Title: History of Drug Trafficking - Colombia, U.S. & Mexico - HISTORY
Headings: History of Drug Trafficking
History of Drug Trafficking
Contents
Early Opium Trade in the United States
Mafia Drug Smuggling
The Vietnam War and Drug Trafficking
Pablo Escobar and the Medellin Cartel
Manuel Noriega and the Panamanian Drug Trade
The Cali Cartel
El Chapo, Los Zetas and Mexican Drug Cartels
Los Zetas and the Gulf Cartel
CIA and Drug Trafficking
Drug Trafficking in Recent Years

Content: Carlos Lehder; George Jung; and Jose Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. During the peak of its reign, the Medellin cartel brought in up to $60 million a day in drug profits. Importantly, the U.S. and Colombian governments ratified a bilateral extradition treaty in 1981. This treaty became a significant concern for Columbian traffickers. Manuel Noriega and the Panamanian Drug Trade
In 1982, Panamanian General Manuel Noriega allowed Medellin drug lord Pablo Escobar to ship cocaine through Panama. Around this time, Vice President George H.W. Bush created the South Florida Drug Task Force to combat cocaine trade through Miami, where violence involving traffickers was steadily increasing. After learning of the Medellin cartel’s undertakings in Panama, a Miami federal grand jury indicted the group’s top leaders in 1984. A year later, U.S. officials found out that the Medellin cartel had a hit list that included American embassy members, their families, journalists and businessmen.