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Introduction:
The articles on this page focus on the Illicit Trades; i.e. - the illicit drug trade, the illicit gun trade and the illicit trafficking of human beings.
“Small arms trafficking in the Caribbean.”
The Caribbean IMPACS/Small Arms Survey study titled: “Weapons Compass The Caribbean Firearms Study” (April 2023) states: “firearms trafficking in the Caribbean and the specific characteristics of the markets fuelled by this trade have received little research attention. Crucially, a region specific assessment of small arms in the Caribbean is lacking,…” “A critical information gap surrounds the mechanics of small arms trafficking both within the region itself and from source countries in other regions.” (Pg. 26). Read more...
“The changes to Caribbean basin illicit trafficking as a result of Mexican cartel hegemony.”
Today in the Caribbean basin Mexican cartels exercise hegemony over the illicit trades of the Caribbean basin i.e. illicit drug trafficking, illicit small arms trafficking and human smuggling and trafficking. Pax Mexicana in the 21st century has dramatically changed the nature and strategic aim of Caribbean basin illicit trafficking and the social order of illicit trafficking in the Caribbean basin. The two dominant Mexican organisations in the Caribbean are the Sinaloa Federation and Los Zetas with the Juarez cartel maintaining its operational presence that was established in the Caribbean long before the arrival of the major players today. Read more...
“Mexican Cartels in Africa.”
In the second half of the decade of the 1990’s the operatives of the Mexican cartels involved with the jump of the Colombian and Venezuelan drug trafficking organisations (DTOs) from the Caribbean basin to West Africa were guided by a different strategy than that of the Colombian and Venezuelan DTOs. The Colombian and Venezuelan DTOs were intent on opening new trafficking routes to Europe to flood Europe with cocaine. More importantly additional routes to place product directly into Italy were being sought given the hegemony over the access points to Europe by Italian organised crime especially the Ndrangheta. This strategic move by the Colombian and Venezuelan DTOs impacted not only Europe but also West and North Africa and the nature of and the volume of illicit trafficking on the Mediterranean Sea. As the Sahel and Maghreb regions of Africa became linked to West Africa so did Italy as cocaine moved from the Caribbean Basin was landed in West Africa and some moved through the Sahel and Maghreb to Italy, Spain and France. The operatives of the Mexican cartels were active players in the creation of these new trafficking routes to Europe but the long term strategy of the Mexican cartels was driven by an entirely different and contradictory worldview to that of the Colombian and Venezuelan DTOs. Read more...
“The Reality Further Revealed 2012-2015”
An analysis of the operational strategies of the Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations (MTTOs) in the Caribbean today
Update to: 'Cocaine trafficking in the Caribbean and West Africa in the era of the Mexican Cartels.'
My book: “Cocaine Trafficking in the Caribbean and West Africa in the Era of the Mexican cartels” was published in 2012 thereby creating the need to up-date its content to 2015 as the illicit drug trade in the Caribbean constantly evolves, a work in progress. What follows is then an up-date to the said book which focuses on the operational strategies of the Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations operating in the Caribbean Basin. Read more...
“The Role of Guyana and Dominica in the Eastern Caribbean Illicit Trafficking Pipeline”
The Eastern Caribbean illicit trafficking pipeline (ECTP) was established by the Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations (MTTOs) to move cocaine and heroin to trafficking export points to the US, Canada and the EU in the Eastern and Northern Caribbean island chain. The primary target of the MTTOs is to place cocaine and heroin in the US Caribbean territories of Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands for transshipment to the US mainland. Read more...
“Update 1/2016 Illicit Drug Trafficking in the Caribbean”
There are noteworthy trends now in the public domain that confirm the deepening hegemony of the Mexican transnational trafficking organisations (MTTOs) over the illicit trades of the Caribbean island chain. Read more...
“Gun Trafficking in the Caribbean The Message of the AR15 to Trinidad and Tobago (T&T)”
From 2013 to the present as reported in the public domain the state agencies of policing have seized (1) assault rifles built on the Colt AR15 platform on a continuing and increasing basis in T&T along with other makes and models of assault rifles as AK47s. Assault rifles seized jumped in 2012 with 12 weapons seized which was a 100% jump over 2011, 18 seized in 2013, 23 in 2014 and 5 already for 2016. Seizures of AR15 platform assault rifles have now outstripped those of AK47 assault rifles the long preferred assault rifle of choice in the criminal world which is sourced from multiple supply points. The new preference for AR15 platform assault rifles was potently illustrated by the use of this type of assault rifle to shoot twice (2) a police sergeant at Sea Lots, Port of Spain on May 26, 2016 in a desperate bid to prevent the seizure of the assault rifle by the police sergeant. Apparently the loss of the rifle posed an immediate potent threat to those entrusted with it and its safety that called for securing its safety by any means necessary even if it means breaking the rules of engagement with the police. Or are there new rules of engagement in gangland T&T today? Read more...
“The Obama Administration’s 2012 agreement with HSBC Bank: the GAME of the War on Drugs”
On December 11, 2012 the US Department of Justice (DOJ) along with a slew of State and Federal regulatory agencies announced that they had settled their investigations and enforcement actions against HSBC for violating US anti-money laundering laws (AML) and sanctions laws and related offences arising out of these violations. Under the terms of the said settlement agreement, a deferred prosecution agreement (DPA), HSBC agreed to pay USD 1.92 billion to the Federal government and to implement specified efforts to their compliance regime. The fact that HSBC got away with a slap on the wrist for its violations of AML and sanctions laws can only be appreciated when the gravity of its money laundering operations are studied raising immediately the question of: Why did HSBC get a slap on the wrist from the Obama administration? Read more...
“An Analysis of the Position of the US Southcom Commander on Latin American and Caribbean Security”
Admiral Kurt W. Tidd Commander, Southcom spoke at the Atlantic Council’s Brent Snowcroft Centre on International Security on July 13, 2016 where he outlined the threat environment of Latin America and the Caribbean and the strategy of Southcom to counter these threats. In his address Adm. Tidd states: “we’re in the middle of a strategic transition that touches every corner of the globe. Today’s security environment is profoundly different from those of previous generations. Uncertainty, unpredictability, and transregional linkages are the defining characteristics of the world today. That is true for the Asia-Pacific region, for Europe…and truer for the Western hemisphere.” The security environment of the Caribbean is now in transition relegating previous strategies of response to the boneyard as the extinct dinosaurs. Read more...
“Update 2/2016 Illicit Drug Trafficking in the Caribbean”
This is the second update for 2016 which has been made necessary by the rapid evolution of the illicit trades of the Caribbean driven by the business model of the Mexican TTOs and the continuing failure of Caribbean ruling politicians to accept, understand, articulate and deal effectively with this reality.Read more...
“Organised Crime in the EU through the eyes of EUROPOL”
This is a study of the press releases of Europol from January to September 2016 which place in the public domain the law enforcement activities of Europol in the EU. From the body of press releases the impact of the political realities of the EU upon law enforcement activity is apparent given the resources devoted to terrorism and migrant smuggling especially via the Balkan route with the outcome of this being the subsidiary focus on organised crime both non-EU organised crime especially globalised organised crime and indigenous EU organised crime.Read more...
“EUROPOL’s DISCOURSE OF MIGRANT SMUGGLING IN THE EU”
Europol entered the field of monitoring migrant smuggling in the EU in the aftermath of the Islamic extremist attacks and the threats posed to the EU by the human wave of migrants flooding into the EU. Europol and Interpol produced the report “Migrant smuggling networks Executive Summary” dated May 2016 in which the public discourse of Europol and Interpol on migrant smuggling was revealed.Read more...
“An Analysis of the Murder Rate of Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) 1990- 2016”
The Nexus between the evolving illicit drug trade and an escalating murder rate
To focus on the murder rate for a single year and posit analysis of the reason/s for the said rate is an exercise in lunacy. This social phenomenon has to be viewed over periods of time and what becomes apparent from this exercise are: 1. The evolution of the murder rate in T&T mirrors the historical evolution of the illicit drug trade/illicit trades in T&T and 2. For all the money and programmes thrown at the problem by the politicians and the state agencies they control they have failed to impact the evolution of the murder rate as the illicit drug trade/illicit trades continue to hence the noted increase in the murder rate across time. Read more...
“Illicit Drug Trafficking through the Caribbean and its Impact on EU Drug Markets: the case of the Lady Michelle”
The interdiction of the fishing vessel “Lady Michelle” in international waters of the Atlantic north of Suriname with 4.2 tons of cocaine on board by a US Coast Guard cutter supported by a vessel from the T&T Coast Guard on February 16, 2017 is but another illustration of the reality on the ground that politicians don’t speak about. Read more...
“The European Union’s SOCTA 2017 Report
A Comparative Analysis of a Political Discourse of Reality and Reality on the Ground”
It was an experience to read the EU’s attempt to politically spin the reality of EU organised crime through a discourse that again does not match reality on the ground. A discourse that is selling its kool aid of a manufactured reality that amounts to the most powerful asset globalised transnational organised crime (GTOC) has in its arsenal. The refusal to address in the public domain the power of GTOC in the EU as a result of the failure to evolve the infrastructure of the EU in order to effectively deal with the threats generated by a single market driven by a single currency and the free movement of capital and people within the boundaries of this single market. GTOC is empowered to move and act at will within this single market whilst law enforcement and the rest of the criminal justice structure are still existing within the limits of meaningless borders created by 19th century European nationalist states. Read more...
“Venezuela: The Impact of the Illicit Drug Trade on the Politics of the Clone War
The Unspoken Reality”
Venezuela with the coming to power of Hugo Chavez in 1999 to the present has spurred the creation of a 21st century clone of the old post-world war 2 cold war. In this clone war, reality and analyses driven by reality are on a daily basis murdered on the altar of political expediency in the prosecution of this war. With the death of Chavez what we have now in Venezuela are two cliques with their foreign allies in tow locked in battle for state power and the masses increasingly alienated by this war of cliques and oligarchs. The warring cliques and oligarchs are steadily delegitimising the Venezuelan state to the point where actors with the requisite power can and will move to fill the vacuum to constitute a social order that is in tatters at best. Read more...
“ITALIAN ORGANISED CRIME IN CURACAO AND SINT MAARTEN
The Case of Francesco Corallo”
Gaetano Corallo father of Francesco left Italy for residence in Sint Maarten in the 1970s investing in real estate, hotels and casinos among other investments. In November 1983 he left Sint Maarten for the USA in response to the Italian arrest warrant in his name where he was arrested in 1988. In 1989 the US refused to extradite Gaetano to Italy and he acquired US residence in 1994 where he resided until 2000 when he left the US. In 2014 Italy dropped the charges against him thereby squashing the arrest warrant. In June 2016 Gaetano Corallo returned to Sint Maarten to his son Francesco and the businesses and assets he placed in the hands of both Francesco and Giuseppe La Rosa in 1983. Gaetano Corallo was linked to the Cosa Nostra of Sicily specifically to Nitto Santapaolo and it was claimed that the investments Gaetano made in Sint Maarten were to the benefit of the Cosa Nostra. Read more...
“ILLICIT DRUG TRAFFICKING in the DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
2013- May 2017
IN the IMAGE and LIKENESS of PAX MEXICANA!”
This study of the terrain of illicit drug trafficking in the DR is a continuation of studies presented in “Cocaine and Heroin Trafficking in the Caribbean Volume 2” and “Cocaine Trafficking in the Caribbean and West Africa in the Era of the Mexican Cartels”. For the period 2013-May 2017 the most important instances of the evolution of the illicit trades of the DR in the public domain will be presented. Read more...
“THE EVOLUTION OF HUMAN SMUGGLING IN THE CARIBBEAN IN THE 21st CENTURY UNDER THE HEGEMONY OF THE MEXICAN TRANSNATIONAL TRAFFICKING ORGANISATIONS (MTTOs)”
In 2015 human smuggling in the Caribbean basin changed as Asians, Africans and Middle Easterners entered the Caribbean basin to commence their journey to Mexico in their quest to enter the US illicitly and traditional Caribbean illicit migratory movements changed dramatically in its choice of destinations, strategies employed and organisational sophistication. This was the bounty unleashed by the hegemony of the methodology of the coyote of the transnational human smuggling organisations (THSOs) over human smuggling in the Caribbean basin. Before these dramatic changes that became manifest in 2015 the changes in the strategy of human smuggling in the Caribbean island chain indicated the impact of the new dynamic. Read more...
“The Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations (MTTOs) their Partners and Affiliates Impact the Drug Market of Sweden”
The report “Drogsituationen Lägesbild i Sverige 2013–2016 Drogsituationen i Sverige – En rapport av Polismyndigheten och Tullverket 2016” forms the basis of this analysis of the supply side of the illicit drug market of Sweden. The focus of this analysis is the cocaine, methamphetamine, heroin and cannabis markets in the search for the operations of the Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations (MTTOs) in these specific drug markets of Sweden. I refer the readers of this analysis to my works of the MTTOs which are necessary towards understanding the strategy and the order of battle of the MTTOs especially their structure of partners and affiliates from transnational organised crime as the Ndrangheta and from European gangland. Read more...
“Murder and Shootings and the Link to the Eastern Caribbean Trafficking Pipeline (ECTP) in St Vincent and the Grenadines 2017”
In 2016 St Vincent and the Grenadines (StV&G) recorded 40 murders for a murder rate of 36.482 which paints a picture in which gun violence is present and illustrated not only by the number of murders as a result of gun violence but also the number of shootings which did not result in death. The 2016 murder rate of St V&G places it in the category inhabited by the following countries of the Caribbean island chain and CARICOM: Belize, St Kitts and Nevis and Trinidad and Tobago with The Bahamas knocking the door to enter this category. This category is only eclipsed by Jamaica and the US Virgin Islands. The precipitous jump in the murder rate of StV&G is illustrated by the fact that in 2012 the murder rate was 25.61 which had risen to 36.482 in 2016 from 28 murders to 40. Read more...
“The Role of the Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (OMCGs) of Europe in the Strategy of the Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations (MTTOs) to Exert Hegemony over the Drug Markets of Europe”
In the official reports on organised crime in the EU there is a glaring failure to present the manner in which globalised organised crime enters and replicates its organisational structure in the EU. One such glaring failure is the manner the organisational structure exerting hegemony over the trafficking of cocaine into the EU went about the task of penetrating the EU and replicating its organisational structure and operational methodology in the EU. This is the reality of the Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations (MTTOs) who now exercise hegemony over cocaine trafficking to the EU. This is a presence in the EU that was literally built from scratch and the manner in which it is being built illustrates the nature of the illicit shadow world and that of the neoliberal states of the EU in the 21st century. One such methodology being used is the mobilisation of indigenous EU organised crime as they are embraced as affiliates of the MTTOs as illustrated by the relationship with specific outlaw biker gangs of the EU. Read more...
“The Lessons Afforded by the Licit Opioid Drug Market of the USA on the War on Drugs”
In the National Drug Threat Assessment (NDTA) Summary 2015 of the DEA the number of drug poisoning deaths for the period 2008 to 2015 by medications which include controlled prescription drugs (CPDs) were 200,113 persons, for heroin 51,506 persons and cocaine 39,890 persons. Licit controlled and uncontrolled drugs are then the major cause of drug poisoning deaths and in this category CPD opioids are the dominant cause of drug poisoning death. For the period 2007 to 2013 drug poisoning deaths caused by CPDs opioid analgesics was 110,615 persons with heroin 30,338 persons and cocaine 34,203 persons. The opioid epidemic in the USA has then two realities that impact the drug market for opioids: CPD manufactured, distributed and retailed via a regulatory structure and the illicit market where heroin, and licit and illicitly manufactured opioids are marketed at the wholesale and retail levels. Read more...
“The CAPELLEN/JENSEN ORGANISED CRIME GROUP OF NORWAY
The Drug Dealer, the Police Officer and Hashish in Oslo”
The case against the drug dealer Cappelen was based on the storage and sales of hashish/cannabis in Norway for which he was sentenced to 15 years in prison. The case against the police officer Jensen was based on gross corruption and contributing to smuggling 13.9 tonnes of cannabis to Norway for which he was sentenced to 21 years in prison. Read more...
“The Evolution of the Cocaine Drug Market of FRANCE Impacted by the Strategy of the Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations (MTTOs) 2016”
The “National Report on Drug Issues 2017” prepared by OFDT of France describes in the section “2017 Drug market and crime” the nature of the evolving supply and demand sides of the drug market of France and its nexus with crime. Of specific concern in this analysis are the cocaine and methamphetamine markets of France in 2016 as described in the OFDT report as the realities depicted in the report indicate that the cocaine market of France is well under assault by the Mexican Transnational Trafficking Organisations (MTTOs) on the supply side and the French overseas regions in the Caribbean basin (Martinique, Guadeloupe and French Guiana) are now the new growth areas for the trafficking of cocaine to mainland France. There is a division of trafficking labour within the organisation of illicit drug trafficking in these Caribbean overseas regions rooted in the terrain and realities on the ground which illustrates the operation of an overarching strategic plan which in the Caribbean basin is the hallmark of the MTTOs. Read more...
“Belize: Transnational Organised Crime, Agents of the State and Human Smuggling
An Analysis of the Audit Report of the Immigration and Nationality Department”
The Auditor General of Belize carried out an audit of the Immigrant and Nationality Department (IND) of the Government of Belize for the period 2011-2013 which was placed online. This analysis will focus on the nationality of persons listed in the audit report of having received valid Belizean visas, permanent residency status and Belizean passports illicitly as this illustrates the strategy of organised crime to obtain licit Belizean visas, and nationality documents as revealed in the audit report. Read more...
“The Power Relations of Transnational Organised Crime, the Ruling Politicians and Public Servants of the Immigration and Naturalisation Department of Belize”
In 2016 a Select Committee of the Senate of Belize was established to investigate through public sessions the report of the Auditor General of Belize on the Audit of the Immigration and Naturalisation Department (IND). This analysis will focus on the various discourses utilised by the persons who testified before the said Senate Committee. Read more...
“Holland: Ruling Politicians, Transnational Organised Crime and the National Police”
The NPB or the Netherlands Police Union released its report in February 2018 titled: “Noodkreet Recherche Waar blijft onze versterking” which dealt with the operational condition the criminal investigation department of the National Police was in the words of its detectives. The report of the Police Union polls the opinion of some 400 of the detectives of the National Police and this polling process has revealed the opinions of detectives on their conditions of work, their effectiveness as police and the industrial relations climate of their place of work. Read more...
“Europe: Patterns of Illicit Drug Use Revealed by the Wastewater
Studies of the EMCDDA”
Continuous testing of wastewater in participating cities in Europe from 2011 to 2017 for the chemical by-products of the processing of cocaine, amphetamine, methamphetamine and cannabis/ganja by the human body has afforded a picture of the evolution of supply and demand on drug markets. Read more...
“Neoliberalism, the State, Criminality and the Drug Market of the UK”
The National Strategic Assessment of Serious and Organised Crime 2018 provides glimpses of the future evolution of the UK drug market in the 21st century. These glimpses illustrate potently that under the hegemony of austere, neoliberal financial markets capitalism transnational organised crime (TOC) is now exercising hegemony over the UK drug market driving its evolution in keeping with its strategic plan. Read more...
“Curacao: Politics, Corruption, Murder - The case of Helmin Wiels”
On May 5, 2013 Helmin Wiels political leader of the PS party in Curacao and at that time kingmaker in the fractious politics of Curacao under the new constitution of October 2010:10/10 was assassinated on a beach in Curacao. In the aftermath of the October 2010 general election Wiels and his PS party created the government of Gerrit Schotte, in 2012 when the Schotte government collapsed, a new election was held and Wiels again indicated his intention to make once again Schotte the prime minister then by October 2012 reneged casting Schotte and the MFK political party he led into the political wilderness. On May 5, 2013 Wiels was assassinated in public on the Marie Pampoen beach in Curacao and the new government excluding the MFK was installed on June 7, 2013. Read more...
“The Lessons Taught by the 2019 Murder Rate of the Caribbean Basin.”
The sum of murders for any year is not the murder rate of a country, that is the murder toll or sum of murders for one year. The murder rate for one year is the number of murders per 100,000 persons of the population of the said country which affords a comparative analysis of countries with varying population sizes. This article is then a listing of the murder rates in 2019 for countries of the Caribbean Basin (including Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana) indicating the hierarchy of murder amongst the countries of the Caribbean Basin. The Caribbean Basin comprises of those countries washed by the Caribbean Sea with the other more powerful commonality being the impact the globalized illicit trades have on the social orders of these countries, as the Caribbean Basin is the most valuable basin in the world, by the value of the illicit products smuggled through this Basin to North America, Europe Africa and Asia.Read more...