Washington Post has published a series of official data indicating that the flow of cocaine in the United States has not decreased, despite the attacks against 67 alleged vessels transporting drugs in the Caribbean and the Pacific.
The media cites an evaluation from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), which indicates that the attacks against the alleged drug boats have not decreased either the supply or the price of cocaine.
In addition, the DEA would have warned that criminal groups have developed new strategies and tactics to transport drugs by other means.
For example, the DEA report indicates that criminal groups have ruled out the use of boats and small boats, and have opted to use larger vessels and routes close to the coast, where there is less possibility of being attacked by the United States.
Drug traffickers, according to the media, would also use other vehicles, such as aircraft, from where they move through clandestine runways located on the border between Colombia and Venezuela.
The aircraft would move eastwards, passing through Guyana and Suriname. In this way they would evade the US authorities.
Washington Post He also reported that Pentagon authorities held a closed-door meeting with members of Congress, in which they reported that “the attacks have not reduced the purity of cocaine.”
“When you squeeze a balloon on one side, it always expands on the other. They always find the weak spots and exploit them,” he quotes Washington Post to a DEA official on condition of anonymity.
Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell told Washington Post that Operation “Southern Spear” was achieving its purpose and that “transnational criminal organizations have continually adapted their tactics” for decades.
“That does not indicate that the pressure is ineffective. It shows that we are imposing systemic friction on their operations,” he added.
So far, the United States has attacked 67 vessels and killed 221 people, according to media counts.
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