NARCO-DEFORESTATION: COCAINE AND MONEY LAUNDERING DESTROY LARGE SWATHS OF CENTRAL AMERICA

[Judi Lynn]

By Maureen Meehan May 24, 2017


Cocaine trafficking is devastating Central America in a way that has probably never occurred to most people: millions of acres of tropical forest are being destroyed.

Unlike in South America’s drug-producing countries, where forests are typically cleared to grow coca, in Central America, drug traffickers are converting forests into pastures for money laundering purposes.

Drug cartels are laundering their illegal profits by purchasing massive cattle ranches and investing in palm oil production in protected areas where such practices are forbidden. Unfortunately, corrupt local officials and weak public institutions look the other way.

A new study estimates that up to 30 percent of all deforestation in three Central American countries is the result of cocaine trafficking, which is responsible for the disappearance of millions of acres of tropical forest across large swaths of Central America.

The countries most negatively affected are Honduras, Guatemala and Nicaragua.

More:
http://hightimes.com/news/narco-deforestation-cocaine-and-money-laundering-destroy-large-swaths-of-central-america/