NCJ Number
117644
Date Published
1988
Length
14 pages
Annotation
Drugs and drug trafficking are now an integral part of the symbiotic relationship between groups involved in transnational organized crime and those seeking destabilization through the 'invisible wars' of terrorism.
Abstract
In South America, there are both extortionate and symbiotic relationships between drug traffickers and revolutionary insurgents. In Central America, money from drug trafficking has been used to support elements of the right-wing ARENA party in El Salvador and to finance the assassination of the president of Honduras by a rival army faction. In Mexico, drugs and the destabilizing effects of corruption related in part to drugs are a daily reality. In the Middle East, the Turkish government is still trying to recover from a decade of right-wing versus left-wing violence during which drug trafficking by both Armenian terrorists of the Secret Armenian Army for the Liberation of Armenia and the new-Nazi Grey Wolves played an important role. There was also evidence that the exchange of drugs for arms was aided by the government of Bulgaria and its KINTEX trading organization to further its own foreign policy interests. In Lebanon, the role of drugs increases with each year of warfare. In Asia, the role of drugs in Burma, Laos, and Thailand is clear, and drug trafficking through India is providing important support to the Tamil insurgency and the destabilization of Sri Lanka. 38 notes.