INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP85T00875R001700020051-2
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: C
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: May 18, 2010
• Sequence Number: 51
• Publication Date: October 1, 1971
• Content Type: IM

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Confidential
DIRECTORATE OF
INTELLIGENCE
Intelligence Memorandum
International Narcotics Series No. 4
The Cocaine Situation In Latin America
Confidential
ER IM 71-197
?
October 1971
Copy No. 17 9
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WARNING
This document contains information affecting the national
defense of the United States, within the meaning of Title.
18, sections 793 and 794, of the US Code, as amended.
Its transmission or revelation of its conteuts to or re-
ceipt by an unauthorized person is prohibited by law.
GROUP
EXCLUDED PROM AUTOMATIC
DOW1,011ADIND AND
DIVILAKIIFICA flON
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CENTRAL iNTELLIGENCF AGENCY
Dhectorate of Intelligence
October 1971
INTELLIGENCE MEMORANDUM
THE COCAINE SITUATION IN LATIN AMERICA
Introduction
1. Cocaine, the only major hard drug native to the Western
Hemisphere, has been largely eclipsed by heroin in this century. However,
as drug deinand increases and worldwide pressure on the heroin traffic
intensifies, the cocaine trade is being revitalized. This traffic, which is almost
entirely in the hands of Latin Americans, appears to be less centralized
and "professional" than that of heroin, but, for this reason, it may be
even harder to eradicate. This memorandum examines cocaine production
and distribution and assesses the prospects for th3ir curtailment.
Discussion
Background
2. According to an ancient Peri.; ian myth, it was the Inca Manco
Capac, the Royal Son of the Sun, who ffought :.oca as a gift "to satisfy
the hungry, fortify the weary, and make the unfortunate forget their
sorrows." In pre-Hispanic times the chewing of coca leaves (Erythroxylon
coca) for both religious and mundane purposes spread through the Andes
from northern Chile to Colombia and along the eastern slopes into the
Amazon region. Neither the coming of r3parish rule in the 16th century
nor its end in the 19th century served to lessen Indian dependence on
the leaf. In many Andean regions today, miners and farm workers still
receive a part of their pay in coca leaves, and the cocada ? the distance
a porter can travel on foot with a full load while under the stimulus of
one quid of coca leaves ? is still a common unit of measurement.
Note: This memorandum was prepared by the Office of Economic Research
with the aid of the Office of Basic and Geographic Intelligence and
coordinated within the Central Intelligence Agency and with the Bureau
of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs and the Bureau of Customs.
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3. Although the coca plant was known in Europe by the late 16th
century, it was not until 1860 that the chief alkaloid in the leaves, cocaine,
was isolated. By the 1880s its use as an anesthetic in medicine and dentistry
was widespread asid its diversion for illegal purposes became common. In
Europe and the United States, its use gave rise to the stereotype of the
Victorian "dope fiend," and in parts of Asia it began to displace the
traditional hashish and opium. Cultivation of the coca plant was introduced
into Java, Ceylon, Cuba, and the United States. Illegal cocaine use probably
reached its high point relative to that of other drugs in the second decade
of the 20th century. Thereafter, the passage of strict laws against cocaine
use in most Western countries and the increasing availability of heroin
combined to reduce cocaine consumption relatively if not absolutely.
4. Th: characteristics and dangers of cocaine differ considerably
from those of heroin. Cocaine is not physically addictive, nor does it
produce (in the usual doses) the drowsiness, slurred speech, and impairment
of coordination characteristic of heroin.(1) In small doses, its use results
in restlessness, excitement, a real or imagined increase in mental power,
increased capacity for work without fatigtu, and a general feeling of
well-being. In larger doses, it may result in tromors, convulsions, cardiac
failure, and death. Like other stimulants, it may cause paranoid or aggressive
actions. For example, it is said that the heroin addict commits crimes to
obtain the drug, but the cocaine user commits crimes while under the
influence of the drug. As an aphrodisiac, it is used both internally and
externally (applied to the male sex organ). The most common methods
of taking cocaine are sniffing ? repeated use results in perforation of the
nasal membrane ? and intravenous injection.
Coca
5. Most coca is grown between elevations of 2,000 and 8,000 feet
on the moist slopes of the eastern face of the Andes in Bolivia and Peru.
New plants are obtained by placing seeds from plants more than three years
old in containers of water; after five days they began to swell and are
then planted in small pots of very fertile soil. They require great care for
the next two months, viten the seedlings are ready for transplanting. The
transplanting is in itself a delicate process, as the seedlings must be protected
from "sunstroke" by a covering of straw and banana leaves. Once
successfully transplanted, cultivation of the plants is relatively easy, although
time-consuming weeding is necessary. Although individual harvests may
suffer because of leaf damage, the plant is not normally subject to serious
attacks by pests or disease.
1. Because of this characteristic, many pilots smuggling heroin into and
out of Paraguay are heavy cocaine users but do not take heroin.
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6. The coca bush is ready for commercial production after two years
and may have a productive life of 30 years or more. There are from two
to four harvests a year (depending on the availability of labor, see the
photograph), and the average yield is about 2,000 pounds of undried leaf
per acre. The crop is dried in stone yards before being pressed and packed
into burlap and banana-leaf containers of from 50 to 120 pounds each.
The leaf loses about 75% of its weight in the drying process. Although
prices vary greatly depending on the supply, the average cost of a pound
of dried coca leaf for the local consumer in Bolivia or Peru is about 50.
Even at these low domestic prices, it is estimated that one hectare (2.47
acres) of coca in Bolivia yields a net return of about $1,600 a year to
the prothicer.
BOLIVIAN INDIANS HARVESTING COCA
7. Coca production is preeminently the businesr, of the small farmer;
the majority of cocales (coca farms) cover only two or three acres. A few
larger plantations (mostly for the legal export trade) exist in Peru, but these
are largely holdovers from an earlier period. The low value of the
unprocessed leaf and the labor intensity of the cultivation and harvest
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(because of the delicacy required to remove the leaves without harming
the future productivity of the plant) have discouraged plantation agriculture
using hired workers in favor of fpmily farming. Many subsistence fzrms,
especially in newly s'ettled areas of the Bolivian Yungas and lowlands, raise
coca as a commercial Crop in order to obtain cash for taxes.
8. An estimated 90% of the Bolivian and Peruvian coca crops is
consumed in leaf form. Although coca chewing is officially discouraged in
the Andean countries, it is not illegal. The coca leaf is prepared into a
quid mixed with an alkaline substance ? such as quicklime, ashes, or ground
seashells ? in order to obtain greater effects and a better taste.(2) The
Indian worker often will chew during his entire work period, renewing leaves
when necessary and occasionally making a new quid. The narcotic is released
slowly and allows the chewer to escape hunger and fatigue without
noticeably changing his behavior. Some authorities claim that coca may
be beneficial to the Indian living and working at high altitudes by increasing
heart rate and arterial blood pressure as well as adding certain vitamins
to his limited diet. However, there is increasing evidence that continued
use is both physically and mentally debilitating. Nevertheless, the
elimination of coca use is unlikely without a massive improvement in the
lot of the Indians.
Coca into Cocaine
9. Of the estimated 10% of coca production that is not consumed
locally, a large part ? some 5,8U0 metric tons from Peru alone in 1965 ?
is legally exported to the United States and Europe where it is used in
the preparation of a variety of legal medicines and chemicals and as a
flavoring for soft drinks; the remainder is converted into cocaine for the
illegal international market. In contrast to the refining of good-quality
heroin, cocaine extraction is a relatively ? unsophisticated process requiring
no exotic chemicals. Kerosene and benzene, which can be recycled and
reused, are the principal chemicals needed. A plentiful water supply is also
necessary. Cocaine refining usually takes place in two stages. First the
pasta ? breadlikc cakes which may be either reddish or white in color(3) ?
is produced. Later, usually in other laboratories, the pasta is converted into
crystaline or powdered cocaine.
10. It requires between 100 and 120 pounds of coca leaf to produce
one pound of cocaine; thus most of the clandestine laboratories are of
3. There are some indications that the reddish pasta is of Bolivian origin,
while the white is from Peru.
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necessity located near the areas of cultivation. /
Cocaine laboratories have also been discovered in Colombia,
Ecuador, Chile, and Argentina. The great majority of the laboratories,
especially those in Bolivia and Peru, produce only pasta. Although firm
information is lacking, it appears that the pasta producers channel their
output into a very small number ? perhaps no more than a half dozen
in each country ? of more sophisticated laboratories that produce cocaine
in its final form.
11. Cocaine is the only hard drug at present widely used in Latin
America. Not only is it far cheaper than heroin, but also some Latin
Americans consider it a more "manly" drug because it stimulates rather
than depresses activity. Nevertheless, Latin American consumption is still
relatively small, and most of the cocaine produced is smuggled into the
United States, Europe, or Asia. Much of the smuggling between Latin
American countries is of pasta on its way to further refinement.
12. The cocaine traffic appears to be only loosely connected with
that of heroin. The Pietra Ride and the other Argentine-Italian criminal
organizations that control much of the heroin trade apparently have little
interest in cocaine. The "Triangular Trade" ? US electronic parts to South
America, South American cocaine to Europe, and European heroin to the
United States ? is largely a thing of the past. Despite a few reports of
European and Near Eastern criminal elements exchangir g heroin or white
slaves for cocaine, the cocaine trade controlled by large non-Latin American
criminal organizations probably is only a small share of the total.
13. Under present economic conditions, it is unlikely that the cocaine
traffic will become as highly centralized as that of heroin in Latin America.
The trade is easy to enter, and thus the conditions favorable to control
by a few organizations are not present. Coca producing farms number in
the tens of thousands and clandestine laboratories in the hundreds. "Master
chemists" are largely unnecessary and Daropean ciiminal expertise
superfluous. Nevertheless, the final stages of cocaine refining as well as its
transport to consumption areas are becoming more organized and
"professional", while remaining in Latin American hands.
14. Most finished cocaine is now destined for the US market. It is
usually smuggled by means of commercial ships and aircraft, and most of
the flow is funnelled through a few centers: Santiago, Valparaiso, and Arica,
Chile; La Paz, Bolivia; Lima and Callao, Peru; Guayaquil, Ecuador; and Cali,
Colombia. More recently, there have been reports of smuggling through
Iquitos, Peru, and the Amazon River system to the east coast of the United
States. Panama is a favorite transfer and storage area.
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15. The major cocaine smugglers in the different countries apparently
have little contact with each other, although all have contacts in Panama
zi.nd the United States. A Chilean group, one of the most ingenious, has
at times smuggled large amounts of cocaine hidden in bottles of wine and
wooden mosaic tabletops, changing to new methods every six months to
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Ecuadorean and Colombian
smugglers favored hiding the narcotic in the bulk cargo ? bananas, for
example ? of ships bound for the United States. Agents of the US Customs
Bureau and the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs (BNDD) have
arrested members of these groups and disrupted their operations. However,
because of the individualistic nature of the cocaine trade, it is not difficult
for the groups to re-form. Even a fairly large seizure by enforcement
authorities is unlikely to bankrupt a smuggling ring, because of the relatively
low value of cocaine. Thus new supplies are readily obtained, new smuggling
techniques are devised, and new faces get into the act. The conPine keeps
moving.
Prospects for Action
? 16. It is visionary even to consider eradication of coca cultivation
in the Andean countries. Production for legal export is a source of tax
revenue and much-needed foreign exchange, and production for domestic
consumption provides income for some of the poorest sectors of the
population. Moreover, the habit of coca chewing is deeply ingrained in
Indian life, and any effective attempt to cut off the supply could lead
to serious political disorders. Both the Bolivian and Peruvian governments
are encouraging the substitution of other crops for coca. These policies,
however, have met with little success because substitute crops that can be
raised in the coca-growing areas are ruch less profitable than coca.
17. However they may feel about coca, the highest officials of the
Andean governments seem to be genuinely interested in suppressing the
trade in refined cocaine. Most of these countries are strengthening their
drug laws and beefing up the narcotics details of their police forces.
Representatives of all the producing countries have expressed a desire to
work more closely with BNDD agents in eradicating the traffic. Anti-drug
propaganda drives are being encouraged by the governments. Nevertheless,
problems remain. r
Under these conditions, improvement in enforcement will of necessity be
slow.
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18. The brightest prospects for effectively curtailing the cocaine trade
appear to lie in attacking it at certain bottlenecks in production and
distribution. The clandestine laboratories producing pasta would not be good
targets, because they are very numerous. The most obvious bottleneck is
the relatively few laboratories that produce the finished cocaine from the
pasta. Howe7er, these laboratories are difficult to suppress; they are mobile,
v:ell hidden, and in some cases probably protected by higher authorities.
Almost all UR! laboratories destroyed by police action so far produced pasta
rather than finished cocaine. The -ports and airports through which cocaine
is smuggled comprise another bottleneck. A well-organized system of paid
informers among workers in these might help to slow the movement of
cocaine.
19. The probability of completely eliminating the cocaine trade is
almost nil. Although a well planned and financed attack at certain
bottlenecks might have some effect, the relatively decentralized and
individualistic nature of the traffic makes individual shipments, operations,
traffickers, and organizations easy to replace. The sources of raw material
are many and the techniques of refining it are uncomplicated and
inexpensive. It seems inevitable that while there is a demand there will
be at least some supply.
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