On The Radar: Airstrikes Aren’t Stopping Cocaine, DEA Admits

Have US airstrikes in the Caribbean and Pacific actually slowed the flow of cocaine?

Who is “El 03,” the man the United States now says is running the CJNG?

How will Peru’s new president Keiko Fujimori address the country’s organized crime crisis?

This week’s top three organized crime stories in On the Radar.

1. US Authorities Admit Airstrikes Are Not Halting Cocaine

The deadly US airstrikes against alleged drug smugglers in the Caribbean and Pacific Ocean have not reduced the quantity or purity of the cocaine reaching the United States, according to analysis by the DEA and the Pentagon. The findings echo what other officials told InSight Crime months ago.

InSight Crime has been tracking the missile strikes and their impacts since the operation began. Instead of stemming the flow, the strikes have pushed traffickers to diversify their methods and routes. For example, not long after the campaign began, smugglers largely abandoned go-fast boats moving cocaine from the Venezuelan coast to nearby Caribbean islands. But there has also been an increase in traffic along other routes—like through Guyana and the Amazon—as well as using other modes of transport, including semi-submersibles, planes, and other types of boats. 

2. Mexico and the US Sanction Alleged New CJNG Leader

Mexico’s Financial Intelligence Unit and the US Treasury Department announced new sanctions against Juan Carlos Valencia González, alias “El 03,” believed by US authorities to have become the new leader of the Jalisco Cartel New Generation (Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generación – CJNG) following the death of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho.” Authorities in both countries also sanctioned several companies allegedly used for money laundering on the group’s behalf.

Although US authorities have named El 03 as the group’s new boss, he’s just one of several senior CJNG figures with a claim to power—and the organization, which operates through several centers of power, may avoid naming a single visible leader at all. 

3. Fujimori Takes Office in Peru, Will Use Armed Forces During States of Emergency

In her first address as president, Keiko Fujimori laid out her vision for Peru. Her security policy rests on broad promises to strengthen the police and invest in technology to fight crime, including extortion. She also said the armed forces would temporarily take the lead on security and internal order during states of emergency, working alongside the police. 

On the first day in office, the armed forces announced the results of operations against organized crime, including the killing of a Shining Path leader and the dismissal of more than 100 corrupt police officers.

Fujimori inherits an extortion epidemic driving a nationwide homicide surge, a booming illegal gold mining sector now more lucrative than cocaine trafficking, and a fragmented, often-hostile Congress that has helped oust multiple presidents in the past decade. Fujimori joins a growing list of hardline leaders recently elected across the region, from Argentina to Costa Rica to Chile to Ecuador to Colombia, all promising a militarized approach to fighting organized crime.