Narco-state

Narco-state (also narco-capitalism or narco-economy)[a] is a political and economic term applied to countries where all legitimate institutions become penetrated by the power and wealth of the illegal drug trade.

The overall description would consist of illegal organisations that either produce, ship or sell drugs and hold a grip on the legitimate institutions through force, bribery or blackmail.

For instance, Colombia, where drug lord Pablo Escobar ran the Medellín Cartel (named after his birthplace) during most of the 1970s and 1980s, producing and trafficking cocaine to the United States of America.

Escobar managed to take over control of most of the police forces in Medellín and surrounding areas through bribery and coercion, allowing him to expand his drug trafficking business.

These new routes proved to be more profitable and successful than shipping from North America and turned African states such as Nigeria, Ghana, and (later on) Guinea-Bissau into actual narco-states.

[4] While cocaine was transported through Western Africa, the Taliban produced opium in the rural areas of Afghanistan using the revenues to fund their guerrilla war.

[10] As of 2024, Syria's Assad regime was regarded as the world's largest narco-state, with an estimated global Captagon export worth 30-57 billion dollars annually.

The country was a base of operations for Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán and Ismael Zambada García with his Sinaloa Cartel, along with Mexico and Honduras.

[27] In 1980, General Luis García Meza overthrew President Lidia Gueiler Tejada in a bloody coup d'état allegedly aided by drug cartels.

García Meza was convicted in absentia for his human rights violations in Bolivia, and he was later extradited from Brazil in 1995 and sentenced to serve 30 years in a Bolivian prison.

This geographic situation, combined with socio-economic factors and challenges in law enforcement and judicial systems, creates an environment conducive to the growth of organized crime and drug trafficking.

Former president Jair Bolsonaro's family has been linked to so called "milícias", composed of police officers and other government officials engaged in narcotrafic.

[34] One of aides, who has been charged a 2 million euro fine over cocaine transportation, is being investigated for using an official airplane and the president's credit card for drug-trafficking.

In 1994, the outgoing president Ernesto Samper was involved in the Proceso 8000 scandal in which he was accused of being funded by drug money, allegedly from the Cali Cartel for his campaign in the 1994 Colombian presidential election.

During the court hearing for the most wanted cartel leader, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, it was alleged that former president Enrique Peña Nieto had accepted a $100 million bribe from the drug kingpin.

Khun Sa's operations were said to have dominated the drug trade network in the Golden Triangle area, earning him the title "Opium King".

[citation needed] The regime's drug trade network dates back to the 1970s, when then leader Kim Il Sung sanctioned the creation of opium farms in the country.

[64] The methamphetamine trade dates back to around the 1990s, with the regime known to have trafficked drugs to China's Jilin Province, later being sent to countries such as the Philippines, the United States, Hong Kong, Thailand, western Africa and others.

In 1980s, the Sandinista government was accused of helping Pablo Escobar's Medellín Cartel by giving him access to a drug trafficking corridor within Nicaragua.

According to the United States diplomatic cables leak, Ortega was said to receive drug money in order to influence the 2008 local elections in the country.

Another cable also stated that Nicaraguan officials returned from Venezuela with a briefcase full of cash, indicating potential government involvement with drug cartels.

[72][73] The dictatorship of Manuel Noriega operated a state sponsored drug trade network which gave Panama a reputation of being a narco-state at the time.

[citation needed] Syria was home to a burgeoning black market drug industry run by associates and relatives of the former Syrian dictator, Bashar al-Assad.

[78] The industry was run by a clandestine network of warlords, drug cartels, crime families and business men loyal to the Assad dynasty, operating across the regions of Syria and Lebanon.

The drug exports allowed the Assad regime to generate hard currency, pay daily wages for the deteriorating state army, finance private militias and hire mercenaries.

[80][79][81] Centre of Operational Analysis and Research reported in 2021 that the Assad regime has turned Syria into "the global epicentre of Captagon production, which is now more industrialised, adaptive, and technically sophisticated than ever.

[84] During the Syrian Civil War, the Assad regime began mass production of drugs within Syria, and officers fed their men fenethylline, which they called "Captain Courage.

[87] After 2013, captogen production and export in Syria skyrocketed, with the direct support of the Assad regime, and its multi-billion dollar profits exceeded the total GDP.

[84] In late November 2024, Syrian opposition rebels took control of much of Syria, causing Bashar al-Assad and his family to flee the country to Russia, a longtime ally.

[95] More recently, Venezuela has been labeled a narco-state, due to the relations between some Venezuelan government officials to drug cartels and criminal factions all across Latin America.