Cucuta buying blow

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Cucuta buying blow

This is a fluid division since many street dwellers live in flux as their fortunes wax and wane, some days getting lucky and enough coins to pay for a hostel bed, other nights blowing it on a peso twist of basuco — low-grade coca paste, a residue of cocaine labs — and ending up in the rain again. Some street dwellers themselves estimate the true figure to be around 40,, but there is no hard data. Everyone agrees it is many more than 10, Some have had to flee for their lives to the city to escape massacres or death sentences imposed by paramilitary groups linked to the state; with these memories they approach the local authorities with caution and are too spooked to register for assistance, particularly given the jobs-worth approach by most city officials that requires filling in every small detail of your life, address, birth data, even where you were baptised, even before you get inside the door. All these thoughts are rattling around my head when I set out to talk to some street dwellers. Several interviews are done literally on my doorstep, and one in my kitchen. These are people I realise I know and see nearly every day, maybe throwing a coin from time to time, or a bag of old clothes on a cold night but never thinking of who they are or where they come from, never stopping to ask their name. So actually conversing is something of a revelation. But it must be said my quest is filtered towards people able to understand my request for information, and aware that their comments will be published, which means those habitantes en calle that are in a more stable stage and are on the rebound, so to speak, or at least in a moment of lucidity. It is difficult from a practical perspective, and morally dubious, to interview a glue sniffer semi-conscious in the gutter. Life on the streets usually comes in stages of descent from hard drinking, often adulterated alcohol called chirrinchi , to smoking marijuana and basuco done by pistoleros to smoking the coca paste in pipes done by piperos or sniffing glue, a brand called Boxer. After you hit rock bottom, if you survive, you may bounce back, and then fall back again, a cyclical process that might depend on your own will-power or outside help. This help can come in the form of ambulatory and local hospital-based detox programs, including internships, overnight shelters and back-to-work schemes, and psychosocial support. In fact the police are officially prevented from obstructing or moving any street person from their chosen site, a regulation that has infuriated shop and business owners in areas where street people congregate, namely central zones such as Santa Fe and Los Martires. The massive operation mysteriously failed to catch any major kingpins the rumours are that corrupt cops tipped them off but did manage to scatter street folk and drug dealers into nearby business sectors. In fact, not one social services department was briefed to prepare for the outcome. The impasse with local businesses lead to some politicians to predict a return to the dreaded fumigaciones of recent decades. The question arises: where do all the drugs come from? The answer is a 6, billion-peso local drug market pushing low-grade cocaine residue to school-kids to secure future business. At the top of this pyramid of misery are the same drug capos that export refined cocaine overseas. Ironically, it is the disruption of cartel export routes that has led to large quantities of the low-grade drugs flooding home markets. And the soft target for these peddlers is the vulnerable street people, at the bottom of the pyramid collecting the coins to feed the giant monster above. Street people are also the targets for violence. While most well-heeled rolos live in fear of beggars, it is the street people themselves most attacked, robbed and murdered. Of course one must add that a quarter of these crimes are by other street people, and there is clearly lack of trust within the community if you can even call it that of Estrato 0. Should we automatically see Estrato 0 as victims? Some commentators suggest that street life can be an alternative, interesting and fulfilling existence. True, most people I talk are in good humour and have pride in many aspects of their lives, and one detects a certain machismo in sleeping out, dodging the authorities and avoiding the help programs. But dig a bit deeper and everyone is looking for a way up and out. What tears most is losing contact with friends and family, living without knowing where children or grandchildren are or even knowing if they exist. Get clean, get work, get back to the family, is a common mantra. But invisible barriers, the tentacles of addiction or mental health problems, hold them back. I throw the question out. But slave to the drugs. Gabriel, 76 years old, from Arauca. Displaced by the conflict. But we stayed, we did not want to lose out jobs. They came back and burned houses and killed some 15 people. I had to leave everything behind. I have never been back to Arauca. I did not know how to survive or where to go. There was no-one to help me. But after some time I had learned the code of conduct of life on the streets, where to go and how to ask for money. I have two daughters, and some grandchildren, but we lost contact many years ago. I have no resources to find them. Now I am alone. The poor rob the poor. There are many bad people so I work alone trying to get money and food. Better alone than in bad company, I say. I need to get enough cash every day — at least 6, pesos — to pay for the hostel where I can stay the night, in a room just big enough to lie down. The country is changing but will be difficult to heal. I sometimes talk to truck drivers from Arauca to see how things are there. My hope is one day to go home, but how to get the money? Sundays are the worst days — less people around so less money for the hostel. Last Sunday I had to sleep out. Also the police wake us up and move us on. Sometimes we get a good beating. I would like to go back to work. I spend all the money I earn on food and the hostel, there is nothing left over for other things. He carries an oxygen bottle after a stab wound to the lung. They were coming to take me. So I had to flee, at night, in the back of a truck to Cucuta then on to Cali where I lived on streets. Cali was too dangerous with the social cleaning, the fumigaciones , street people were being killed. I did not let go so they stabbed my twice in the back, puncturing my lung. The oxygen is paid for by the government, and most of the medicines I need, since I have the Carta de las Habitantes de la Calle Street Dweller Letter. I am officially Estrato Zero. Didier, 38 years old, and Marcela, 28 years old. They met living on the streets of Bogota. Didier is an electronics engineer originally from Santa Marta. Drugs are like a knife at your throat. I just wanted to leave the system, and ended up on the streets. Since then I have been on the streets. I met Didier two years ago. But it harder for women on the streets, and once they get addicted they have to sell themselves to get money for their drug habit, it is more dangerous for them and more health risks. There you can get a bed with blankets and food, sometimes work, but I prefer to stay on the streets. We sleep every night on the street, usually on the same corner. William, 55, originally from Ibague, Tolima. His life was first disrupted when, at age 8 years old, his father threw him and his mother out of the house. Lately I have been sleeping out in the cold. Last month the police came and took all my blankets, it was raining, they threw my blankets in the back of a rubish truck. It is good they also cleared the Bronx, it was a terrible place where gangs fed people to dogs or dissolved them in acid. These are not rumours, the stories are real. I know. So they sent me to jail. My kids are grown up now, but I have lost touch with them since five years ago. But I do have friends and we meet up, every few weeks. Then I fall back into the vice again, sometimes for a week. They have a life. You a fearless. One night I slept in front of a garage and a car nearly ran me over. Some people get killed, stabbed, maybe by other street people. I never back down from a fight, even if they have knives. You have to stand your ground. I was an intern for six months, in a large center with good facilties, we got clothes, bedding, food but had to do many workshops. I ended up as a voluntary outreach worker at the Hospital Santa Clara, helping other addicts. I refuse to take the pills from the hospital to treat this, they turn you into a zombie. I prefer to live real. But I never drink around my kids, I want to be a good example. Some tips for travellers. Viva Villa de Leyva! Building battles Viva Villa de Leyva! Is Colombia Safe? A reciclador. Collecting reusable rubbish is seen as a good job on the streets. A basuco cigarette with cocaine base. Don Gabriel had to flee murderous armed groups in Arauca. Carlos fled conflict and ended up on the streets. D idier and Marcela: together on the streets. William used to visit the notorious Bronx.

Narco-brokers and Financiers: the Key Elements in the Cocaine Business

Cucuta buying blow

The Colombian border town of Cucuta has smuggling coursing through its veins, underpinning its economy and strengthening organized crime, which is raking in millions from everything from beef to gasoline. The city streets are lined with shacks where vendors siphon out the fuel from Venezuelan pickups and decant it into Colombian cars; restaurants serve Venezuelan beef that crossed the border stuffed into stripped-out cars; pharmacies sell out-of-date and damaged Venezuelan painkillers; and the marketplace hosts block after block of stalls offering everything from toothpaste to toilet cleaner that has been smuggled in from across the border. But while the contraband trade has colonized Cucuta, its impact is not limited to the city. Smuggling in the border region is creating mass shortages of essential goods in Venezuela and undercutting legal businesses in Colombia. It is also creating new contraband mafias, fuelling violence between organized crime networks and facilitating the regional cocaine trade. As in many Latin American border towns, Cucuta has a long history of contraband smuggling. The profits on offer from this price gap are magnified by the exchange rate imposed by the Venezuelan government. Venezuelan Bolivares can officially be traded at 6. But in Cucuta, 2, Colombian pesos — roughly one dollar — buys 89 Bolivares. The result, say the POLFA, is that smugglers pay Venezuelan contacts two or three times the retail price for products, sell them in Colombia for five or six times their original price and still easily undercut legal businesses in Colombia. The POLFA say they have indentified five specialist smuggling networks operating in and around Cucuta, which are transporting and distributing huge quantities of contraband goods across Colombia. These operations begin with a phone call from Venezuela, where smugglers assemble bulk shipments of goods, either by making many small purchases, or getting businesses to quietly set aside the merchandise. To move their loads into Colombia, the smugglers use clandestine border crossings — narrow dirt tracks of mud and sand that wind their way towards the Tachira River, which marks the border between the two countries. At the river, poles topped by fluttering plastic bags mark the shallowest points where it is safe to cross. Before they are shipped on, many goods are wrapped in Colombian packaging, and disguised with legal invoices purchased from corrupt contacts in legitimate businesses. The POLFA and other authorities tasked with tackling the trade are now playing catch-up with these sophisticated networks. Over the last year, they have stepped up their efforts against contraband smuggling in the region, with notable results. As indicated in the chart below, the most commonly seized contraband items in and include clothing, medication, and meat. The police patrol the clandestine border crossings on dirt bikes, typically accompanied by a truck, acting on tip-offs and relying on speed and surprise to snare smugglers. However, the odds are against them and their seizures are just a fraction of what makes it through. The police count on the fact that once on the narrow trails, it is usually impossible for the smugglers to turn around. However, each route has its own hiding places — including nearby ranches and farms — where the owners are paid off in exchange for letting the smugglers park their vehicles on the property, hiding out from police patrols. When police do make a seizure, they can confiscate the goods and sometimes the vehicles, but almost always have to let the smugglers walk. The smugglers, aware of the law, will rarely carry anything over the limit. The region has long been a stronghold for the Rastrojos criminal network, which despite having suffered some major blows in recent years remains strong in Cucuta, according to police. Intelligence reports indicate that not only is Megateo importing contraband gasoline for cocaine processing, he is also paid for drug shipments in Venezuelan contraband, helping him to quickly and easily launder drug proceeds by converting them into almost untraceable pesos. As with any multi-million dollar criminal business in Colombia, the Cucuta contraband trade has also been facilitated by official corruption. In an attempt to clean up the force, the POLFA have introduced confidence tests for officers, meet with internal affairs monthly and, critically, have started rotating staff and removing officers with local ties. Below, police in Cucuta inspect a seizure of medications. Venezuela has also begun to take steps to tackle corruption in the Bolivarian National Guard GNB , which monitors the border. In August, Venezuelan authorities even arrested 15 guards in the neighboring state of Tachira and accused them of repairing a smuggling trail after it had been destroyed. On one smuggling trail, InSight Crime saw a burned-out car riddled with bullet holes in the wheels and engine. The work of the GNB, the police said, and a common sight during their patrols. Despite the ongoing concerns over the GNB, Venezuela now certainly appears to be taking the issue of contraband seriously, especially as popular discontent with widespread shortages in the shops grows. President Nicolas Maduro has put aside his often antagonistic relationship with Colombia to call for increased cooperation on anti-smuggling operations, and Colombian officials speak highly of the improved relationship. In August, Venezuela began closing the border between 10 pm to 5 am. Although it is a temporary measure, both the Colombian authorities and residents say this has been an effective — but controversial — move. Meanwhile, police are hoping a new anti-contraband law currently making its way through Congress will give them the powers to go after the serious criminals. However, attempts to take down the contraband mafias are already running into the same wall as the fight against drug trafficking — while the profits are there, then it does not matter how many arrests they make, or how many networks they dismantle, the trade continues. This article is the first in a four-part series looking at the contraband trade in Colombia. Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a weekly digest of the latest organized crime news and stay up-to-date on major events, trends, and criminal dynamics from across the region. Donate today to empower research and analysis about organized crime in Latin America and the Caribbean, from the ground up. Skip to content. SEE ALSO: Venezuela News and Profiles To move their loads into Colombia, the smugglers use clandestine border crossings — narrow dirt tracks of mud and sand that wind their way towards the Tachira River, which marks the border between the two countries. All we can do is try to make sure it is not out of control. Stay Informed With InSight Crime Subscribe to our newsletter to receive a weekly digest of the latest organized crime news and stay up-to-date on major events, trends, and criminal dynamics from across the region.

Cucuta buying blow