Mexican Drug Cartels Move Into Peru

[High Plains]

Worry spreads as their presence increases coca production, violence

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/mexico/stories/010708dnintlperucartels.3323e00.html

07:05 AM CST on Monday, January 8, 2007
By ALFREDO CORCHADO / The Dallas Morning News

LIMA, Peru – Mexican drug cartels, once regarded mainly as couriers for South American cocaine producers, have spread their powerful tentacles deep into this Andean nation, sowing violence and nourishing the re-emergence of Shining Path guerrillas, authorities say.

Peruvian authorities suspect a Mexican cartel in the killing of a federal judge in July that shocked this nation. The allegations underscore the presence of Mexican cartels in the multibillion-dollar shadow economy in Peru, the world's second-largest producer of cocaine after neighboring Colombia.

An attack by suspected Shining Path guerrillas left eight people dead in a Peruvian coca-growing area in December. The terrorist group may have formed an alliance with Mexican drug cartels.
"Just like in Mexico, Peruvian institutions are being put to the test," said Gen. Juan Zárate Gambini, Peru's anti-narcotics czar and head of the National Police. "We're very concerned about the consequences, and we're committed to doing everything to meet the challenge and defeat the enemy."

Mexican cartels have become the most dominant drug-trafficking organizations in the hemisphere, authorities say. In his first weeks in office, Mexican President Felipe Calderón has sent thousands of troops and federal police to Michoacán state and the border city of Tijuana to confront entrenched cartels.

In South America, the Mexican groups are bypassing the Colombians and cutting their own deals with coca farmers in Peru and Bolivia, setting up dozens of tiny, state-of-the-art cocaine processing labs inside Peruvian territory, say Western diplomats and Peruvian authorities. The groups are opening new consumer markets throughout Latin America and elsewhere.

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Much, much more at link

[High Plains]

1. The Andean front of our war on drugs (we love to consume)

Ah, the unintended consequences of drug prohibition. Legalize it all now. Put the cartels out of business, force the cops to make an honest living.

[Vincardog]

2. Second that HP

[acmavm]

3. Can't happen. How would the CIA fill their slush fund accounts?