Once again, however, this U.S. interdiction "success" was more apparent than real. At the end of the decade there was clear evidence that the Colombian traffickers had begun to shift back to smuggling routes in the Caribbean. Increasingly, reports surfaced indicating that Colombian cocaine and heroin were transiting through the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico into the United States. There was also mounting evidence of increased use of shipboard containers for cocaine smuggling into U.S. east coast ports and of a reversion to "swallowers" or "mules" traveling on commercial air transportation and cruise ships for the transport of heroin. As of late 1999 perhaps as much as 50 percent of the Colombian cocaine trade and 80 to 90 percent of the heroin traffic was routed across the Caribbean rather through Mexico. Topping the list of the most heavily used Caribbean transit countries were the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Cuba. This return to the more traditional routes was made possible, in part, by Washington’s decision earlier in the decade to transfer some U.S. Custom’s personnel from South Florida to the southwestern border, leaving the Caribbean/South Florida routes exposed once again. The severe recessions suffered by many Caribbean island economies over the latter half of the decade unquestionably made them more vulnerable to drug smuggling and related corruption as well.
Once again, however, this U.S. interdiction "success" was more apparent than real. At the end of the decade there was clear evidence that the Colombian traffickers had begun to shift back to smuggling routes in the Caribbean. Increasingly, reports surfaced indicating that Colombian cocaine and heroin were transiting through the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Cuba and Puerto Rico into the United States. There was also mounting evidence of increased use of shipboard containers for cocaine smuggling into U.S. east coast ports and of a reversion to "swallowers" or "mules" traveling on commercial air transportation and cruise ships for the transport of heroin. As of late 1999 perhaps as much as 50 percent of the Colombian cocaine trade and 80 to 90 percent of the heroin traffic was routed across the Caribbean rather through Mexico. Topping the list of the most heavily used Caribbean transit countries were the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Jamaica, Puerto Rico and Cuba. This return to the more traditional routes was made possible, in part, by Washington’s decision earlier in the decade to transfer some U.S. Custom’s personnel from South Florida to the southwestern border, leaving the Caribbean/South Florida routes exposed once again. The severe recessions suffered by many Caribbean island economies over the latter half of the decade unquestionably made them more vulnerable to drug smuggling and related corruption as well.
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