Two recent cocaine related incidents — the discovery of an undisclosed amount of cocaine inside the White House, and the decision by the current U.S. administration to cancel the monitoring of coca growth in Colombia — create the impression that at a time when cocaine production, and the use of cocaine in the U.S. have significantly increased, the U.S. administration is trying to sweep the global cocaine problem under the rug.
Globally, it's now known that cocaine, one of the most destructive hard drugs known was found inside the White House, on Sunday, July 2.
This is a monumental scandal, bringing to light possible security vulnerabilities, and possible misinformation which is being fed to the public.
All in an effort to try and minimize, as well as cover up, a horrendous incident.
Several pundits, and commentators from legacy media, and from other smaller, and equally ideologized outlets, are desperately trying to minimize the significance of cocaine actually being present in the White House; they ignore, or downplay, the overall destructiveness of the drug itself, and its trade.
Ironically, these legacy and activist media outlets (and their talking heads) additionally ignore that the current administration decided to cancel a cocoa bush cultivation monitoring and intelligence program in Colombia, and also its accompanying annual report — just when the U.N. Global Report on Cocaine 2023 revealed the recent alarming increase in coca bush cultivation in South America, used in the global manufacturing of cocaine, and which is used in the U.S.
Cocaine Is the Destroyer of Societies
The cocaine trade should be considered as the most violent, multi-billion, illegal supply and demand economic model globally.
As it moves up supply routes, it destroys millions of lives, and entire societies.
On one side, Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia in South America produce, and supply virtually all the cocaine in the world (2,000 metric tons annually).
In the middle are all the other countries in Latin America as transit routes.
On the demand side is the United States — as the largest consumer of cocaine in the world (30% of all the cocaine available for consumption in the world.)
Official reports state that over 1.5 million people directly benefit from the growth, care, and harvest of coca plants in South America, but those "reports" fail to mention that all those beneficiaries are supported by around 250,000 indentured servants who work for the cartels that own the coca plantations.
While their families may reap some benefit from their work, they are themselves destined to most likely die in the coca fields, killed by their masters.
As cocaine travels upwards, toward consuming countries, cartels violently take over small towns and cities, to control the transit and exchange of cocaine for money, weapons, and humans — in those locations.
This happens in every country along its route.
Officially, it's impossible to estimate how many people die annually at the hands of drug cartels globally.
However, in the case of Mexico, Central America, and the northern part of South America, it's estimated that roughly 40% of all homicides are related to the cocaine trade.
That means somewhere between 25,000 to 30,000 people are brutally assassinated by the different cartels as they move cocaine to the United States, annually.
Similarly, thanks to their vast availability of money, and their bestial willingness to exert violence to force their will upon people and communities, cartels easily corrupt government officials, police, and military personnel, as well as journalists, businesspeople, banks, and even priests and pastors, to facilitate their business dealings and launder their illicit proceeds.
One Small Bag for Man, One Giant Leap for Crime
The sycophantic efforts by the media, and pundits to minimize the White House cocaine affair, and ignore the administration’s decision to cancel the monitoring of cocoa bush cultivation in Colombia, are an insult to the collective intelligence of the United States
It's a shameless apology of criminality, and the equivalent of spitting in the face of the millions of families affected and destroyed by vicious violence, and corruption, drug cartels create internationally.
To some, a small bag of cocaine might be an insignificant "common thing," but that same bag inside the White House, the symbol of the government that supposedly leads the global war on drugs is an embarrassment.
It's a worrisome indication of possible security and vetting failures.
Likewise, the cancellation of a coca bush monitoring intelligence program creates disturbing optics, that the U.S. administration is at best turning a blind-eye towards cartels, and at worst aiding (by omission of action) some of the most dangerous and ruthless criminal organizations in the world.
The minimizing and covering up of both these incidents are disgraceful, and an insult to the millions of human beings directly and indirectly affected by the cocaine trade globally. (See also: "World Drug Report 2023 - United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.")
Mario Duarte is co-founder and CEO of DH Global Strategy, a global consulting and lobbying firm. He is the youngest and longest serving Secretary of Strategic Intelligence to hold office in Guatemala. His professional credentials include more than 18 years of experience in the fields of intelligence, national security, consulting, and strategy development in several countries. Follow Mario Duarte on Twitter: @MarioDuarteGar and Instagram: @marioduartegar. Read Mario Duarte's Reports — More Here.