#narcotrafficking

[gabrielerner]

EcuadorJanuary 2024: security crisis and political legitimacy

Although the events are fresh – they occurred on January 9, 2024 – it is likely that we are witnessing a turning point in Ecuadorian security policy. As the media recognized, with the news having made headlines in the international press, President Daniel Noboa has declared a State of Exception and the existence of an “armed conflict” throughout the territory of his country. State of Exception…

[historyhermann]

Declassified U.S. Intelligence Documents Describe Taliban History with Illicit Narcotics Trade

On January 13 of this year, Hasibullah Ahmadi, head of Afghanistan’s Ministry of Interior’s counternarcotics department, asserted that drug trafficking from the country has dropped, but admitted this illicit trade continues in some provinces. These comments raise the question of the Taliban’s ties to the narcotics market and previous attempts to curb drug production. The declassified documents featured in today’s post, all released under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA), are a selection from the new Digital National Security Archive collection, Afghanistan War and the United States, 1998-2017, which was published in December of last year. The three documents examined in this post detail the Taliban’s ties to international trafficking networks in the late 1990s and attempts to regulate the market in the early 2000s in an effort to curry favor from the international community. Taken together, the documents describe the Taliban’s ties to drug trafficking schemes and how poppy bans, even when effective, financially benefited the Taliban and associated trafficking consortiums. 

This was originally published on January 24, 2023 on Unredacted.

As the early Taliban movement emerged, from 1994 to 1996, narcotics production skyrocketed in Afghanistan, with declassified documents asserting that the group aligned themselves with international drug traffickers. There were indications from U.S. officials that narcotics production in the country significantly increased following the Taliban’s control over large swaths of the country. In a now-declassified Secret May 2001 National Intelligence Estimate (NIE), the Office of the Director of National Intelligence outlined that by 2000 the country supplied an estimated 72% of the world’s “illicit opium”. This heavily redacted document included a map noting opium poppy growing areas in Afghanistan (page 26), and a chart showing rising opium cultivation between 1991 and 2000. The NIE noted that producers in Afghanistan had switched to supplying and producing more heroin over several years before 2001. 

This analysis was reinforced by a now-declassified Top Secret December 1998 CIA research paper, prepared by the Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) Crime and Intelligence Center, and recently released under the FOIA to the National Security Archive. This heavily-excised Top Secret report details the explosion of the narcotics market under Taliban rule, noting the ties of the group to Quetta Alliance, an international drug trafficking ring, which shared ties to Osama bin Laden. Furthermore, this report asserts that the Taliban’s increasing role in the country caused the narcotics business to explode. The paper also assesses the group’s involvement in illicit drug traffic, stating that it included top Taliban leaders and that this trade intensified “over the last several years,” leading to immense profits for the fundamentalist organization. Notably, the DCI Crime and Intelligence Center states that Afghan narcotics suppliers had shifted towards international markets, beyond distributing to drug traffickers in Turkey. The paper outlines that Taliban fighters provided “logistic support” and “protection” for drug trafficking and laboratories within the country. Most significantly, the paper argues that the Taliban forged ties to the Quetta Alliance, a major regional trafficking group, and terrorist sponsor of Osama bin Laden.

This paper was not alone in describing the Quetta Alliance. A publicly-available August 1994 report compiled by the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Intelligence Division, describes the Quetta Alliance as an alliance between three powerful trafficking groups operating out of Quetta, within Pakistan’s Baluchistan Province. The DEA report stated that this loose alliance was based on familial ties, and described the operation as “similar to a large manufacturing or service consortium.” This connected to the assertion in the aforementioned paper by the DCI Crime and Intelligence Center, which argued that once the Quetta Alliance became the dominant narco-trafficking group in southern Afghanistan, it provided financial support and recruits to the burgeoning Taliban.

By late 1999, the Taliban had banned poppy cultivation. This would be followed by a ban of opium cultivation and trafficking in July 2000, the latter in an edict by Taliban leader Mullah Omar. However, these bans did not interfere with trafficking and sale of opium or poppy. A declassified Secret July 2001 cable from the Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) stated that while the ban was primarily effective, it still substantially increased the Taliban’s revenue from illicit drug trafficking. The ban followed the U.N. Security Council resolutions 1267 and 1333, in 1999 and 2000 respectively, which condemned “the significant rise in the illicit production of opium” and demanded that the Taliban work to “virtually eliminate the illicit cultivation of opium poppy.” Later, the DIA cable notes that the Taliban likely weighed recognition from the international community from its own interests when considering an extension of the ban. 

This now-declassified DIA cable further stated that while the Taliban’s ban would likely reduce the worldwide opium production by at least 50%, the ban resulted in the quadrupling of the Afghan price for opium, morphine base, and heroin – which were previously at record lows. The cable explicitly states that one year after the ban the Taliban was still benefiting substantially from drug revenues, “… chiefly from its taxes on continuing narcotics trafficking and from Taliban-owned narcotics stockpiles, whose value has increased substantially.” The DIA cable also notes that the ban would likely not have an impact on the U.S. over the coming months, because its main heroin sources were from Southeast Asia and Latin America. While the Taliban never faced having to weigh its interests in extending the ban due to the U.S. invasion beginning in October 2001, the DIA cable notes all of the influences that the Taliban would likely weigh in the decision making processing, including the potential recognition from the international community, major narcotics traffickers’ reactions to an extension, the size of stockpiles, and the impact on their own finances. 

For more documents on the Taliban, see the Archive’s numerous sourcebooks, including the September 23, 2021, post, “Newly Published Documents Cast Doubt on Claims Taliban Will Give Up al Qaeda.” 

© 2022-2023 Burkely Hermann. All rights reserved.

[wezg]

Review: In The Shadow of Papillon - Seven Years of Hell in Venezuela's Prison System - by Frank Kane with John Tilsley

Review: In The Shadow of Papillon – Seven Years of Hell in Venezuela’s Prison System – by Frank Kane with John Tilsley

Frank Kane and his girlfriend, Sam, after their business was failing in the U.K. made the fateful decision to become cocaine drug couriers in Venezuela. Whilst attempting to fly out from the airport on Caribbean Island, Isla de Margarita, the airport authorities stopped and searched them and discovered the smuggled contraband which was a few kilos of locally-sourced cocaine. The story progresses…

[becausetheknight]

that scene in narcos season 3 where pacho sensually dances with his boyfriend while everyone watches and then proceeds to literally rip the homophobe in half is one of the best pieces of television i’ve seen in awhile tbh

[rotzaprachim]

this is a short article but i think about it a lot in light of the flattening of neo imperialism and geopolitical violence to consumable american content.

The actual moral universe of the show is far simpler: dope dealers deserve whatever’s coming to them, the bad guys often win, and the good guys should be able to do whatever it takes to stop them. 

Narcos can’t truly complicate itself any further because doing so would acknowledge that all these stories are the same story, and in telling them, the show becomes complicit. Midway through the first season of Narcos: Mexico, Gallardo (Diego Luna) leaves his native country for a secret meeting in South America. In a moment that’s designed to be a big surprise for longtime Narcos fans, Pablo Escobar (Wagner Moura) is waiting for him. 

You could tell this story indefinitely

“I’ve always sort of seen this as of the Marvel superhero universe of connecting narcotraffickers, and that they all coexist,” showrunner Eric Newman told The Hollywood Reporter not long after the season premiered in 2018. It’s a crass way of describing the dynamics at play in these stories of cartels and corruption, but also a very American one. The gringos, as the Mexicans doing the dirty work for the cartel bosses say, always want more. And what better expression of “more” is there than the excesses of the modern cinematic universe? 

[allthebrazilianpolitics]

Brazil, Colombia Step Up Fight Against Transnational Crime in the Amazon

The Brazilian and Colombian armed forces have jointly stepped up the fight against transnational crime in the Amazon. In late April, military authorities from both countries signed an agreement to close in on criminal organizations in the region.

“In Brasilia, we signed the Cooperation Plan between the Colombian Military Forces and the Brazilian Armed Forces, where we ratified the fight against common threats in the Amazon, such as narcotrafficking and illegal mining over the next two years,” Army General Helder Fernán Giraldo Bonilla, commander of the Colombian Military Forces said via X.

“In addition to the exchange of experience, training, and doctrine, interoperability operations will also be carried out to combat the criminal alliance between FARC [Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia] dissidents and organized crime groups,” Colombian magazine Semana reported.

Among these are Brazilian criminal organizations Red Command and First Command of the Capital, known for their narcotrafficking, illegal mining, and arms trafficking activities, Argentine news site Infobae reported.

Continue reading.

[shakespearenews]

One particularly fascinating example within a larger trend of ‘narco’ Macbeths is a one-man bilingual hand-puppet adaptation entitled El Beto, which was created by Mexican American actor and puppet artist Kalob Martinez in 2016. In this production, Martinez used verbal, visual, sonic, and theatrical strategies to resist the forms of storytelling that portray Mexicans as a monolith or uncritically demonise narcotrafficking.

El Beto opens with an original narcocorrido, a subgenre of Mexican narrative ballads that chronicles and reclaims the exploits of narcotraficantes. The song acknowledges that neoliberal economic policies and U.S. demand for drugs are also responsible for creating the conditions that incentivized poor Mexican farmers to stop growing food and start growing more lucrative crops such as marijuana and opium poppies. As the song reaches its conclusion, the projected images of drugs, money, and guns fade into one another in rapid succession. But the transnational terror they represent lingers, setting the stage for Shakespeare’s gruesome tragedy.

[dannydotexe]

Guess who made an El Rubio character.ai bot in the rise of people rizzing up their favorite characters

I DID, HERE'S THE LINK

ENJOY

(There might be a few kinks in the bot I need to solve but that is if I find any-)

[theqhreator42]

Preacher’s Daughter fancast

There’s been a lot of talk about the three films planned to cover Ethel Cain’s story, so I wanted to share my personal vision for its main characters!

1. Aaron Paul as Ethel Cain

Jesse Pinkman has this perfect haunted expression at all times, like he’s carrying the ghosts in his mother’s blood, like he truly cannot escape what he’s made up of. Even more importantly, he is canonically transmasc AND transfem (Vince and Peter personally confirmed it to me in a conference), so there could not be a better cast here!

2. Bryan Cranston as Isaiah

Breaking Bad is the story of a traumatized transgender person being manipulated by a cruel remorseless narcotrafficker into living in the American Southwest, so the parallels are truly stark.

3. Charles Baker as Willoughby

Granted, his house is in Albuquerque, not Nebraska, but “New Mexico” and “Nebraska” both begin with the letter <n> so it’s totally viable, frankly.

4. John Koyama as Logan

idk this is a shitpost I didn’t think very far but Emilio does get wiped out early

[allthenewsworld]

Scientists in Brazil have found the first evidence that sharks are being exposed to cocaine.🦈😯

Rachel Ann Hauser Davis, a biologist at Brazil's Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, told NPR that they dissected 13 wild sharpnose sharks near Rio de Janeiro, all of which tested positive for cocaine in their muscles and livers, indicating chronic exposure.

Narcotraffickers often toss bales of cocaine overboard when pursued, but Hauser Davis suggests that the sharks were more likely exposed to cocaine through wastewater contamination in Rio de Janeiro. The drug's presence in the water likely stems from human use and illegal refining labs.

Cocaine affects the brain and could cause hyperactive behavior sharks, though further research is needed.

This finding adds to growing research on marine wildlife and cocaine. For instance, a 2018 study in the UK found that eels exposed to cocaine had trouble mating. Tracy Fanara, an environmental engineer at the University of Florida, told NPR that exposure to recreational drugs can disrupt marine species' essential migration periods.

Fanara, who participated in the documentary Cocaine Sharks, noted that while cocaine isn't the biggest problem sharks face, it highlights the broader issue of human pollution affecting ocean life. "Cocaine does a good job of getting people's attention," she said.

[fruitjuices]

rained today (was not planning on this) (did not think it was going to) (literally no mention of this on any weather channel OR radar) and i got a little damp (ruined my day) and now my jeans are slightly damp (again. day ruining.) and i had to change my shirt (don't make me say it a third time) and i was going to stay after class for a seminar on narcotrafficking (of all things!) but im damp and uncomfortable so now i'm leaving. aaaaaaand scene

[zooterchet]

The System of the Greater North

Massachusetts, is structured on a federal system, of United States Marine Corps benefits.

To obtain these, we have to match standards, of the Marines, in our schools.

To fund these, we have to receive federal loans, paid back with investments in the greater six-state New England system, of which Boston is the key, through Beacon Hill, the legislature, and the Stockyard, our steakhouse; where Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Israel, Italy, and Ireland, negotiate the country's textbooks, all Marine quality; with lies included, for developmental history, of chemists (drug dealers, the Masonic Lodge; not the Temple, Britain, cops).

Therefore, New England, particularly Boston, is Marine Corps.

We have management hubs within.

The Metrowest Daily News, is James Bond 007, super spies that censor literature, when it is not the quality of federal schools; unless an error, challenged by a villain, SPECTRE, a federal quandry (of which I have received James Bond Jr., Le Chiffre, Raoul Silva, and Safin Lucypher, unheard of).

Rhode Island PD, is NEC Comics, the Tick; featuring villains of superb schooling systems, of high intelligence children, the villains, whose only skill is the "dodge", the Freemasonic British history of America, against Germans, those Slavics bought into Polish labor by Chairface Chippendale, myself; the sales of Germany, to the Puritans, by labeling the Puritan Horse Corps, as "German", and deporting them, the Potomac Crossing (James Madison, is "playing for Germany", he has flirted as a little British girl, to a British woman, "Olly Olly Oxenfree").

Enfield Connecticut Banking, is the ACLU, an Israeli arts resource, for dominatrixes, the rights of the civilian, against the police officer, as lawyers (emboldened by the Patriot Act, through John Ashford, a dominatrix enthusiast, but not "the weird stuff", the Navy SEALS, and "Gotham", queening and facesitting and smothering).

New Hampshire Primary, is the prime determination of "French Influence" in the state of Massachusetts, therefore the country, out of Hanseatic League Naval papers, "Frankhart", the elite hunting squads of "The Frozen North"; the test of the Freemasonic Temple, Presidential lines, produced by those CIA assassins raised from before birth, to hunt Zionist business practice, of the type that Nixon uses; Vice President Nixon, founder of the movement ("Chet", the specialist as a Jew Hunter, for Jewish Presidents, friends to Israel, with three lines cleared).

Vermont, is the backwards pass to Canada, for the marijuana crop, and peace, with the United Kingdom, Britain; the English, as having demanded a monopoly, over the world's narcotrafficking, hence those having crop lands toil, over the planet, having been fed by farms of Manitoba, Kansas, and Missouri, out of Vermont's State Troopers.

Finally, "The Darkness"; Chet's boss, Stephen King, Maine PD. State Police Captain Queenan, "The Departed".

[antonio-velardo]

Antonio Velardo shares: How the Narcotrafficking Industry Seized Power in Ecuador by Genevieve Glatsky and José María León Cabrera

By Genevieve Glatsky and José María León Cabrera A presidential candidate’s assassination has focused global attention on the country’s extraordinary bloodshed fueled by powerful international and domestic crime groups. Published: August 17, 2023 at 12:01AM from NYT World https://ift.tt/tDKkAhZ via IFTTT

[zeroground]

https://www.orfonline.org/expert-speak/the-growing-narcotrafficking-in-central-asia/

[pascalispretty]

3 books on my to-read list: City of Orange by Daniel Yoon, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, and The Final Girl Support Group by Grady Hendrix. Got anything on yours?

Ohhh, I've been meaning to try and pick up The Final Girl Support Group for ages, you'll have to come back and let me know what you think! (I also looked up City of Orange on GoodReads and had to add it to my Want to Read list, it sounds so interesting!)

As to my TBR....yes and no? I'm in the middle of my postgrad rn, so most of my reading material is pretty dense ("Drug Cartels Do Not Exist: Narcotrafficking in US and Mexican Culture" is currently top of the list).

But in terms of fun reads, Killer in the Rain by Raymond Chandler, Miami by Joan Didion and Everything I Know About Love by Dolly Alderton are the next in the stack.