The Cali Cartel Term paper

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For the last half-century Latin America has have been deeply involved with the foreign trade and production of drugs, primarily cocaine. The dominant economic player in this market is the highland country of Colombia, which has produced some of the most powerful and fearsome drug cartels to date. Through struggles between rival cartels, one cartel has evolved into the predominant force and emerged in the 90 s as the most powerful drug cartel in the world. The Cali Cartel s aspects of distribution, organization, involvement in government corruption, and overall control of the market has made it infamous throughout the world. Though in recent years its ability to maintain control is waning with increasing US intervention and opposition from other governments.

In the 1980 s the Colombian drug trade was at an all time high. At the forefront of the market was the Medellin Cartel lead by Pablo Escobar. Under the leadership of Escobar the cartel turned into the fiercest and most brutal force the Colombians faced. In efforts to control this epidemic the Colombian government cooperated with the smaller Cali Cartel in it s battle against the Medellin Cartel. Cali provided intelligence to the government forces seeking to eliminate Escobar. As a result of helping the Colombian government defeat the Medillin Cartel and gun down Escobar, Cali replaced them as South America s principal supplier of cocaine.

Cali begins the cocaine trade by purchasing cocoa leaves from Bolivian, Peruvian and Colombian farmers. After it is processed into powdered cocaine in secret jungle labs the cocaine is moved from the surrounding Amazon jungle to the points of initial distribution in Colombia. The center of the Cali drug trade is in the third largest city of Colombia, Cali. The strength of Cali s distribution depends on two aspects of its trade, the initial exportation of the cocaine to the international markets and the internal networks within in these countries they sell to.

The vast majority of the cocaine is destined for the US market. It reaches the US by numerous routes by air, by sea, but mostly over land via Mexico. The strengths of its international distribution are numerous. Cali s extensive infrastructure of airstrips, hidden warehouses and corrupt officials have increased the export. Along with these the Cartel has utilized Mexican drug lords to transport the cocaine over the US borders who have more connections and leeway in its transport. The sophistication of Cali s international distribution is demonstrated by Cali s capacity to insert cocoa paste into concrete posts, plastic chairs, slippers and other unusual products (Jordan, 83). These products are then in turn shipped through legitimate businesses on cargo ships. The shear size of the export can be seen through the Mexican drug lords use of Boeing 727 s to carry 6 or more tons of cocaine on a single flight from northern Mexico for Cali (Jordan, 151).

Cali is primarily in the business of distributing and processing cocaine; its competitive advantage lies in its distribution networks, which transfers lots of illegal goods through many hostile areas (Kwan, 1). These areas are the internal areas of the nations they sell there product. In the US, Cali makes use of its distribution networks to deliver the drugs to wholesale retailers, typically ethnic crime gangs, who have the means to sell the product. The street prices of cocaine in the US market are about $10,500 $36,000 per kilogram, which when related to the amounts of drug sold is astronomical (Mako, 1). The DEA estimated that in 1994, the Cali mafia produced more than 700 metric tons of cocaine, and the proceeds from the mafia s operations in the US exceeded 7 billion dollars that s more than 8 times the size of the DEA s annual budget (Jordan, 169). This also does not include the billions of dollars that stay in the hands of retail drug dealers in the US.

The Cali Cartel was amazingly effective because it was able to keep a low profile while promoting its business. Unlike the brutal Medillin Cartel, the Cali Cartel preferred bribing police and government officials. They were able to enjoy the anonymity that the more violent cartels did not have.

One of the most notable incidents of government corruption occurred during the 1994 Colombian presidential election. President Ernesto Samper and other top Colombian officials accepted millions of dollars from the infamous Cali cocaine cartel in the election. In return for Cali cartel support, Samper supposedly promised that whether he was elected or not he would, do everything he could do to get rid of extradition (Jordan, 150). Upon his election Samper immediately turned his back on the cartel with the increased involvement of the US.

This enraged the Cartel and shortly after a terrorist group Dignity for Colombia , said that they would launch a new terrorist campaign to oust Samper from the presidency with threats to his life. Officials of the DEA and US observers in Colombia, though not positive believed the terrorist group was made up of members of the Cali cartel (Mako, 1). It was assumed that the cartel was angry with the Colombian president because he took cash from the Cartel to help win the 94 election and has apparently reneged on a deal to go easy on the cartel. As the influx of drugs in politics increased, the US...

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