Fentanyl trafficking tests America’s foreign policy
AT THE FAR south-west corner of America lies the busiest border crossing in the western hemisphere. People and goods constantly cruise through the port of San Ysidro, which connects Tijuana in Mexico with San Diego in California. But more nefarious things cross too. Nearly half of the fentanyl, a potent synthetic opioid, seized by Customs and Border Patrol agents since 2020 has been captured near San Diego. “I’m ground zero,” says Todd Gloria, the mayor of the city.
The documents support some things already widely suspected: that Mexican cartels order the precursor chemicals for fentanyl from China. The chemicals are flown or shipped to Mexico, sometimes via countries such as Germany or Guatemala, then cooked into fentanyl in clandestine laboratories in the mountains of Sinaloa. The finished product is transported by land, sea, air and even tunnels to safe houses in Los Angeles, Phoenix and El Paso, to be distributed across America.
But some details shed new light on just how brutal and lucrative the fentanyl trade can be. The DEA reckons the cartel can make a fentanyl pill for ten cents. The charges suggest that the Chapitos can then sell pills wholesale for 50 cents in America, which dealers will hawk for several dollars on the street. The documents allege that just one cartel operative in Los Angeles managed to launder $24m in roughly two years.
2023-05-11 08:35:06
Post from www.economist.com
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