Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, Hodgenville, Kentucky Abraham Lincoln Birthplace National Historical Park, Hodgenville, KentuckyWhy Drug Cartels Are Expanding to Asia
https://www.americasquarterly.org/article/why-drug-cartels-are-expanding-to-asia/
Excerpt:
For a rising number of Latin American drug cartels, being global is nowadays a “do-or-die” proposition. Hemmed in by the oversaturation of the U.S. market and the increasing preference of U.S. consumers for synthetic drugs, such as fentanyl, these organizations have eagerly expanded their cocaine smuggling to Europe in recent years.
Now, they are looking for new markets, and Asia is the name of the game. After a remarkable increase in drug production over the last decade to a record level of almost 2,000 tons of pure cocaine per year, drug lords are betting on China, India and South Korea’s markets.
The output increase is taking place thanks to recent investments in technology to raise coca bushes’ productivity and the expansion of the cultivation area to non-traditional countries in Latin America, the sole producer of all the cocaine sold worldwide.
The push for higher production and market expansion has brought an increase in drug-trafficking-related violence to the region. In January, gangs kidnapped correctional officers and invaded a TV station in Guayaquil, Ecuador, representing an unprecedented wave of drug-related violence in a nation that not long ago was a peaceful Andean destination.
It’s not a mere coincidence that the leading Mexican gangs, the Sinaloa Cartel and Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación, or CJNG, have Ecuador as their latest and most prominent battlefield, as both are engaged in fierce competition to control key territories and markets in the Western Hemisphere and beyond.
Both organizations have set their sights on Asia since getting local prominence, but the Sinaloa Cartel has an early advantage in this expansion. According to some scholars, Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, the incarcerated drug lord enduring a life sentence in Florence, Colorado, created import and export networks in Asia in the early 2000s, liaising its thriving group with Chinese gangs, including 14K and Sun Yee On, in Hong Kong.
.....While the U.S. and Brazil are still the most important cocaine consumers worldwide, the cocaine market seems to be displacing geographically from the Americas to Europe. According to the European Drug Report 2023, close to 2.3 million 15- to 34-year-olds (2.3% of this age group) used cocaine.
The report highlights that after cannabis, cocaine is the second most used illicit drug in Europe, although prevalence levels and patterns of use differ considerably between countries. Even though the current cocaine market has become Eurocentric, that trend may change in the years to come, as cocaine prices in Asia have recently skyrocketed.
New markets for drug consumption are constantly emerging thanks to criminal organizations’ bid to stimulate demand for the extra cocaine produced every year (and thereby increase their profits). Now, Asian markets are assuming a more significant role. Many of these countries are already involved in global drug market,.....
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South Tyrol, ItalyI like that monument to Lincoln’s birthplace. He lived in Kentucky until he was 8 or so. Those long steps could symbolize the long path from log cabin to the presidency or the long, determined road to put the country back together. My favorite President...until now.
Why aren’t more libraries dedicated to Lincoln?