López narrates how her 19-year-old daughter, Jahaira Guadalupe Vaena López, was abducted in Tlacolula, Oaxaca. She describes her efforts to get the authorities to investigate the crime, how she was warned not to press the matter, how informants told her that her daughter was murdered in a turf battle between fractured drug gangs. Just days before leaving for the United States with the Caravan for Peace, she faced one of the assassins who had been apprehended and listened as he described in detail how her daughter was raped and beheaded.

Margarita has joined some 50 grieving family members to accompany caravan leader Javier Sicilia on a trip across the United States. Sicilia, a poet who lost his son to drug war violence in March of 2011, catalyzed a movement of victims and Mexican citizens fed up with the bloodshed that has claimed more than 60,000 lives and left tens of thousands more disappeared since former President Felipe Calderon launched the drug war five years ago.

Mexico’s Movement for Peace with Justice and Dignity decided to organize the U.S. caravan after taking two caravans from Mexico City–one north to Ciudad Juarez on the U.S. border, and one south to the border with Guatemala. Both drew out victims of the drug war and registered their cases to provide support for family members seeking justice and solace.

The decision to take their pain across the border came after discussion with the San Francisco-based group Global Exchange. Soon a coalition came together that included Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, the Latin American Working Group, the RFK Center, the Washington Office on Latin America, our CIP Americas Program, the Drug Policy Alliance, and the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities, among the key players. The coalition later expanded to include the NAACP, and local organizations in each of the cities along the route.

A binational meeting in June defined five demands of the U.S. caravan: to open public debate on humane alternatives to drug prohibition, to ban the import of assault weapons and crack down on illegal gun smuggling over the border, to combat money-laundering with full investigation and strict enforcement, to suspend all aid to the Mexican armed forces and end the war on drugs abroad, and to halt the militarization of the border and criminalization of migrants.

I joined the caravan on the final east coast leg of its 6,000-mile trip. I had heard most of the stories before in Mexico, having accompanied the northern caravan and numerous marches and meetings.

I was curious to see the impact on people in the United States. As the women in the room told their stories, each one struck like a cold blade in the heart. Although women are a minority of the war’s deaths, attacks on women usually include brutal sexual violence, and women make up the majority of those actively seeking justice and an end to the war.

Along the route, caravan members like these women have become confident and eloquent spokespersons to end the drug war. They speak from the heart and appeal to the heart. Their empowerment as leaders is one of the most important achievements of the caravan. Another is the sympathy and outrage their testimonies evoke.

And it’s not a one-way street. Caravan members also listened to the stories of U.S. citizens. Like Kimberly Armstrong in Baltimore, whose 16-year-old son was shot and killed by a 14-year-old in endemic drug violence. Or Carole Eady, who struggled her way out of the stigma and life disruption of imprisonment for a drug offense in New York City.

The threads begin to come together. In her brilliant book The New Jim Crow, Michelle Alexander notes that in Washington, D.C., the caravan’s last stop, it’s estimated that three out of four black men can expect to serve time in prison. She calls this mass incarceration of black people a new racial caste, the latest Jim Crow system of social control, where young black men and women are jailed, stigmatized, and in many cases disenfranchised for life by discriminatory drug laws.

Based on the shared sorrow of losing loved ones to jail, violence, death, or disappearance, Mexicans and Americas found they fight the same unjust system of social control of the poor and people of color. The drug war generates profits for the defense industry and siphons public funds into perpetuating itself. It rips apart families and communities, north and south of the border. The bogus attempt to eliminate rather than regulate something in great demand creates a multibillion-dollar black market run by groups that become more violent as they are selectively attacked. It pits security forces against the public, providing them with the tools to violate human rights and life with impunity. It erodes democracy and the rule of law it purports to uphold.

Whether it’s through imposing a military/police state in Mexico or shunting youth into the margins of society, the drug war machine runs on the human lives it destroys.

A binational peace movement?

The caravan’s call to end the drug war resonated in city after city. But has the caravan forged a binational movement for peace?

Not yet. As the Mexican caravaners go back home, their U.S. hosts return to daily life. Many will simply guard the memory of Mexico’s pain and begin to read the news a little differently.

But others will act. The Peace Caravan has already achieved something remarkable. It brought together groups in U.S. cities that scarcely knew each other before. Some community organizers in the scores of cities from San Diego to the nation’s capital plan to continue the dialogue with the Mexican movement and among themselves.

In New York City, the Latino and African-American communities plan a meeting to discuss the impact of mass arrests and detention. In Baltimore, the movement to block construction of yet another multimillion-dollar prison in one of the nation’s most economically devastated cities is making common cause with movements for drug policy reform, racial justice, and youth rights.

In Texas, faith-based organizations advocating stricter enforcement of gun laws are intensifying their campaign against gun show sales and arms smuggling after seeing close up the human cost of the flow of guns to Mexico. In Arizona, human rights organizations working against the militarization of the border and the death and detention of migrants came face-to-face with activists protesting Mexico’s militarized drug war in a cross-border reflection. In Washington, members of Congress received caravan lobbyists whose power to convince came not from money or influence, but from human empathy and reason.

The way many U.S. citizens understand the drug war has changed through meeting the Mexicans who bear the brunt of it. While U.S. politicians and media portray it as a necessary fight against the threat that organized crime supposedly poses to national security in both countries, the victims spoke of the violence that resulted from the war on drugs itself. Audiences and congressional representatives were surprised to learn that many of the victims on the caravan accused not gangs but the U.S.-funded Mexican police and military for the murder or disappearance of their loved ones.

Organizers now face the question of how the moral victory can lead to a political one. On the drug policy front, U.S. society seems to be moving toward a tipping point despite push-back from law enforcement and private prison interests that make big money off incarceration, as well as from politicians who convert insecurity into “law and order” votes. A recent poll shows Colorado could legalize marijuana in the November elections after a similar measure narrowly lost in California. The award-winning film The House I Live In presents a stunning indictment of the domestic drug war through the words of its enforcers, its participants, and its victims.

But the federal government continues to be on the wrong side of the trend. Some hope that President Obama, if he is reelected, could make bolder moves toward reorienting a policy that imprisons so many mostly African-American youths and costs the nation $51 billion a year, according to the DPA. I’m inclined to agree with a LEAP editorial that warns the reform movement to watch the actions, not the rhetoric, of the Obama administration. It will take a stronger push from constituents to get the administration to take on the interests that benefit from sustaining America’s longest war.

Moral victories plant seeds that are often slow to bear fruit. Evaluating the experience on the last morning in a church hall, exhausted caravan members saw a mix of catharsis and consciousness-raising that gave them strength. Lopez noted that the “the tragedy I’m living through can be useful to a lot of people.” Melchor Flores, whose son was arrested in January of 2009 in Monterrey and never seen again, stated that the caravan had “touched consciences”.

He added, “Wherever my son is, he should be satisfied because he knew I wouldn’t let him down.”

Teresa Carmona, a tiny, white-haired woman whose son Joaquin was murdered in Mexico City, has become a powerful voice before the public and the media. She believes the caravan met its goal.

“We brought the faces of our beloved children, parents, and relatives all the way here, and so we legitimated this pain and this reality.”

In the nation that first invented the drug war and exported it to their country with deadly results, the Mexican bereaved have left a mark in the hearts of thousands of men and women. Sometimes it takes tragedy to make change. The cumulative histories recounted in the peace caravan represent a tragedy of mammoth proportions.

That should be more than enough to act on.

AUTHOR: Laura Carlsen
URL: www.cipamericas.org and http://americasmexico.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: lecarlsen [at] gmail.com

Gaza Strip 2005

Weapons are smuggled into Gaza with relative ease by arms merchants who live in the Sinai Peninsula, an Israeli police source said last week.

While Sinai had been relatively quiet during the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, his downfall last year basically spelled trouble for Israelis living close to that border especially with the new Islamist government taking over the military, said the police source.

The Israeli National Police has warned that the scope of weapons smuggling to the Gaza Strip by terrorist organizations is expanding. This troubling information increases the fear of many in Israel that the current uprisings and unrest in Egypt and Syria increase the likelihood that groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists, who now rule Eqypt, as well as the Lebanon-based Hezbollah will increase the volatility within the Gaza Strip.

Due to the recent change in government, Egypt exerts little authority over the Sinai Peninsula, which allows smugglers to operate without any interference, the police source stated.

According to the an Israeli Security Agency report, weapons smuggling to Gaza by the Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorist organizations has increased since Operation Cast Lead more than two years ago, as those groups have sought “quality” weapons to improve their capabilities to strike the Israeli home front and fight against IDF troops in a future conflict.

The ISA report notes that Iran stands behind the armament effort as that country seeks to increase its influence amongst Palestinians and Palestinian terrorist groups.

The central smuggling route to Gaza is based on the transfer of weapons from Iran to Sudan, from where the weapons are moved into Egypt before being smuggled into Gaza. Because Egypt’s government remains in a state of flux, weapons smugglers are finding it easier to move contraband from Egypt into the Palestinian territories.

According to the ISA, hundreds of rockets (mostly with ranges of 20-40 kilometers), about 1,000 mortar shells, dozens of individual anti-tank missiles and tons of explosives and explosives-making materials have been smuggled via this route.

In the Sinai Peninsula, a smuggling network exists that is comprised mainly of Bedouins whose main source of income is from smuggling and kidnapping-for-ransom, the report stated.

According to the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) officials, smugglers in the Sinai Peninsula are operating with little interference since the change of government in Egypt is still uncertain.

AUTHOR: Jim Kouri
URL: http://www.renewamerica.com/
E-MAIL: COPmagazine [at] aol.com

Egyptian security officials said in early September that they were cracking down on the network of tunnels used by smugglers from the coastal enclave.
Including Tuesday’s victims, eight Palestinians have been killed while working in tunnels in September. Five Palestinians were killed in three separate tunnel collapses earlier this month. Medics say over 160 Palestinians have died in the network of underground tunnels since Israel imposed a siege on the Gaza Strip in 2006.

AUTHOR: Martin Hijmans
URL: http://the-pessoptimist.blogspot.com/
E-MAIL: m.hijmans [at] planet.nl

According to this report several of those executed are Afghan citizens. The executions that were confirmed by the official Iranian sources seem to include the same prisoners that were reported by IAHD. However, the number of the executions reported by the official sources is lower than IAHD reported. According to the government newspaper Iran, the 22 prisoners who were executed yesterday are identified as:

Muhammad Kh. for selling 59 kilograms of opium, Muhammad N. for transfer of 480 grams of heroin into the prison (Minor?), Avaz P. for organizing a drug smuggling gang and keeping 683 kilograms of opium, Agha H. for membership in a drug trafficking gang and keeping drugs, Jan B. for transfer of 425 grams of heroin into the prison, Ali J. for transfer of 385 grams of crack inside the prison, Saadi S. for keeping 908 grams of crack and 7,5 grams of opium and 15 grams of burnt opium, Ismail M. for distribution of 150 kilograms of opium, selling 50 kg “drugs” and keeping 20 kg of opium, Hassan T. for transfer of 265 grams of heroin into the prison, Mehdi P. for keeping 67 kg crack and 36 kg opium, Muhammad A. participation in trafficking of 702 grams of concentrated heroin and transferring 50 grams of heroin inside the prison, Abbas A. for keeping 2 kg and 200 grams of heroin, Omid Kh. for selling 4 kg heroin, Vahid M. (minor?) for transfer of 307 grams of crack into the prison, Saeed M. for participation in the carrying one kilogram of concentrated heroin, Ali P. for transfer of 410 grams of concentrated heroin inside the prison, Sharam Sh. for transfer of 670 grams of concentrated heroin into the prison, Abdulmajid M. for transfer of 391 grams of concentrated heroin into the prison, Karim Gh. for selling 49 kg and 500 grams of opium, Majid F. for transfer of 346 grams of concentrated heroin into the prison, Ali N. for transfer of 420 grams of concentrated heroin into the prison, and Hatem M. for transfer of 290 grams of concentrated heroin into the prison.

AUTHOR: Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam
URL: http://iranhr.net/
E-MAIL: amirymoghaddam [at] gmail.com

Khan is now “operating the IM module which is assigned to maintain liaison with the Bangladesh based Harkat-ul Jihad Al Islam (HuJI) and, in a joint venture, has recruited a few new jihadist for their outfit,” according to the Times of India report.

Investigators said about six months ago, Khan was stationed in Nepal and shuttled between Bangladesh and Pakistan. The IM had started conducting training camps in Bangladesh, the newspaper mentioned.

The report also mentioned that the National Investigation Agency was homing in on IM members across India and was already questioning suspected operatives.

IM terrorists find it easier to penetrate through the porous India-Bangladesh border with support from the HuJI, the source said in the report.

In the first week of November last year, Bangladesh detectives foiled a plot to attack the U.S. Embassy and

Indian High Commission in Bangladesh. Several terrorist sleeping cells were smashed simultaneously in India and Bangladesh with intelligence tips from the CIA.

In a bid to combat such cross-border terrorism, organized crime and the drug trade, during Bangladesh prime minister Sheikh Hasina’s visit to India in January 2010 the countries decided to form a coordination committee comprising representatives of law enforcement agencies and the two countries’ intelligence wings to “deal with international terrorism and drug smuggling, investigation and completion of trial in such crimes.”

India and Bangladesh are highly likely to sign an agreement during a planned visit to Bangladesh by Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh in September. Security analysts predict the pact will significantly reduce terrorism in the region. However, the analysts said it will be difficult to drag troubled Pakistan into a regional cooperation agreement to combat terrorism, so it will be an incomplete effort.

AUTHOR: Saleem Samad
URL: http://bangladeshwatchdog.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: saleemsamad [at] hotmail.com

Coca-Plant

Introduction
In the late 1970s Paramaribo buzzed and bristled with innuendo and gossip after members of the elite became arrested on charges of narco-trafficking. Sordid detail was the fact that the center of business was a butcher shop in the center of the city. This story baffled but also intrigued society, because right under their very noses an epic tale of sex-drugs- rock and roll involving the elite had taken place, in total secrecy, no less! And of course, society bemoaned the fact that said crimes were committed by the happy few, those who thought that the world was their play-ground, their oyster. But this refitting story quickly became yesterday’s news as the main protagonists were jailed, serving their sentences. It seemed that society after that incident, forgot about this thing called drugs or the dealing of illicit substances. But the fact that society averted their attention did not make drugs trade and all its byproducts go away. Drugs-trade in hindsight became a very part of Surinamese society; it rippled and kicked, moving from the under-world to the upper-world and back, becoming incorporated in government after the new regime of junior officers took over power.

• This essay argues: 1); that Mr. Bouterse and his cronies took over the drug smuggling activities after they came into power in 1980. Newspaper reports, and a myriad of other undisclosed sources paint a coherent and consistent picture of the proliferation of drugs and smuggling activities in Suriname, involving politicians, businessmen, people from the airlines and an undisclosed number of citizens stemming from all social classes and all ethnicities; 2) that Mr. Bouterse’s presidency is build on the fundaments of narco-traffico and that his primary objective is to use the state, and its resources to accommodate and possibly extent his illicit activities.
• This essay is divided into three chapters; The Past (1980-1997); More Recent Times (1997-2010) and Today and the Future (2011 and beyond)

The Past: 1980- 1997: The Nationale Militaire Raad and its Ties with Latin American Narco-Mafia
The issue of Surinamese involvement in the drug trading came back in the vicinity of society after Etienne Boerenveen became arrested and convicted in Miami. Prior to his arrest, Surinamese society witnessed and speculated on the fact that many members from the Military Council typically from very humble milieus became rich overnight. Their sudden wealth was oftentimes attributed to large scale corruption and fleecing, the aspect of cocaine trade was an added aspect, unfamiliar to the Surinamese society. The suggestion that there is a connection between the earlier arrests and the later activities of the military, however plausible can however not (yet) be corroborated by the empirical.

The Washington Post of February 2, 1987 writes:

U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officials posing as drug traffickers secretly taped Boerenveen offering to sell — at $ 1 million per load — landing rights in Suriname for drug-ferrying aircraft. He is now serving a 12-year jail sentence. (Title Article: Paramaribo’s Military Accused Of Abetting Rife Corruption, Bradley Graham 1987).

The attempts to sell the landing rights to the highest bidder are indeed symbols of fleeting corruption, but they also attenuated to the fact that 1) cocaine trading had entered the confines of government, and 2) that the NMR had forged a connection between upper and under-world because they controlled government. The case of Etienne Boerenveen also forefronted the massiveness of corruption and how the state in fact sustained criminal activities conducted by its leaders.

The case of Etienne Boerenveen, despite the 12 year conviction was rather weak, build on the word of police informants and messy footage (see Buro Jansen en Janssen: Verscholen achter de bamboestruiken, by: Eveline Lubbers, accessed 6/17/2011).

But the case of Etienne Boerenveen is not isolated, and his ties with Mr Bouterse position him as one of the key figures in Surinamese drugs cartel, called the Suri Cartel. Indeed the information obtained consistently points in the direction of individuals such as Desi Bouterse, Etienne Boerenveen, Dino Bouterse, Melvin Linscheer who occupy a prominent position in the organization. Sources at first did not consistently peg these individuals to the drugs-trade, but convictions by various courts in the world, and more recent, documentation disclosed by Wiki leaks, give rise to the notion that indeed members of the ruling party Nationale Democratische Partij (NDP) were up to their elbows involved in narco-trafficking. The assumption here is that they have tried to turn Suriname into a mafia state during the 1980s, thus turning government into a mafia organization, with the ruling elite as head honchos of illicit and criminal activities (#themakingofamafiastate);

In 1997 the Dallas Morning News again wrote:

Mr. Boerenveen’s job gives him direct control of the seaports, airport and customs-inspection facilities, which are described in a March U.S. State Department report as being at the center of Suriname’s drug-trafficking industry

The Dutch Prosecution Office (Het Openbaar Ministerie) did a lengthy and in-dept investigation on trans-Atlantic money-laundering and drug-trafficking , tying many members of the Wijdenbos government to illicit activities in the Netherlands:

Mr. Boerenveen and other top officials figure prominently in the 40 volumes of evidence amassed by Dutch prosecutor-general Arthur Docters van Leeuwen in a lengthy investigation of drug-trafficking and money-laundering activities in Suriname.

Intersting is that both Mr. Bouterse and Mr. Boerenveen have consistently declined to comment on these issues in the press, a senior Surinamese government spokesperson of the Wijdenbos administration however did comment, blaming the Netherlands, in an attempt to avert the attention away from the issue at hand.
The Dallas Daily Monitor also asserted in the aforementioned article that

Suriname government spokesman Andy Rusland dismissed the allegations made by the Dutch prosecutor as being based on hearsay and anonymous, confidential informants who have failed to provide any direct proof. He said the Netherlands has been attempting to defame Mr. Bouterse ever since he led a 1980 military coup that overthrew a democratically elected government and installed an anti-Dutch junta. Suriname, whose population hovers around 440,000, won independence from the Netherlands in 1975. “Recolonization is one of the issues in this,” Mr. Rusland said of the Dutch investigation.

Also interesting is that the official opinion corresponded with opinions of for example, Frank Playfair, MP, and an avid supporter of Mr. Bouterse, who told a Dutch newspaper: “History has shown that the Netherlands always has a political score to settle with political leaders who want to make something of Suriname.”

Also noteworthy are the assertions by Buro Jansen en Janssen (www.burojansen.nl) who on their website in 1992 also pegged efforts to investigate drugs charges and allegations against Mr. Bouterse and c.s, as neo-colonialist and meddlesome.

But the tenacity of the allegations, as well as the credibility of sources, that keep on alleging that Mr. Bouterse and his immediate circle are involved in narco-traficking, cannot be labeled “sordid gossip”, “meddlesome” or neo-colonialist. Tantamount is the fact that many aspects of drug-trade continue to remain obscured and cannot be researched and investigated as a regular phenomenon because of the dangers researchers and journalists face when treading these dangerous pathways.

But although very prominent, Mr. Bouterse and his immediate circle are not the only peoples involved in narco-trafficking. Many businesses in Suriname such as casino’s and used car dealerships have been brought in connection with drug trading and money laundering activities.

Other tendencies and phenomena that however demonstrate the proliferation of narco-activities in broader society and the blurring of the fringes between the under and the upper world, are for example ‘bolletjes- slikkers’, cocaine smuggling by so called ordinary, law abiding citizens who take great risk by carrying large quantities of cocaine in their body on flights from Suriname (later Venezuela, Curacao) to Amsterdam, and the fact that many citizens view narco-trafficking as a normal economic venture.

Foreign officials attribute Suriname’s geographic isolation, dense jungle cover and close commercial ties to the Netherlands to its notorious status as popular venue for South American traffickers to transship and export their illicit goods.

In March 1997 the Dallas Morning News also cited an important comment by the American State-Department

“Suriname is an increasingly important transshipment point for narcotics shipped from Brazil, Venezuela and Colombia to the Netherlands and the U.S.,” “International narcotics traffickers from Colombia and Bolivia ship cocaine primarily by air through Venezuela to clandestine airstrips outside the capital city of Paramaribo. . . . Traffickers reportedly transport cocaine shipments weighing up to 1,000 kilograms (2,200 pounds) from Brazil by river.”

More Recent Times (1997-2010)
Both the U.S. and Dutch governments have been pressing the Suriname government to investigate Mr. Bouterse’s alleged role in the 1982 executions of 15 prominent opposition activists, including journalists, lawyers and politicians who had criticized his military rule. Investigation of the executions and a trial in the early 1990s would indeed have helped to restore trust and confidence in the state and its institutions, simply by elevating the massive sense of impunity that gave rise to massive societal decay. It is assumed that in a situation of social decay, drugs-trade thrives and proliferates. The case of Suriname is not isolated, other societies with proven weak (weakening) leadership have also fallen prey to criminals. Italy, Venezuela, Guyana, Haiti, Jamaica, Argentina and Mexico are societies in which gangsters and mafioso elements have hijacked the state and its institutions for their own activities.

The inaction of consecutive Surinamese governments to take action against mafiosi, to curb the proliferates of cocaine trading, to re-organize and strengthen the police-force, to stop violence and other narco-related crimes is very odd, but typified the weakness of said administrations. At this point it is unclear if government could simply not take action because of unawareness or because of rampant ignorance. Fact of the matter is, that after the 2005 elections, the leeway of government became even smaller, specifically when it came to making an effort to curb corruption and punish crime and criminals. In order to maintain parliamentary majority, the Venetiaan Administration was forced to ask Ronnie Brunswijk, former jungle commando leader and convict to join the coalition. By doing so government in fact became de facto party in the drugs-trade, or at best, the government officially condoned that its highest ranking government officials were inundated in narco-trafficking.

Information channels became more abundant but also more reliable as internet communication channels became more advanced during the late 1990s.

Mr. Brunswijk just like Mr. Bouterse boasts an extensive (called the Brunswijk cocaine Diaspora) network in the Maroon community in the Netherlands; Somebody writes: Kastiel en Adjuba kun je ook zien als deel vd Ronnie Brunswijk cocaine diaspora in nederland. Adjuba schijnt trouwens meer rippartijen te hebben gedaan en ook roofovervallen misschien komt er wel meer naar buiten

Said technological advancement helped to unveil the extent and the massiveness of the cocaine- smuggling network that held Suriname captive in the late 1990s. Society has experienced the inundation of coca-cocaine and its dissemination throughout the broader Surinamese society. There is a connection between criminal activity, albeit drugs-trade and the economic downturn that started in the 1980s and climaxed in the 1990s, making victims among the already weak and poor. But the proliferation of narco-trafficking cannot solely be attributed to weak government and stagnant economy, factors such as urbanization, the media, the technological advancement of mobile phones, all part of globalization should also be factored into this equation.

During the 1990s, the Surinamese economy took a turn for the worst, as the government implemented a much needed structural adjustment program to tackle macro-economic instability.At the same time, citizens could on TV watch the increasing wealth of western societies. Surinamese living in Diaspora came to visit, hauling in the latest fashions, Mobile Phones, Game Boys, sneakers and of course disposable income.

It was during that period when many citizens, strapped for cash, but with a strong incentive to be part of global consumerism opted to be lured into cocaine-smuggling. The middle men of the organization were/ are pivotal in the recruiting of the so called drug-mules (Mulas), in this case people who chose to carry large quantities of cocaine in their stomach (bolletjes) during an eight hour long Trans-Atlantic journey from Paramaribo to Amsterdam.

The use of drug-mules was very successful venture during the 1990s, but the massive influx of cocaine into Europe, prompted Dutch legislators to take vigilant and invasive action to halt the clandestine import of cocaine through their ports. From 2004 onward, all flights coming from Paramaribo, Willemstad and later Caracas became subjected to what became colloquially known as ‘100% control’. But the harrowing tales of the mules depicted by Surinamese and Dutch newspapers, of the risk takers, who sometimes die mid-air, of the mothers taking risks sometimes accompanied by their small children, senior citizens and pensioners who seem to have no clue, tell the story of a human tragedy, of social decay.

These stories by the same token demonstrate the level of ingraining of cocaine and narco-trafficking in Surinamese (Curacao) society as well as in Diaspora.

Why is the connection between Paramaribo and Amsterdam so very lucrative, and why does it involve so many people? The explanation is that drugs transports have a better chance of reaching their destination when transported from Paramaribo to Amsterdam. There is typically less risk involved, in such an operation that not only involves humans (mules), but also involves the smuggling of drugs hidden in foodstuff, in aircrafts, in cargo-shipments, hauled overland from Paris, Brussels, coming from as far as Accra.
http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/4427, accessed, 19 June 2011 provides important and detailed information on the extent of the coca-cocaine trade of Suriname.

The information provided by the website of the Militant Islam Monitor teaches that the Surinamese drug cartel is a well- oiled and well organized machinery that operates between the upper and under world, with contacts in South America, The Caribbean and Europe.

One of the most important Surinamese drug traffickers was Melvin Linscheer, former intelligence chief under Bouterse. He is described in Brazilian police documents as “Bouterse’s right hand man” (“mao dereita”), and “a leading member of the Surinamese mafia,” “owner of the Golden Dragon Restaurant.” Another Surinamese drug criminal was Bert Mangal, who is described “a radicalized Indian in Suriname.” Bouterse, Linscheer and Mangal were the leaders of the Suri Cartel. They were involved in a guns-for-drugs trade: trading arms for cocaine with the notorious Colombian FARC rebels. Brazilian planes landed in FARC territory in Colombia where cocaine was loaded on board and these planes then flied nonstop to Suriname to drop the cocaine. Leonardo Mendonça, described in police reports as “Dino Bouterse’s friend” coordinated the effort. He received weapons from Suriname and passed them on to the FARC. The FARC in turn supplied cocaine. One of the most important Surinamese drug traffickers was Melvin Linscheer, former intelligence chief under Bouterse. He is described in Brazilian police documents as “Bouterse’s right hand man” (“mao dereita”), and “a leading member of the Surinamese mafia,” “owner of the Golden Dragon Restaurant.” Another Surinamese drug criminal was Bert Mangal, who is described “a radicalized Indian in Suriname.” Bouterse, Linscheer and Mangal were the leaders of the Suri Cartel. They were involved in a guns-for-drugs trade: trading arms for cocaine with the notorious Colombian FARC rebels. Brazilian planes landed in FARC territory in Colombia where cocaine was loaded on board and these planes then flied nonstop to Suriname to drop the cocaine. Leonardo Mendonça, described in police reports as “Dino Bouterse’s friend” coordinated the effort. He received weapons from Suriname and passed them on to the FARC. The FARC in turn supplied cocaine.

I already mentioned that evidence on the involvement of then MP Desi Bouterse who together with family and friends is organized in the Suri-Cartel, evidence not based on incidental reporting but based on long term trending. In 2006 the notorious criminal Roger Khan was captured by the Surinamese police and extradited to the USA. There are ample and credible sources on the World Wide Web that established a link between Roger Khan, a family member of the President of Guyana Bharat Jagdeo, and Mr. Bouterse. According to said sources Mr. Bouterse set up an alliance with Mr. Khan to co-ordinate activities and to arrange protection for a myriad of illegal activities. Noteworthy in this instance is the mentioning of links between Mr. Kahn with FARC and plans made to commit murder and assassination in Suriname. Other sources by the same token, have mentioned the alliance between Mr. Bouterse and president Hugo Chaves of Venezuela, rather the financial contributions to the election campaign of Mr. Bouterse in 2010. Other sources (natascha23.blogspot.com, dd. 12 June 2011) make mention of the involvement of Mr. Chaves in FARC, the fact that he accommodated FARC in Venezuela, and his role in the destabilization of Colombia and Ecuador.

The intricacies of the connections, the blurring between the formal, the political and bureaucratic institutions and the criminal, suggest the gradual decline of the state and democratic institutions, because the new government this time used the electoral acquiescence to transform existing institutions. In other words, through elections, criminals acquire legitimacy to commit crimes, to turn government into a criminal organization.

Recent Past, Today and the Future (2010 and beyond)
Mafia, State Terrorism and the Office of the President of Suriname
Similar instances of official privileges for favored middlemen abound in this former Dutch colony, with accompanying allegations that hundreds of thousands of dollars pass to government authorities in return. Stories circulate of large houses and expensive cars purchased for members of the military (……) For years, charges of corruption have been made against Surinamese administrations. When Desi Bouterse took power in a coup seven years ago, he promised to clean up the dirty dealings. But residents encountered here now voice astonishment and resentment at the levels corruption has reached.

This 1987 citing by the Washington Post has retained its value in the contemporary. Indeed in the 1980s then Commander-in-Chief Desi Bouterse consistently accused the toppled Arron Administration of corruption and nepotism and ineffective government.

It appeared that said accusations and attempts were part of a strategy to create a cloud of disrepute and incompetency, to gain absolute control of state institutions, the ports of entry, the police force and the military all necessary for contraband activity. It is ironic and macabre to at this point, draw the hypothetical conclusion that if the Suri cartel was losing and oozing money because of tightened controls at the ports of departure in Suriname than drastic measures to take over power and take over control of the state apparatus were indeed required. But, indeed it makes sense, to incorporate the state in clandestine and illicit activities, using de facto public consent as decoy to establish a ring of trafficking and criminal activities.

The piecing of the empirics on the electoral campaign, the occurrences leading up to the presidential election, conjured up the idea that the campaign was fueled by a sense of urgency, a sense that political power had to be secured at all cost’. Indeed Mr. Bouterse bribed voters and wooed floating voters with gifts, goodies and promises of a better future, but he has other masters, to whom he has to account his actions to. The fact that Mr. Bouterse does not operate independently puts matters in a different light.

It is at this point unclear how this situation will develop. What will happen with the political partners, two so called sworn enemies that helped Mr Bouterse secure parliamentary majority? In order to win the elections Mr. Bouterse promised them a large chunk of power, but he is currently recanting on his promise because their role has been played out…. The fact of the matter is that the presidency has fallen in the hands of criminals with a predatory disposition, with connections in international criminal and terrorist organizations and anybody who crosses them is at risk.

Today after more than 100 days in office, Mr. Bouterse seemed to have resorted to the same tactics used before to gain control over pivotal institutions to ensure the smooth running of his under-world operation. Dino Bouterse his son is head of some secret unit within the Central Detective Unit (CIVD; website: http://www.civd.gov.sr/miscpages/over_civd.html) [1]. Scattered incidents that seem to have a different grounding, such as the stepping down of the police chief Delano Braam a capable professional, are all geared to weaken the police-force and to strengthen the role of the so called secret service agency, headed by Dino Bouterse.

Mutations in the highest ranks of the national carrier and other pivotal sectors, replacing capable officials with yes-men and allies, indicate that Mr. Bouterse and his clique are slowly but surely taking- over the state and its institutions. The manner in which office of the president, controls, overseas and monitors all decision-making has strong correlation with the 1980s style of governing by the NMR. Just like the 1980s, Mr. Bouterse gradually takes over control of the sectors needed to stay to in business, the currency exchange market and the Central Bank of Suriname, while at the same time demolishing institutions of democracy that can impede his business.

Mr. Bouterse and his allies also expressed keen interest in the natural resources of Suriname, gold and bauxite, he officially stressed the importance for economic progress, but his actions indicate that these operations too will be controlled by his closed confidants.

Conclusion
The evidence on the involvement of Mr. Bouterse and his immediate circle that consists of the same individuals as in the 1980s, in cocaine trafficking is extensive and based on credible sources. The empirical evidence gathered here paints a daunting picture of a society on the verge of being controlled by Drugs-mafia. Interesting is the combination of geographic position and its rather shaky and rickety state of a democracy in decay that made the country suitable to be incorporated and invaded by elements of the under-world.

History over and over again teaches that as democracy becomes jeopardized, weakened by ineffective and corrupt politicians the state, it becomes more prone for a take-over by roguish and disloyal political forces. The shift between undemocratic/authoritarian and between democratic resembles a cosine movement bound by the axis of its specific domain. If democracy falls outside the boundaries of its domain, than chances to recuperation diminish drastically. One of the most prominent aspects of the aforementioned situation is that the government can use the resources of the state against the its citizens, for example using the police force and secret services to terrorize and coerce citizens.

The sheer pervasiveness of corruption, cronyism and nepotism, aspects that in the past determined the success of the ethnic parties, today fosters crime and criminal activities.

The evidence on the involvement of Mr. Bouterse and his immediate circle that consists of the same individuals as in the 1980s, in cocaine trafficking is extensive and based on credible sources.

Nota Bene
In closing I want to stress the fact that Suriname early on, became capable off fabricating what is called the pasta basica de cocaina, thus processing coca-leaves into crude cocaine. The processing of the coca leaves is a relatively easy and costless process, that can occur in the city as well as in the tropical rainforest. Suriname is therefore not only a hub or a transit port, Suriname can be considered a producer of coca-cocaine in its very own right.

[1] Veiligheids Diensten
Het beveiligen van hoge autoriteiten van staat en daarvoor in aanmerking komende buitenlandse vertegenwoordigers, als ook de bewaking en de beveiliging van de door de direkteur van de C.I.V.D. aan te wijzen personen en objecten. Bureau Nationale Veiligheid (B.N.V.)Dit bureau is belast met het leveren van een bijdrage in het waarborgen van de nationale veiligheid van de staat door middel van het zo correct mogelijk analyseren van ingewonnen informatie, inlichtingen veiligheidsaspecten en deze door geven aan het hoofd van de Centrale Inlichtingen en Veiligheidsdienst (C.I.V.D.)
* source: http://www.civd.gov.sr/miscpages/over_civd.html accessed 22 June 2011).

AUTHOR: Natascha Adama
URL: http://natascha23.blogspot.com
E-MAIL: nataliapestova23 [@] yahoo.com

The DEA source said the arrests should help in weakening La Familia, which has a reputation for brutality and extreme violence on both sides of the U.S._Mexico border, but is defended by Mexico’s local communities as a generous group that promotes Christian values.

Besides drug trafficking and human smuggling, La Familia is known for extortion and kidnapping, and much like the Colombian FARC, attempts to portray itself as a populist left-wing group that defends members of Michoacan society from the brutality of government forces or rival cartels.

La Familia primarily smuggles large shipments of cocaine into the United States along Mexico’s Pacific coast. The gang produces and traffics the synthetic drug methamphetamine, a stimulent that is longer lasting and more deadly than cocaine.

La Familia shocked Americans and other nations in 2006, when its members allegedly tossed five decapitated heads into a Mexican nightclub with a sign that read: “Only those who deserve to die will die.”

Mexican federal police officials said that the La Familia drug cartel is responsible for shooting-down a police helicopter on Tuesday. The helicopter is reportedly one of those given to Mexico by the United States as part of the Merida Initiative.

The Merida Initiative, a program begun during the Bush Administration in 2007, provides about $1.6 billion in law enforcement support to Mexico and Central American countries. The U.S. Department of State manages the Initiative while other U.S. agencies play key roles in its implementation.

Police officials told the news media that they had planned the raid following an informant’s tip regarding a “sitdown” between alleged gang members at a ranch in Jalisco state, near the cartel’s stronghold of Michoacan.

Federal police commissioner Facundo Rosas, during a press conference after the raid, said that among those arrested were three top members of the cartel.

“They were hiding in Jalisco, waiting for instructions from their boss and planning an attack on a group which calls itself the Knights Templar, with which they’re at war,” Mr Rosas told reporters at the news conference.

The police commissioner described the Knights Templar as former members of La Familia, who had split from the cartel after the killing of La Familia leader Nazario Moreno by Mexican federal police last December.

Besides the 11 dead and 36 captured cartel members, police officer reported they had seized 70 long-range weapons and 14 pistols, many of them handcrafted with gold, silver, diamonds and rubies. They also secured more than 20,000 rounds of ammunition and enough body armor to oufit 40 members.

In 2009, 303 individuals in the United States were arrested as part of Project Coronado, which targeted the distribution network of La Familia, through coordination between federal, state and local law enforcement.

More than 3,000 law enforcement agents and police officers operated throughout the U.S. to make the arrests during the takedown. During the two-day operation alone, $3.4 million in U.S. currency, 729 pounds of methamphetamine, 62 kilograms of cocaine, 967 pounds of marijuana, 144 weapons and 109 vehicles were seized by law enforcement agents.

AUTHOR: Jim Kouri
URL: http://www.renewamerica.com/
E-MAIL: COPmagazine [at] aol.com

At the heart of the wildlife dispute were divergent views on the 2007 deal that settled on a nine-year breather for the ivory trade, explains WANJOHI KABUKURU

The 15th Conference of Parties (CoP15) of the Conference on International Trade on Endangered Species (CITES) simply known as World Wildlife Trade Talks took place in Qatar’s humid capital of Doha in March. In these talks, unlike the Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, where Africa adopted a common position, disharmony among African neighbours reigned supreme.

Nowhere was this divergence of opinion felt as strongly as within the East African Community (EAC) and the Common Market for Eastern and Southern African (COMESA) blocs. Kenya took an opposing position on elephants vis a vis her regional bloc members Tanzania and Zambia.

Both Tanzania and Zambia had put in proposals seeking to down-list their elephant populations from Appendix I to Appendix II, paving the way for Dar es Salaam and Lusaka to offload their 90 and 21 tonnes of ivory stockpiles respectively.

As expected Kenya stuck to her 20-year-old protectionist position, which rubbed her erstwhile neighbours up the wrong way.

Why did the EAC and COMESA members risk friendly relations at CITES?

Kenyan President MwaiKibaki waived his own Executive Order banning his entire Cabinet from travelling abroad until a new Constitution is well on its way in place to allow an exception to the rule which saw Noah Wekesa, the Wildlife and Forestry minister, travelling to Doha.

This was testimony of how important CITES is to Nairobi. In other words, the range countries of East, Central and southern Africa are major players in the multi-billion-shilling global wildlife trade (both legal and illegal).

While many people would want to think that the wildlife trade is all about elephant tusks, the reality is that it is much more than this and has surpassed human trafficking, and almost caught up with gun-running and drug trafficking. The International Police Organisation (Interpol) defines wildlife crime as the “taking, trading, exploiting or possessing of the world’s wild flora and fauna in contravention of national and international laws”.

ILLEGAL
Conservative estimates put the global trade in animals, plants and their by-products at a mind-boggling US$159 billion annually!

A dossier released in 2006 by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) and Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC) — a wildlife trade monitoring network — and entitled “The International Wildlife Trade and Organised Crime” revealed: “It is estimated that the global trade in animals, plants and their by-products is worth a total of around US$159 billion a year.

Although the scale of the illegal trade is difficult to estimate, it is clear that the rewards it offers to unscrupulous, illegitimate traders, businesses, organised criminals and major organised crime groups are very high indeed and probably second only to the drugs trade in terms of the potential levels of profit on offer.

These rewards are made possible by a market for wildlife species and derivatives which is fuelled by a range of factors, including fashion, the desire for luxury goods (including caviar and furs), traditional medicines, low-cost or rare timber and the personal obsessions of specimen collectors.”

The trade in flora and fauna is obscenely lucrative, so much so that the dreaded Mafia (both Russian and Italian), the Chinese Triads, the Japanese Yakuza and the Central American drug lords are deeply enmeshed in it.

The dossier also notes that these hardcore criminal organisations are using the highly profitable wildlife by-products by converting existing routes for illegal businesses in arms, drugs and human trafficking for those seeking a better life in the West.

The report asserts: “The smuggling of rare and exotic specimens is fuelled by market demand from collectors, endangered species especially of tropical birds, reptiles, amphibians and orchids are sought by collectors for their aesthetic appeal, breeding potential and rarity.

CITES-listed and other species protected by law command higher prices than those not protected, so illegal specimens will find a market among collectors prepared to overlook the means by which the specimens are obtained, and the environmental consequences of their actions. Specialist collectors exist for all wildlife parts, dead specimens, insects, skulls, birds and eggs.”

REPORT
This dossier has now been followed up by a comprehensive online investigative study undertaken by the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAW) since 2004 which culminated in a highly illuminating report dubbed “Killing with Keystrokes: An Investigation of the Illegal Wildlife Trade on the World Wide Web” published in 2008. In this report IFAW found out that the Internet has become a fast growing marketplace for wildlife species.

Following up on IFAW’s report, with its official newsletter CITES Issue 19 under the banner headline “Investigating the Internet Wildlife Trade” the Conference reckons: “The Internet has revolutionised the way we exchange ideas, information and merchandise. Understandably, this pervasive and powerful technology has become the world’s largest marketplace, one that is always open for business.

Unregulated, anonymous and unlimited, the Internet provides endless opportunities for criminal activity and transactions. Increasingly, it is the means by which the illicit trade in wildlife is conducted.

The illegal wildlife trade is having a devastating effect on animals, ecosystems, and the communities that rely on them worldwide, making it one of the major wildlife conservation challenges of our generation.” A look at the US Fish and Wildlife Service (equivalent of the Kenya Wildlife Service) records reveals that Kenya is the largest exporter of baboons to the United States.

CROSS-BORDER
The East African Community countries are a major player in the wildlife trade, both as a major source and as a conduit of species.

This explains the bad blood. While officials in Nairobi have continuously downplayed the icy relations with Dar and Lusaka, with KWS Director Julius Kipng’etich asserting, “Our relationship with Tanzania is good and we deal with several cross- border issues”, the real deal is that Dar and Lusaka are angry.

However hard Nairobi may try to downplay the Doha talks effects on EAC/COMESA relations, the fact is they are strained and the sooner they embark on healing the better it will be for the regional economic bloc’s smooth operations devoid of sibling rivalries

AUTHOR: Wanjohi Kabukuru
URL: http://www.africasia.com/
E-MAIL: wanjohi [at] positiveoutcomes.org