Smuggled Cocaine Found in Manzanillo Is the Latest Sign of an Ominous Trend Christopher Woody - Business Insider
go to original August 11, 2016

Cocaine production is one of the most violent and environmentally destructive industries on earth. Many recreational users consider drug use to be a personal choice - as long as you're not hurting anyone then where's the harm? Well, #EveryLineCounts. Every gram of cocaine you buy, every line you snort makes the most violent and destructive criminals on earth just a little bit richer. (National Crime Agency)

In late July, Mexican police in Manzanillo, the biggest port on the country's west coast, intercepted 860 pounds of cocaine being smuggled inside a shipment of refrigerators.

The discovery was made by navy personnel and officials from the customs service, who uncovered the cocaine insider a container aboard a ship bound from Buenaventura, Colombia, and destined for Puerto Queztal in Guatemala.

The 860-pound shipment is not the only major drug bust that has taken place in Manzanillo recently.

Just a week prior to that discovery, Mexican marines intercepted 217 containers of spicy salsa bound from Ecuador to Sinaloa state, farther up Mexico's west coast, that had cocaine hidden inside. Though the exact size of that cocaine shipment wasn't confirmed at the time, Reuters reported that a little more than 13 tons was captured.

While Manzanillo is no stranger to illicit activity, the discovery of such a large amount of cocaine over a short period is a reminder that the port, the state that surrounds it, and much of Mexico's southwest coast are hotbeds for the drug trade — and that competition between criminal organizations for control of that trade has driven violence to new highs.

Colima, where Manzanillo is located, is one of Mexico's smallest and least populated states, and while it has had fewer homicides than many of Mexico's other states this year, the spike in violence that it has experienced over the last year outstrips much of the rest of the country.

In the first six months of 2016, Colima had a 338% increase in homicides compared to the same period in 2015, Mexican security analyst Alejandro Hope noted.

Through the first half of this year, Colima had a homicide rate of 39 per 100,000 people, which not only put it well above the national rate of 7.7 per 100,000 over the same period, but also exceeded the 29.3 per 100,000 rate in nearby Guerrero state, which has been racked by organized-crime-related violence in recent months.

Read the rest at Business Insider

Related: Are You Supporting Violence When You Buy Drugs? (VICE News)

Related: Mexican Cartels Form New Alliances (KRGV)

Related: We Asked Some Young People if They'd Stop Doing Coke After Watching This Anti-Drug PSA (VICE News)

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