Charry Mauricio Cauache looks out over a field of cocoa plants. He is one of many farmers in the Amazon jungle on the border between Brazil, Colombia and Peru. The end product is chocolate. It hasn’t always been that way. – There was no other work. That’s why we worked for Pablo Escobar. Cauache says that several farmers have done the same. They have left the cocaine industry. Nevertheless, a record seizure of 830 kilograms of cocaine was made in Oslo at the end of March. 820 kilograms of cocaine were found in banana crates at Bama in March. Photo: Oslo police district And at the end of July, for the third time this year, a large drug seizure was made at Bama. Banana crates contained 600 kilograms of cocaine. How is it possible? Historic agreement without effect? We rewind time to 2016. The Colombian government and the FARC sign a historic peace agreement in Oslo. One of the aims is for farmers who have previously grown cocaine to start growing other products. For Charry Mauricio and the rest of the local population in Puerto Nariño, it has been a success story. But that is one of the exceptions. – This worked in very few areas. That’s what Juan Rodriguez says. He works for the Colombian anti-narcotics intelligence agency based in the capital, Bogotá. A coca field in Tumaco, Colombia. Cocaine is made from the coca plant. Photo: LUISA GONZALEZ / Reuters Juan Rodriguez is not his real name. If he shares it, he could put himself and the agency at risk. – In some places, we have managed to motivate people to grow coffee, sugar, yuca or cocoa. But it has not worked everywhere, he says. It is easier to grow cocaine than cocoa. It requires less work and makes more money. Ketones are a solvent used in the purification process of cocaine. Photo: The Colombian intelligence service A vacuum packaging machine removes the moisture from the cocaine before shipping. Photo: Vacuuming machine Microwave ovens are used to dry cocaine. Photo: The Colombian intelligence service At the same time, more drugs have never been produced than now. And never before have so many people used drugs. It will also be visible in Norway, with record seizures as in March this year. However, the Colombian intelligence agent does not believe that the seizure had a major impact on the global cocaine market. – When there are such big discoveries, there is also a lot that goes under the radar. The drug traffic always continues, says Rodriguez. FARC replaced by Europeans The seizure in March is the largest ever carried out in Norway. It was done shortly after another record seizure in Germany. Colombian intelligence nevertheless believes that this is only the tip of the iceberg. The corona pandemic forced a rapid change in drug traffic, explains Rodriguez. Now American and European criminal gangs have taken on a completely new role. – There is now a completely different structure in the drug industry. European and American criminal groups come directly to South America, he says, and adds: – They no longer wait for the goods to arrive in Europe. According to the EMCDDA’s Drug Market Report, written in collaboration with EUROPOL, Colombia is by far the country that produces the most cocaine in the world. The peace agreement with the FARC had little impact. In 2019, the country produced more than 480 tonnes. – But the monopoly that Colombian groups such as the FARC had before is now split between anonymous European and American criminal organizations, says Rodriguez. Colombian intelligence takes samples from a cocaine seizure. Photo: The Colombian intelligence service Affects the degree of strength Kjetil Tunold, section leader at the section for organized crime in Kripos, says that the new structure in the drug traffic can affect the degree of strength in cocaine that is sold in Norway. – In 2022, the average degree of strength in analyzed fittings was a whopping 78 per cent. There is an increase compared to the previous 4–5 years, says Tunold. – One hypothesis is that the constantly increasing degree of strength can be attributed to fewer links between producer and user. In addition, the new European players make control more difficult. That makes ports in Colombia and other South American countries very vulnerable, Rodriguez explains. – They are constantly developing new techniques for transporting cocaine. They impregnate clothes with it and have it in fruit juice to name a few, says the agent. Stencils with fake logos are sprayed on boxes of drugs. Photo: The Colombian intelligence service But every time intelligence discovers a new model, the new players in the drug market change it. The Norwegian Customs Service can state that they have uncovered smuggling attempts where drugs have been tried to be hidden in water heaters, sewn into trousers and boiled into plasticine. – The new European players have direct contact with boats, captains and charter planes, says Rodriguez. – How does the new structure affect the former drug lords in Colombia? – The Colombian drug traffickers still have a lot of power. They are the ones who have the laboratories and contacts that the new American and European players depend on. In other words, the Colombian drug lords earn the same but have less responsibility. When they lose drugs due to seizures, European organizations are responsible. Not the Colombians. This is what a typical cocaine laboratory looks like. Ketones and other flammable liquids are stored in barrels. Photo: The Colombian intelligence service So heads float down the river But even if there are more actors on the field, that does not mean that there is more violence, according to Rodriguez. – The drug traffickers no longer enter into conflicts. They are more in the shadows, you might say. But it hasn’t always been that way. Just a few decades back in time, Colombia was a completely different, and much more violent, place. The said Charry Mauricio Cauache is 30 years old. He is the youth leader of 22 indigenous communities in the Colombian Amazon, in the municipality of Puerto Nariño. Charry Mauricio Cauache works to ensure that young people get an education rather than enter the drug industry. Photo: Sondre Skjelvik Now Cauache grows cocoa. But he hasn’t always done that. The community was one of the areas used by the drug lord Pablo Escobar to grow cocaine. – It was to support their own families, says Cauache. Back in 2004, ten-year-old Cauache stood by the riverbank. Body parts of people he knew floated in the water. People from his village, who had worked for Escobar. – There were feet and hands, heads without a body, and bodies without a head. It was very traumatic. It is something that marks you forever. It was the last time they saw a massacre in this part of Colombia. Then Cauache decided to grow something other than cocaine. Charry Mauricio Cauache told news about how he replaced cocaine production with cocoa production. Photo: Sondre Skjelvik – Much goes under the radar But almost all the farmers do like Cauache. Cocaine is produced like never before in Colombia. Europol states that both the production and use of cocaine are at a historically high level. This leads both to increased smuggling and increased availability, also on the Norwegian market. – We see this through the seizures we make of cocaine, through both road controls, maritime controls and postal controls, says Ina Therese Vistung Knutsen, communications adviser at the Customs Office. – It is challenging to give an estimate of how large the supply of drugs is in Norway. At the same time, we see that there is a high availability of drugs throughout Europe, where the Norwegian market is not considered an exception. Before, Spain and Belgium were the main ports for drugs. Now it’s the Netherlands, but the drug traffickers change their working methods every day. A major cocaine seizure that was going to the Netherlands, but was stopped in a Colombian port. Photo: The Colombian intelligence service It is a constant job for those who try to get an overview of the criminal networks. – New organizations appear every year. If we take some out, new ones will appear that are bigger and more specialized, says Rodriguez. – How do you think the drug traffic will develop? – The drug players from all over the world seem to use Dubai to coordinate. We believe this country will play an important role in the future. – Will there be fewer players? – No. More and more people want to enter this industry. More people want to live like Pablo Escobar. Of course, it also poses a social problem, concludes Rodriguez. Hoping education will be the solution The municipality of Puerto Nariño in the Amazon is one of Colombia’s few sunshine stories about persuading farmers to switch pastures. But the path to quick money is still tempting for several of the young people in the village. They don’t have to go any further than neighboring Peru before they can work with coca plants again. Often they are paid in cocaine instead of money, according to Cauache. – We are still losing young people to drugs. Some become addicted, others try to sell the cocaine they have earned. Many are killed. Charry Mauricio Cauache had to grow cocaine to support his family. Photo: Sondre Skjelvik Cauache does what he can to get as many people as possible out of the deadly business. – We are working on a project to give the young people in the communities an education. The aim is to give young people work. So far, they have had seven local young people at the university. Perhaps they will be good enough role models to pull the rest of the young people off cocaine as well.
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Produced cocaine for Escobar – saw body parts float down the river – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
