A Brazilian report raises controversy in Bolivia. In the investigation of journalist Marcelo Godoy, published in the daily O Estado de Sao Paulo (article in Brazilian and for subscribers), we discover that Brazilian drug traffickers live in the neighboring country. Bolivia is said to have become a “haunt” of Brazilian drug lords.
Marcelo Godoy investigated the organization Premier Commando de la Capitale, an extremely powerful Brazilian mafia organization, especially in the prison environment. The drug trafficking arm of this cartel is called Narcosur, and some of its officials have been spotted in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, in eastern Bolivia. According to the article, these criminals invest in various businesses in the city – jewelry stores, clinics, restaurants – and live a seemingly normal life, like Mr. and Mrs. Everyone.
These drug traffickers chose Bolivia because first of all Bolivia is a country producing coca, and therefore cocaine. In the country the leaf is legal, for traditional uses, but there is also trafficking of cocaine, although it is to a much lesser extent than in Colombia or Peru. The second reason why Brazilian traffickers would have settled in Bolivia is because cocaine trafficking is still “rudimentary”. “We are more of a model made up of several small organizations, explains Diego Giacoman, expert in anti-drug trafficking policies. They are not large groups with a lot of capital but rather family organizations. So there is room for foreign investment, particularly from Brazil, to structure the traffic at a higher level. ” Finally, the last reason for their presence, these cartel leaders would, according to the survey published last week, be protected by the Bolivian police, known to be corrupt.
When this report was published, the reactions were numerous. On the opposition side, criticism is also numerous, and a center-right deputy has even expressed strong suspicions about President Luis Arce, who according to him would protect these criminals because of certain political affinities. It is recalled that the former president Evo Morales, of the same party as the current head of state, is a coca producer himself. On the government side, a lawsuit has been announced against the Brazilian newspaper which published the investigation, because these claims are said to be “false and irresponsible”.