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Traquetos : Colombians involved in the cocaine business in the Netherlands

Zaitch, D.

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Citation for published version (APA):Zaitch, D. (2001). Traquetos : Colombians involved in the cocaine business in the Netherlands. Amsterdam:Bureau Grafische Produkties UvA.

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Download date: 27 Sep 2020

Contents

List of Tables, Figures and Maps xi Acknowledgements xii

Chapter I. Introduction l

1.1. The problem and the argument 2

1.2. Research methods and fieldwork activities 6 1.2.1. Access 10 1.2.2. Building trust 11 1.2.3. Why do drug traffickers talk about their business?: roles and expectations 11 1.2.4. Fieldwork limitations, dangerous mistakes and ethical boundaries 13

1.3. Thinking on traquetos: ethnicity, entrepreneurship and drug dealing 14 1.3.1. Bad guys and culture: anthropologists on drugdealers 14 1.3.2. Criminologists and the arranged marriage between ethnicity and organised crime 15 1.3.3. Managers and network analysts: the art of fighting fluidity 17 1.3.4. The economic rationale: illegal entrepreneurs, businesses and markets 18 1.3.5. Sociology of work: labour relations in the cocaine business 21

Chapter II. The Domain of Cocaine

Emergence, Impact and Organisation of Drug Entrepreneurs in Colombia 22

Introduction 22

2.1. Cocaine in Colombia 23 2.1.1. Getting into business: from the 'bonanza marimbera''to the Miami cocaine wars ... 23

Rise and fall of Colombian marihuana 24 Cuba and Panama: the first contacts 25 Flourishing demand: from the inula to the plane 26 The Miami wars 27

2.1.2. Why (in) Colombia? 29 Political factors 29 Geographical factors 30 Economic factors 30

2.2. The numbers of cocaine 32 2.2.1. From coca to the kitchen 32

Coca in Colombia 32 The kitchen 33 Chemical precursor products 34

2.2.2. How much is exported? 35 2.2.3. Prices and costs 37

The costs of doing business 38 2.2.4. Colombian cocaine income: a 'narco-economy'? 39

2.3. Cocaine entrepreneurs in Colombia: The business social structure 40

2.3.1. Social origins of illegal entrepreneurs 40 2.3.2. The many traditions of drug organisations: the cocaine centres 42

The Atlantic Coast focus 42 The Antioquianfocus 42 The Central focus 43 The East focus 44 The Valluno focus 44 The Northern Cauca Valley focus 45

2.3.3. Flexible co-operation: entrepreneurs without 'cartel' 46 Types of enterprises 46 On patrones, deputies and labourers 47 Colombian cartels'1. 48 Between co-operation and savage competition 50

2.4. The social impact of cocaine entrepreneurs 51 2.4.1. Social legitimation: strategies and encapsulation 52 2.4.2. Colombian mafia? 53 2.4.3. Social and political impact 55

Cocaine entrepreneurs and the state 55 Cocaine entrepreneurs, guerrilla and paramilitary groups 56 Cocaine entrepreneurs and social violence 57

Chapter III. White Shipments, Sour Transactions The Dutch Cocaine Market in European Perspective 59

3.1. The European market 59 3.1.1. Old European cocaine markets 59

Cocaine in Europe until 1930 59 Java and the Nederlandsche Cocainefabriek 60 From panacea to evil vice 60 Cocaine in Europe 1930-1970 61 Cocaine renaissance 62

3.1.2. Cocaine demand 64 Trends 64 Prices 66 Purity 68

3.1.3. Cocaine supply 69 Who controls supply in Europe? 70 Cocaine and colonialism 72

3.1.4. Reading European seizures 74 3.1.5. Lines across Europe: the cartography of cocaine trafficking 77

Spain and the Atlantic Coast 78 Italy 79 Eastern Europe and the Baltic 79 The Balkan route 79 Other lines 80 Bi-directional lines and transshipment areas 81

3.2. Why through the Netherlands? Some Views from Traquetos 82 3.2.1. Economic activity and communication infrastructure 82

The single market 85

Vil

3.2.2. The international meeting point 85 3.2.3. The repression factor 87 3.2.4. The obstacles 90

Chapter IV. With a Cross on the Forehead Colombian Migrants in the Netherlands 92

4.1. Colombians in the polders 92 4.1.1. Migration patterns and demographic profile 92 4.1.2. Class background and social capital 95 4.1.3. Welcomed? 97

4.2. Survival strategies: "A Colombian doesn't get stuck" 98 4.2.1. Colombian jobs and incomes 98

Informal labour 98 Formal employment 99 Social security and partner income 100 Students 100 Ethnic entrepreneurship: the lack of own infrastructure 100

4.2.2. Facing obstacles 101 Colombia as a trauma 101 Legal status and material deprivation 102 Othering the Dutch: self-identity and 'cultured' complaints 103 Bored women: "the old man is watching TV" 103 Second Generation: salseros or ravers? 104 Paranoid distrust and stigmas: with a cross on the forehead 105

4.2.3. Dispersion and the limits of ethnic solidarity 106

Chapter V. Crossing and Crowning Colombian Cocaine Smugglers and Importers in the Netherlands 108

Introduction 108 The numbers game 108 Four trade levels: heterogeneity and articulation I l l

5.1. Smuggling cocaine 112 5.1.1. The options 112 5.1.2. The players 116

The fall of the independent smuggler 116 Colombian smugglers in the Netherlands 117 Mulas 118 Boleros 121 Nineras 124 Tripulantes 125

5.1.3. The chances to crown: assessing risks 126

5.2. Importing cocaine 127 5.2.1. The Colombian share in cocaine import 127 5.2.2. From business envoys to local adventurers: social hierarchies amongst traquetos... 129

Envoys 129

V l l l

Line owners "O Mixed couples 131 Adventurers " 2

5.2.3. Getting (un)organised 133 Mobile phones and call centres 133 Commercial bridgeheads: front stores vs. bona fide firms 134 White, green and brown 136 The 'animals' are coming 137

5.2.4. Further tasks around the importer 138 Internal transport 13" Security tasks 139 Logistic tasks 14"

Chapter VI. Sly Traquetos, Safe Houses and Salsa Dealers Colombian Cocaine Wholesalers and Retailers in the Netherlands 142

6.1. Wholesale cocaine I 4 2

6.1.1. Locality and the social organisation of cocaine distribution 142 6.1.2. Back in the States 1 4 4

6.1.3. The comparative disadvantage of Colombian distributors in the Netherlands 148 The international palette: dealing in a non-Colombian environment 149

6.1.4. Local Colombian traquetos " 5 Conspicuous traders I ' 3

Discreet professionals '57 Flexible amateurs 159 Hanging around distributors: correitos and ASOTRAPO members 160 Second generation traquetos 162 Operational problems and daily routines: the 'apartacho ' 162 Favoured by other traquetos 163

6.2. Retailing cocaine 6.2.1. Away from the streets 1"4 6.2.2. How far from traquetos! I 6 5

6.2.3. Bars and coffee-shops I 6 5

6.2.4. Thepaquete: gram distribution inside the Latino salsa circuit 166 6.2.5. Crack i 6 7

6.3. Closing remarks 1 6 8

Chapter VII. Bad Reputations Cocaine, Prostitution and Illegal Immigrants I69

7.1. Colombian prostitutes and cocaine I 6 9

7.1.1. The Colombian prostitution circuit I 6 9

Traffic in women 172 Vulnerability 1'3

7.1.2. Colombians around the women 175 Clients n 5

Service and good providers 176 7.1.3. 'We are just friends': settings for social interaction 178

IX

Exchange 1 8 0

7.1.4. Prostitutes & cocaine jgj Weak business linkages 133

7.2. Illegal immigrants and cocaine 105 7.2.1. Colombian illegal careers 135 7.2.2. Selectivity and specialisation 137 7.2.3. Offers that can be refused 289 7.2.4. Mutual rejection j 9 j

Chapter VIII. Flexible Affairs Labour and Business Relations amongst Colombian Dealers 194

Introduction 194

8.1. Branches, criminal networks and flexible entrepreneurs 195

8.2. Sand through the fingers 296 8.2.1. Riverito's four operations 19g

Encalelador J93 Unloading in Zeebrugge 193 From unloader to importer to wholesaler 199

8.2.2. Miguel's many bosses 201 8.2.3. Joel's loneliness 202

8.3. Working with/for a traqueto 203 8.3.1. Business types 204

Individual enterprises 204 Partnerships 204 Joint ventures 205 Percentage commission 205 Family business 205 The centrality of intermediaries and brokers 206

8.3.2. Labour relations 208 Skilled subcontractors 208 Professionals 209 Managerial bodies 209 Unskilled part-time employees 210

8.3.3. Post-Fordist arrangements 211

Chapter IX. The Ambiguity of Violence, Secrecy and Trust 2 14

9.1. Violence 215 9.1.1. Paradoxical violence 215 9.1.2. Colombian violence in the Netherlands 217

Dead bodies 217 Sicarios 219 Kidnapping 220

Going Dutch: low profiles and quiet markets 221

9.2. Secrecy 222 9.2.1. The public nature of traqueto's secrets 222 9.2.2. Public and secret places 224 9.2.3. Nicknames 225 9.2.4. Counterfeit secrecy 226

9.3. Trust 226 9.3.1. Building trust 227 9.3.2. Distrust and betrayal 228

Suspicious reputations 230 9.3.3. Trusting the other: the management of business reputations 230

Chapter X. Conclusions 232

Colombia and the cocaine complex 233 The European and Dutch cocaine market 235 A Colombian enclave in the Netherlands? 237 Traquetos and other Colombians involved in the cocaine business 238 Cocaine, prostitution and illegal immigrants 241 Flexible internal relationships: the post-Fordist nature of cocaine enterprises 243 Violence, secrecy and trust 244

Appendix 249 Maps 250 Coca and Cocaine Production in Peru, Bolivia and Colombia 254 Cocaine relevant cases in the Netherlands 255 Overview of informants 263

Glossary 265

Bibliography 273

Summary in Dutch 282

Summary in Spanish 291