Bribes, Bullets and Intimidation.

AuthorJohnson, Joe B.
PositionBook review

Bribes, Bullets and Intimidation: Drug Trafficking and the Law in Central America by Julie Marie Bunck and Michael Ross Fowler, The Pennsylvania State University Press, 2012, ISBN-13:978-0271048666, 446 pp., $72 (Hardcover), $31.46 (Paperback), $9.99 (Kindle).

This book arrived for my review as the influx of illegal migrants from Central America was generating headlines and rhetoric in Washington and along the U.S. border with Mexico. Tens of thousands--mostly unaccompanied children arrived, mostly from Honduras, El Salvador and Guatemala. And drug trafficking gangs in those countries were blamed in part for creating the violence and chaos that drove people north.

Bribes, Bullets and Intimidation does not aim to explain the immigration crisis. This is a comprehensive, detailed history of the narcotics trade and government interdiction efforts in Central America from 1980 to 2010. Mexico and Colombia are covered extensively as well. If you work in an embassy Narcotics Affairs Section in Latin America or study illegal narcotics trafficking, you will want this book.

Written by two political science professors, the 431-page volume explains how source countries in Colombia and other South American countries used Central America as a transit point for marijuana, cocaine, heroin and other illegal substances. Extensive footnotes demonstrate an exhaustive review of academic literature, news accounts and personal interviews throughout the region. The book includes lengthy case studies of Belize, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras and Panama: nations where sufficient data and documentation could be obtained. El Salvador and Nicaragua were not treated in chapter length because interdiction data was not collected during their civil wars during the 1980s.

It's not just the immigration source countries that have been part of drug trafficking. Belize, Costa Rica and Panama have all served as significant transit points for a variety of drugs moving north. Cartels have exploited the "conflicting and overlapping law-enforcement jurisdictions" in these "bridge countries." The authors sum it up:

Arms, poverty, overmatched militaries, weak legal regimes, dismal law enforcement, and ineffective cooperative efforts have joined with geography to create an ideal region for drug transshipment. The United States and Europe are both destinations for the transshipments. Despite law enforcement's best efforts, no more than 15 percent of the total volume and perhaps as...

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT