Santa Fe police hierarchy, will replace him.

Brazilian Minister for Defence, Celso Amorim, will today deliver two helicopters to Santa Cruz in eastern Bolivia to aid with the battle against drugs and crime on the border which the two countries share, an official source informed yesterday.

The two H-1H helicopters will be destined only for use as part of the anti-drug plan enacted between the two countries. The agreement, which was made last year by Bolivia’s president Dilma Rousseff, said that the fight against drugs should focus on the shared borders, which stretch for more than 3,400 kilometres.

The arrival of these two helicopters will “make explicit the compromise of the two countries to cooperate in the area, paying special vigilance to the airspace and combatting illicit cross-border drug trafficking”, said a Brazilian legation in La Paz.

Other commitments to be fulfilled are the donation of helicopters called Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (VANT). These will control the airspace, detecting drug factories in Bolivia even in the jungle, where many of the country’s drug manufacturers have hidden their bases.

Bolivia is the world’s third-largest cultivator of coca leaf, primary ingredient in cocaine. However, the UN has recently revealed a 12% decrease in production of the plant, a positive result of the war against drugs that the country has been fighting.

After 15 years, the DEA is reopening its office in Uruguay because of the growing transit of cocaine in the region.

“The DEA thinks that in Uruguay there is an increasing presence of international drug trafficking organisations. They never settle in a country for no reason,” said an official of the Ministry of the Interior.

The office closed in 1994 because the drug activity in the region was said to be under control. The DEA had to ask permission from US Congress three years ago to return to the area.

According to weekly Uruguayan publication Búsqueda, between 2005-2011, the Ministry of the Interior seized 2.8 million kilos of cocaine, 2.7 of which was intended to be sent abroad.

Today, Uruguay, along with the rest of the Southern Cone (Argentina, Chile, Brazil and Paraguay) is considered a transportation site for drugs like cocaine, paco, and heroin, that are then sent to Europe and the US.