Users of cocaine are destroying the rainforest, according to law enforcement officials. From the Guardian: Four square metres of rainforest are destroyed for every gram of cocaine snorted in the UK, a conference of senior police officers as told yesterday. Francisco Santos Calderón, the vice-president of Colombia, appealed to British users of the class A drug to consider [...]

Guerrilla group Hezbollah raised funds for its organization through cocaine trafficking in Colombian. From the Los Angeles Times: U.S. and Colombian investigators have dismantled an international cocaine smuggling and money laundering ring that allegedly used part of its profits to finance Hezbollah, the Lebanon-based Shiite militia, officials said Tuesday. Culminating a two-year investigation, authorities arrested at least 36 [...]

As the United States and Colombia continue to make progress against traffickers in Colombia, Venezuela is picking up the demand by transporting cocaine from its territory. From the Boston Globe: The number of flights transporting tons of Colombian cocaine from Venezuela, destined for the United States, has risen sharply, according to US and foreign intelligence reports, presenting [...]

From CNN: Spanish police announced Friday the arrest of one of the most sought-after narcotraffickers in the world, Edgar Guillermo Vallejo Guarin, also known as “Beto the Gypsy.” Vallejo Guarin was arrested outside a luxury hotel in central Madrid with the collaboration of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, the Spanish Civil Guard said in a news release. Vallejo [...]

Last month, Venezuela agreed to send millions of barrels of oil to Colombia to curb the illegal smuggling of gas across the border.  From the AP (via IHT): Venezuela’s Oil Ministry plans to send Colombia’s Norte de Santander state at least 50,000 barrels (8 million liters) of oil a month starting Thursday and could double that supply, [...]

Coca that is leagally cultivated in Colombia ends up in the global cocaine trade, according to the Washington Post.  Here in the lush Yungas region of western Bolivia, farmers are allowed by law to plant a total of nearly 30,000 acres of coca — leaf that is then sold in the domestic market for tea or [...]

Source: “The unstoppable crop,” The Economist, June 21, 2008, page 50.

Source: Bill Faries, “Made in South America: New Breed of Fake US Dollars,” Christian Science Monitor, April 14, 2005.

After sending 550 tons of cocaine to the United States over several years, a drug lord from Colombia is extradited to the United States. From the AP (via Google News): Colombian drug lord Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia was extradited to the United States on Friday to face racketeering charges, a year after he was captured in a [...]

Colombia President Alvaro Uribe publicly called on the United States to give longer sentences for drug traffickers who are extradited from his country.  From BBC News: He said that negotiating short jail terms with traffickers in exchange for information often ended up making a mockery of anti-drug efforts. Mr Uribe was speaking at an anti-drugs summit of Latin [...]