Chapare Cartel

The Chapare Drug Cartel is a Bolivian criminal organization dedicated to drug trafficking and human trafficking[1] that operates in the Chapare region.[2] For this, several journalists have baptized this organization simply as the Chapare Cartel[3][4][5]

During the entire presidency of Evo Morales in Bolivia and the expulsion of the DEA [6] from this country in 2008, drug trafficking has skyrocketed in the country. Since 2014, Bolilvia is one of the principal producers of cocaine in the world.[7] According to the UN 94% of the coca production of the country goes to illigal markets.[8]

The cartel currently has strong connections with the political party of the Movement for Socialism.[9][10][11] For all these reasons, the Interamerican Institute for Democracy described the government of Evo Morales as that of a Narco-state .[12] This vision is shared by researcher Diego Ayo from the Vicente Pazos Kanki foundation.[13] Currently the structure of the cartel is unknown. However, according to the Peruvian journalist Jaime Bayly, the head of the cartel would be the former president of Bolivia, Evo Morales[14][15] while the coca growers unions are the main drug suppliers for the international market.[16]

Chronology of the cartel and conformation of the Narco-state

The Chapare Cartel has its origins in the merger of six Federaciones Cocaleras del Trópico, in the región of Chapare. This federations are dedicated to the production and commercialization of coca leaves, the oldest being the Federación Especial de Colonizadores de Chimoré, founded in 1964.[17]

In 1996, a then unknown Evo Morales became president of the coordinating committee of the six federations of the tropics.[18]

A boost that this organization would gain would be with the assumption of Evo Morales to the presidency of the country with his first term, which began in 2006.

In 2008, Evo Morales decided to expel the DEA from the country.[19]

The Chapare region had long been declared by the Special Force for the Fight against Narcotrafficking (FELCN) as a "red zone for drug trafficking".[20]

In 2010, Evo Morales admitted to the British BBC news network that drug trafficking had permeated all levels of the state, although he accused the United States of this, without proofs.[21]

On July 29, Valentín Mejillones, Evo Morales' personal priest, was arrested for possession of 350 kg of drugs.[22]

In 2011, the General of the Bolivian Police, René Sanabria Oropeza and former anti-drug chief assigned by Evo Morales, is accused[23] and sentenced in the United States for drug trafficking.[24] That same year, Morales declared his fear that Sanabria would reveal MAS names in exchange for negotiating his sentence.[25]

In 2012, the Brazilian magazine Veja accused Evo Morales and his then minister Juan Ramón Quintana, of providing raw material for the production of drugs that were destined for Brazil[26][27][28]

In 2012, former senator Roger Pinto asked Brazil for political asylum for fear of an attack on his personal security and for having "evidence of corruption and links with drug trafficking at the highest levels of the government of President Evo Morales".[29]

In September 2013, a ghost town exclusively built for drug production was discovered in Oruro and the media points responsibility to the government. [30]

That same year, in November, Luis Cutipa Salva, then a substitute deputy of the MAS was arrested for diverting 45,000 tons of coca leaf to drug trafficking hot spots.[31]

In September 2015, former Bolivian businessman José Luis Sejas Rosales is arrested for an international arrest warrant for drug trafficking in Argentina.[32] Sejas Rosales was a former advisor to Yacimientos Petrolifos Fiscales Bolivianos.[33]

In July 2017, Romer Gutierrez Quezada, a former MAS adviser, was arrested in Brazil when he tried to enter 100 kg of drugs.[34]

In October 2017, in a joint operation between the Brazilian Federal Police and the Matto Grosso Military Police, a plane containing 480 kg of cocaine was captured, and arrested, in this country, Carmen Iris Lima Lobo, former candidate for the sub-government of the department of Beni.[35] Previously, in September, his nephew, Abio Adhemar Andrade Lima Lobo, was arrested in this same country for trying to enter Brazil 480 kg. of cocaine.[36]

On April 18, 2018, the former consul of Bolivia in Brazil, Haisen Ribero, is arrested for possessing 528 kg. of high purity cocaine.[37] Days later, at the request of the government, he is released.[38]

On April 23, 2019, Gonzalo Medina, former director of the FELCN and the captain of the Bolivian Police, Fernando Moreira, are arrested on alleged drug trafficking charges.[39]

On June 4 of that same year, another MAS official, Mayerling Castedo, was arrested, along with members of her family (her children: Darío and Joice Candia Castedo as well as her son-in-law Hugo Yañez and her nephew, Luís Darío Candia Zelada)[40] by members of the police for alleged drug trafficking.[41]

On September 13, 2019, Winston Julio Rodriguez was arrested for possession of 166 kg of cocaine. Newspapers of the country begin to circulate photos of Evo Morales next to Winston Julio Rodriguez.[42]

On December 18, former consul Diego Fernando Vega Ibarra was arrested in Argentina for drug trafficking in that country.[43]

On February 6, 2020, Dora Vallejos, wife of drug trafficker Bismark Carlos Padilla and personal friend of former MAS minister Carlos Romero and General Gonzalo Medina, was formally arrested for drug trafficking.[44]

On March 5, 2020, Terán and Elba Terán, sisters of Margarita Terán (a member of the MAS party), are sentenced to 15 years in prison for the crime of drug trafficking.[45]

On April 10 of that year, Faustino Yucra, a former coca grower leader and friend of Evo Morales, was arrested, accused of drug trafficking, terrorism and sedition.[46]

References
  1. "El Chapare, la zona roja del narcotráfico y de la trata" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  2. "El Chapare, la zona roja del narcotráfico y de la trata". Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  3. "El país en estado de asedio" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  4. "Grave error estratégico de Evo Morales" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  5. "Evo seeks to create a FARC in Bolivia – Evo busca crear unas FARC en Bolivia". Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  6. "Evo Morales suspendió las actividades de la DEA en Bolivia" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  7. "Bolivia: the New Hub for Drug Trafficking in South America". Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  8. "El 94% De La Coca De Chapare No Pasa Por El Mercado Legal" (in Spanish). Retrieved 27 October 2020.
  9. "El Cártel de Evo: un modelo de corrupción en Bolivia" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  10. "Morales Made Bolivia a Narco State". Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  11. "Bolivia, narcoestado cuya política exterior defiende el narcotráfico" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  12. "Confessions of Evo Morales the Drug Dealer Chief of State". Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  13. "El Cártel de Evo: un modelo de corrupción en Bolivia" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  14. "Jaime Bayly: "Evo Morales vendía cocaína al Cartel de Sinaloa y era el socio de 'El Chapo' Guzmán"" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  15. "Jaime Bayly: "Evo Morales le vendía cocaína a $2,500 dólares el kilo al Chapo Guzmán" (VIDEO)" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  16. "Bolivia, narcoestado cuya política exterior defiende el narcotráfico" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  17. "LAS FEDERACIONES DEL TRÓPICO DE COCHABAMBA EN EL PROCESO DE CONSTRUCCIÓN DE UN INSTRUMENTO POLÍTICO (1992-1999)" (PDF) (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  18. "Cocaleros bolivianos ratifican a Evo Morales como su máximo dirigente" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  19. "Evo Morales suspendió las actividades de la DEA en Bolivia" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  20. "Felcn confirma que el Chapare sigue siendo la "zona roja" del narcotráfico" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  21. "Morales reconoce poder de narcos en Bolivia" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  22. "Detenido el chamán de Evo Morales por narcotráfico" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  23. "Four Bolivian Nationals, Including Retired Police General, Charged With Drug Trafficking". Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  24. "Former Bolivia Anti-Drug Chief Sentenced to 15 Years". Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  25. "En Bolivia caso Sanabria involucra a 22 personas. Alivio en el gobierno; opositores: recién se conocerán implicaciones" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  26. "A república da cocaína" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  27. "Vinculan a Evo Morales con el narco brasileño" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  28. "Bolivia Struggles to Combat Narco Trade". Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  29. "Bolivia Struggles to Combat Narco Trade". Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  30. "Hallan "narco pueblo fantasma"" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  31. "La guerra falsa en Bolivia" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  32. "Caso narco-cisternas. Capturan al dueño de la empresa Creta acusado de narcotráfico" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  33. "Al menos 15 casos de narcotráfico enlodaron a autoridades del país" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  34. "Un ex asesor del gobierno de Evo Morales fue detenido en Brasil por narcotráfico" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  35. "Mundo Prisões revelam proximidade do tráfico com Evo Morales" (in Portuguese). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  36. "Clan Lima Lobo: cae líder y van tras su hermana ligada al MAS" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  37. "Hallan cocaína pura en hacienda de un excónsul del MAS" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  38. "Desvinculan a un excónsul de caso de narcotráfico" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  39. "Aprehenden a Gonzalo Medina y al capitán Moreira investigados por narcotráfico" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  40. "Cae clan de narcotráfico en Beni, vinculado a exfuncionarios" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  41. "Mayerling Castedo, la funcionaria del MAS vinculada al clan narco del Beni" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  42. "Presidente Morales aparece en una foto con el clan Rodríguez vinculado con el narcotráfico" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  43. "El excónsul detenido con droga impulsaba llegada de Evo a Orán" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  44. "¿Quién es Dora Vallejos con un patrimonio de $us 150 MM y muy cercana a poderosos del MAS?" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  45. "Elba Terán es sentenciada a 15 años de cárcel por narcotráfico" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
  46. "Faustino Yucra fue trasladado de Santa Cruz a La Paz" (in Spanish). Retrieved 26 October 2020.
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