Cocaine's Global Comeback: A Decentralized Trade Breaks Records

2 days ago7 min read

As U. S.officials label fentanyl a 'weapon of mass destruction,' a resurgent global menace is quietly expanding: the cocaine trade. According to Washington Post Mexico City bureau chief Samantha Schmidt, this illicit market is not just surviving but thriving, shattering records through a sophisticated, decentralized model far removed from the monolithic cartels of the past.Coca cultivation in Colombia now covers an area more than five times larger than during the era of Pablo Escobar. This staggering growth is fueled by hyper-efficient 'enclaves' positioned near borders and coasts for rapid export, transforming a regional issue into a fully globalized enterprise.European cocaine seizures now rival those in the United States, underscoring a dramatic shift in global trafficking routes and consumption patterns. The trade's modern architecture operates with corporate efficiency, leveraging legal container shipping and corrupt port networks while embedding itself within state institutions, rendering traditional interdiction methods increasingly obsolete.The current U. S.strategy—marked by a militarized Caribbean presence and strikes on suspected drug vessels—represents a sharp departure from prior efforts to dismantle criminal organizations. This approach conflates the distinct threats of fentanyl and cocaine, framing a complex economic supply chain as a singular act of 'narco-terrorism.' In reality, the fragmentation of control following Colombia's peace process created a vacuum filled by agile trafficking groups and international criminal networks. Today's cocaine trade, defined by logistical precision and deep-seated corruption, poses a challenge more akin to confronting a shadow multinational corporation than a traditional insurgency.The repercussions are widespread, destabilizing producer nations, crippling judicial systems, and saturating new markets. This resurgence highlights a critical failure of policy imagination, where the historical lesson—that militarized campaigns often falter against adaptable economic forces—is being overlooked in favor of forceful rhetoric. The world now confronts a hydra-headed enterprise, optimized through decades of experience for the age of global commerce.

#cocaine

#drug trade

#Trump administration

#Colombia

#Europe

#customs

#featured