Caribbean & Central America - June 2011 (ISSN 1741-4458)

The massacre of 27 rural labourers in Guatemala (see pgs 5-6), believed to have been carried out by the Mexican drug gang Los Zetas, has once again brought concerns over the penetration of large drug trafficking organisations in Central America to the fore. The traditional transportistas, as those transporting drugs produced by Colombian gangs to their Mexican ‘distributors’ are locally known, have now also become local distributors and in some cases, they have even become suppliers of primary inputs for the production of synthetic drugs. This shift in the Central American gangs’ involvement in the trade, in conjunction with the move by Mexican drug gangs to increase their involvement in the shipment of cargo from South America to Mexico, has increased the risk of intra-gang confrontation, meaning that, with the benefit of hindsight, this massacre may well in the future be considered a turning point in the escalation of violence.

Presence and penetration
The steady increase in the size of drug shipments seized by authorities in Central America serves as an indication that larger narco-trafficking groups use the region to store and move drugs. As the shipments become larger, the stakes are also higher and the gangs require greater control over infrastructure and logistics to ensure the safe delivery of their ‘goods’. This has resulted in the need to increase the physical presence of gang members, especially from Mexico, in the region. To varying degrees, Mexican drug gangs are present in all Central American countries with the so-called northern triangle of Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador being the area of highest penetration.

The Mexican drug gang Los Zetas is present in Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua, and apparently it has been engaged in ‘probing’ movements in El Salvador (in collusion with the Mara Salvatrucha gang). The Gulf cartel has been reported as operating in Belize and, through the Guatemalan gang known as Los Lorenzana, in Nicaragua. The Sinaloa cartel has been operating in Costa Rica, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama and Guatemala. Only in Guatemala has the breakaway Beltrán Leyva organisation been positively identified; Honduras and Costa Rica have detected the presence of La Família Michoacana. Among the Colombian groups, those who succeeded the Norte del Valle cartel have been reported as active in Costa Rica, El Salvador and Nicaragua; one of them, Los Rastrojos, is also active in Panama. The Oficina de Envigado is present in Panama, where the most significant Colombian organisation is the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (Farc).

Gang profiles
Most drug gangs in Central America consist of individuals with a past criminal career, mainly as thieves or contrabandists, which has taught them how to carry out their illicit activities undetected. Unlike Colombia where some of the narco-trafficking groups also claim to have a specific political ideology or affiliation, the relationship between Central American transportistas and their Mexican and Colombian employers tends to be rather fluid and the local gang’s allegiance to a specific foreign group may only be determined by the amount of payment offered.

Major local co-operators

Source: Drug trafficking Organizations in Central America: Transportistas, Mexican cartels and Maras, the Mexico institute at the Woodrow Wilson Center and the Trans-Border institute at the University of San Diego, May 2010.

• Commonly used routes

While most gangs use well-established overland transport routes, the most cost-effective way of shipping illicit drugs is to send them via sea in go-fast vessels. According to Salvadorean, Honduran and Guatemalan authorities the vast majority of drugs crossing their territory enter their borders by sea. Drugs generally leave Ecuador’s Pacific coast and Colombia’s Pacific and Caribbean seashores in go-fast vessels: some go straight to their country of destination for overland onward shipment (Honduras is roughly six hours by boat); others meet other traffickers and transfer the cargo to other vessels along the way or leave the drugs in temporary storage points. The Corn, Blue and San Andrés Islands off Nicaragua and the Roatan Islands off the coast of Honduras are believed to be hotspots for the aforementioned practice.