Caribbean drug trade rises under new generation of 'Cocaine Cowboys'


By Tom Brown

MIAMI (Reuters) - The Caribbean is becoming a hot spot again for drug smuggling into the United States as a new generation of "Cocaine Cowboys" plows the seas in fast boats in search of easy entry points for illicit shipments into the world's largest consumer market.


That was double the share of U.S.-bound cocaine that was shipped through the region during the first half of 2012, Vito Guarino, special agent in charge of the DEA's Caribbean division, told Reuters.

He said the increase - which came amid a 30 percent overall drop in the amount of cocaine smuggled into the United States over the same time period - was at least partly due to increased drug interdiction efforts along the U.S.-Mexico border.

But Colombian-led traffickers are also simply taking advantage of a region where they made deep inroads in the 1980s, before drug lords in Mexico began to dominate the trade by the late 1990s.

In the last year, U.S. law enforcement agencies have turned up the pressure on the Caribbean traffickers, with more Coast Guard patrols, as well as well as human and electronic intelligence, to detect illicit planes and boats.



"I was here when they were doing it predominantly by air. Now it's predominantly by go-fast (boats)," Guarino said.


The lure of Puerto Rico is its status as a U.S. territory. Once drugs are smuggled onto the island they can head right to the U.S. mainland without going through customs.


The Dominican Republic, just across the treacherous Mona Passage strait separating it from Puerto Rico, serves as the transfer point for most of the South American cocaine shipped from Puerto Rico into the United States, Guarino said. The Dominican Republic is also a major transit area for drugs heading to Europe.


About 500 lbs (225 kg) of coca paste, the raw ingredient for refined cocaine, was recently seized from a laboratory on a ranch on the outskirts of the Dominican capital.


The similarities between Miami in the 1980s and Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic today are striking, Guarino added.

"The Cocaine Cowboys, the Uzis, the shootouts that we used to have ... You're seeing the same violence," Guarino said.



One of those arrested in the bust was Edgar Collazo Rivera, a prominent Puerto Rico businessman who operated shipping and garbage companies and had contracts with municipal governments. His $8 million, 61-foot (18.5-meter) yacht "Olga" was allegedly used to transport cash to the Dominican Republic to buy drugs, according to authorities.

(Additional reporting by David Adams in Miami and a Reuters correspondent in San Juan, Puerto Rico; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)

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