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Latin AmericanCurrent issues
America’s greatest structure:
Why build the Panama Canal?
Draw arrows where canals are needed
Current Issues in Latin America
1. Drugs2. Illegal Immigration3. Current Trade issues
Drug Products
Mainly three drugs1. Cocaine from Columbia, Peru, Bolivia
Coca is ONLY found in Andes
2. Marijuana from Jamaica3. Heroin from Columbia (from opium poppies)
I. Drug Trade from Latin America
Coca PlantPoppy Plant
Plants used to produce drugs
For OpiumFor Cocaine
Results of Drug Trade
Effects of Cocaine
Effects of Heroin(an opiate)
$51 billion cost to government / year1.5 million arrests / year2 million currently in jail for drug crimes (1/100 of population – most in world)
Drug Smuggling1. 90% of all US cocaine enters via Mexico
was via the Caribbean into Florida
2. United States imports 75 % of their exports – The major drug trafficking organizations
(drug cartels) are Mexican and Colombian– generate $20 to $40 billion
3. “Mules” are used to carry drugs
Bricks of Cocaine
click
Where the drugs come from
… and where they go…
How drugs get here
click
The Old Way:
The narco-sub, not submerged…
Definitions•Trafficking – a person is trafficked ifshe/he agrees under to relocate for employment reasonsand is forced into involuntary forms ofLabor
•Smuggling – a person is smuggled ifshe/he seeks and to cross borders without documents,but is allegedly free once arriving inthe new country
false pretenses
pays for assistance
Definitions•Trafficking – a person is trafficked ifshe/he agrees under to relocate for employment reasonsand is forced into involuntary forms ofLabor
false pretenses
Definitions
•Smuggling – a person is smuggled ifshe/he seeks and to cross borders without documents,but is allegedly free once arriving inthe new country
pays for assistance
Why do people sneak into the US?
The main reason people CHOOSE to break the law and illegally immigrate is for
and for jobs that Mexico does not have. higher wages
Smuggling
• Smuggling means someone helps the illegal into the US.
• That person is called
• Coyotes charge from $300 to $50,000 per person.
• Often, the price is so high, the illegal will spend years of FORCED LABOR paying off debt.
• Sometimes… forever…
coyotes
Common Sites of Forced Labor
• Agriculture and food processing• Construction• Domestic Workers• • Restaurants• Assembly plants• Garment and textile workers
Sex industry
Estimates of Force LaborExact figures are difficult to calculate because trafficking is illegal and hidden
• women, men and children are victims of forced labor yearly
• 1.4 million are in commercial sex work• 760,000 are economically exploited• 600,000 are in mixed commercially and
sexually exploited
2.4 million
Human Trafficking •Human Trafficking – Modern slavery
•Over persons trafficked a year – U.N. estimate
• dollar a year illegal industry
•Third largest illegal industry in the world (drugs and arms sales)
4 million
7-10 billion
What are we doing about it?• The Justice Department created a unit to
pursue human trafficking cases • The FBI currently has 212 ongoing human
trafficking investigations• The Justice Department has initiated 60
investigations in the past four months.• Last year, federal prosecutors charged 222
defendants and won 98 convictions.
What does this show about the relationship we have with Mexico?
3. Current Trade
