Posted on 03/26/2009 10:37:31 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
A recent surge in arrests and cocaine seizures in Peru points to an increased presence of Mexican drug cartels, counter-narcotics officials say.
The cartels have also contributed to more drug-related violence in Peruvian cities, ports and in remote valleys in this Andean country where coca, cocaine's base material, is grown, the officials say.
Peruvian claims of Mexican cartels expanding echo those by officials in other Latin American countries, from Honduras to Argentina, where Mexican gangs have supplanted once-powerful Colombian cartels as kings of the illicit-drug underworld. ....
That Mexican drug lords are sending emissaries here is no surprise to Hidalgo in light of Peruvian and U.S. estimates that 80% of all Peruvian cocaine -- which accounts for roughly one-third of world production -- is shipped to Mexico.
The final destination could include European as well as U.S. drug users, he said. ....
Most of Peru's coca is grown and processed in the remote Huallaga and Apurimac-Ene valleys. Those areas have seen a resurgence in recent years of the left-wing rebel group Shining Path, which was largely vanquished by the Peruvian government's anti-terrorism campaign of the 1990s.
Now, Antezana says, the Shining Path has resurfaced in two factions -- each small, but growing, cocaine-trafficking groups.
He called the factions mini-FARCs, a reference to Colombia's largest rebel army, which also finances its armed campaign with drug profits.
The rebels remain minor players, with no more than 1,000 fighters, intelligence officials say. But Antezana and others fear that drug profits could fuel their growth.
To make matters worse, said Medina, a Korean Chinese gang known as Red Dragon has also landed in Peru, allegedly trafficking in drugs as well as humans trying to reach the United States.
(Excerpt) Read more at latimes.com ...
Looks like it’s time to release Alberto Fujimori from prison.
If the former Peruvian President could destroy the stone cold Maoist terrorist of The Shining Path, I bet he can really do a job on the Mexican drug cartels.
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