A history project by Haley Matson for the purpose of Dr. Hyland's HIST 317 course
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Narcos, a show made by Netflix, depicts the life and career of the Medellin group. Currently, the show features 3 seasons and is mostly spoken in Spanish. The show is also filmed at actual locations the Medellin group was at, which ended poorly for a cameraman a few months back. He was shot by a cartel member, because nobody knew why he was all the way out in the Mexican deserts.
The show is based on the true story of the Medellin group, and is fairly historically accurate. As the episodes go on and the years go by, viewers get a taste of what it was like to run one of the most infamous drug trafficking cartels in the world.
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Drugs Inc., a documentary in episodic form, airs on National Geographic.
Cocaine became such a problem in Colombia because of extreme wealth inequality and higher than average levels of poverty; coca farmers were able to grow and sell the crop easily with a large salary from it. Coca leaves by themselves are not harmful, but the rock or powdered form of crack cocaine is extremely dangerous, and has heightened the poverty problem in Colombia, and later in the United States.
Cocaine has proved itself to be a worth adversary, as it is tough to eradicate from neighborhoods and destroying the sources do not seem to work. Cocaine is cheap to manufacture, cheap to buy compared to other drugs with similar effects, and is extremely addicting, locking addicts into poverty and jacking up the demand for coca farmers.
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Vice News
Vice News travels to meet and work with “heirs” to the Medellin drug group. Throughout the 14 minute video, processing of cocaine is seen along with meeting the people who purify, distribute, and collect the drugs.
While bagging grams of cocaine, the heirs to the business don’t accurately measure the cocaine, they just shuffle it into the bag and guess, to “keep the customers on their toes.” According to the man filling the dime bags, the always shifting contents of the bag keep customers excited, because occasionally, they get more cocaine, or cocaine of a higher quality.
The drug trade is highly unregulated, with different colors and purities of cocaine being shipped out to sell, either through a dealer or on the streets. These unregulated drugs can be cut with something far more dangerous, or “garbage,” as stated in the video. The dangers of consuming cocaine in large doses, while being untested for impurities, are numerous. However, to keep the business running, and the customers coming back, drug lords don’t seem to care about having the highest quality product, as long as the quality is higher than their competitor.
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Photo courtesy of AFP
Pablo Escobar, born on December 1, 1949, was the primary figurehead of the Medellin group. He is well known throughout popular culture and historical context, and is known as one of the highest ranking and most successful drug lords to ever exist.
His net worth was said to be around $30 billion USD. Escobar, other than having a successful drug empire, also had a wife and two children. His son now focuses on philanthropy.
Escobar, although obviously violent and problematic, has a secondary record of humanitarian efforts, such as the neighborhood he built and sponsored for the poor in Medellin, Barrio Pablo Escobar. He also has numerous other charitable donations under his belt.
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Photo courtesy of the US Department of Justice
This image is a map of the United States, compiled by the United States Department of Justice for the purpose of determining regions most affected by drug use.
As seen in the map, Florida and the entire southeast United States have been most affected by cocaine use and abuse, with over 60% of narcotics seized or found being cocaine. This directly correlates with the immense drug violence and efficient drug trafficking that occurred during the 1970s and 1980s. The effects of the drug trade are still being seen in 2017, with drug overdose deaths on the rise.
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Photo courtesy of David Walters/Miami Herald Staff
This image, taken on January 20, 1995, shows a drug seizure in Miami a few years after the Miami “Cocaine Wars” ended. The Cocaine Wars, which lasted from 1977-1979, were a precursor to the immense drug abuse problem seen in Miami and most of Florida today. The Medellin group was the primary factor in the distribution of cocaine and other illicit narcotics during this time period, along with over 101 drug related deaths.
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Photo courtesty of @histo_lines via twitter
The Medellin group, not often considered a real “cartel,” was born out of one man’s dream to replace slow “drug mules” with efficient techniques and new technology. This man, Carlos Ledher Rivas, would be the first step on the long journey to monopoly.
The Medellin group ran their trafficking en devours as a business. First, they took over small scale farmers of marijuana and coca, and used the land and crops to their advantage. Next, they worked together with other small distributors and private dealers to create a vast network of drug lords throughout Latin America. Finally, the Medellin group vowed to monopolize the United States, and become the main distributor of illicit narcotics. The three step plan was absolutely feasible, and by 1977, the US DEA was already listing them as a threat in front of Congress.
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Photo courtesy of Gentleman’s Journal
The Cali cartel was originally affiliated with world renowned Pablo Escobar until around the 1980′s. The Cali cartel, based out of Cali, Colombia, originally was formed by two brothers, Gilberto Rodríguez Orejuela and Miguel Rodríguez Orejuela, and soon included José Santacruz Londoño. All three men had extensive background knowledge in information and trafficking, and soon huddled together a band of nine members who worked to sell marijuana after a kidnapping stint that raised about $700,000 to begin their narcotic empire.
The Cali cartel covered the areas of New York City and Houston, Texas. The group originally distributed marijuana, but switched to cocaine during the time where the DEA did not consider cocaine to be more detrimental to public health than heroin.
By 1995, all members of the Cali cartel had been arrested and imprisoned, leaving only a memory.
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Photo from AP/Juan Karita
The Coca plant is an integral element in the production of cocaine. By itself, one can chew on Coca leaves for a small burst of energy, as a stimulant. Coca continues to be grown in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, and parts of Venezuela despite both national and international efforts to wean farmers off of the crop. Unfortunately, Coca continues to be produced on account of it’s economic return: Coca plants offer poor farmers an easy way to make money, and the crop is easy to grow. Even with cash incentives, farmers continue to choose Coca over less-successful and less-economically sound crops.
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Photo courtesy of Efraín Herrera/Government Information System of Colombia.
On November 9, 2017, Colombian officials seized the largest amount of cocaine on record: 13.4 tons. Each brick of cocaine was neatly packed and organized. The 13.4 tons of narcotics were seized in Mexico, and were likely headed towards the United States for distribution.
For Colombian cocaine manufacturers, a seizure this large is devastating to the business. The cocaine was valued at over $360 million USD.
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