Illegal drug trade in Puerto Rico

The Government of Puerto Rico has struggled to combat illegal drug use and the resulting crime since the mid-1970s.[5] Their efforts have been referred to as a "War on Drugs".[6] Though drug use was uncommon in Puerto Rico in the 1950s, it markedly increased in the late 1960s. In the 1970s the increase in drug use, particularly among those under the age of 25, became a major concern in Puerto Rico.[5] During this era, a person named Rafy Dones surfaced as one of the first, alleged major drug traffickers operating in Puerto Rico;[7] he was sentenced to a jail term on 30 September 1977.[8] A number of drug cartels have used Puerto Rico as a transfer point for trafficking cocaine to the mainland United States.[6]

Many Puerto Ricans have attributed the increase in crime to the drug trade. This led to a major focus on crime and drugs in Puerto Rican politics.[5] In response, federal and local law enforcement agencies have attempted to integrate their efforts to fight drug crime.[9]

Strategies used by the government of Puerto Rico include long sentences for criminals, increased funding for law enforcement equipment, and the construction of new prisons.[10] At times, however, the DEA and the Puerto Rican police have struggled to work together[9] and some commentators have questioned the effectiveness of government drug policy.[10]

In the early 1990s, law enforcement began targeting white collar drug users.[11]

The start of the "Drug Wars" in Puerto Rico was in 2009 in a conflict between Police and drug dealers which police wounded and killed two men. This occurred in Naranjito, Puerto Rico, the place where the drug dealers distributed their drugs to many places in Puerto Rico. In the house they found AK-47, M9 pistols and the drugs. Also they found that they were working with corrupt politicians to approve marijuana legalization and the export of exotic animals. In 2010 police captured 16 drug dealer "clans" that had the same information and they worked together to defeat opposing dealers. They also started to "clean house" in 2010, when they killed about 44 men attached to some drug dealers or those that were compromising the dealer. In 2011 the death toll was 1,266 at one point, due to many big drug arrests different gangs went into war with each other for the control of drugs in the island. In 2011 it was discovered that many of the killings were to cover up some corrupt politicians. In 2012, around 1,000 murders were reported. Also in Bayamon, a major city of Puerto Rico, many drug cartels started to defend their dealers by getting snipers and attackers on rooftops. "Sikarios" would be put on the rooftops to defend their drug turf in different housing projects due to wars against rival gangs that would try to take over the drug turf. Police captured a sniper in late 2011, the sniper had a Dragunov Caliber Sniper Rifle and was arrested with 5 other drug dealers. In early 2012, two assassinations occurred in Humacao involving the Carteli.[12][13][14]

The FBI, with its field office in San Juan, along with the Department of Homeland Security, and the DEA[15][16] have multiple task forces working on the illegal drug trade in Puerto Rico.[17]

U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) seized 1,176.74 pounds of cocaine in 2001 from commercial maritime vessels and 14, 932.53 pounds of cocaine from private maritime vessels in Puerto Rico. Go-fast boats are the most favorable, as they are fast and stealthy, and have been used to intercept drug shipments that have been dropped off into the open water from other larger ships or airdropped from aircraft.[2]

In June 2012, 36 people were arrested in Puerto Rico and the U.S. mainland for smuggling 61,000 pounds of cocaine into the U.S through Puerto Rico's Luis Muñoz Marín International Airport aboard flights operated by American Airlines. The smuggling had been taking place since 1999.[19][20]

In 1996, a group of researchers from Puerto Rico's Mental Health and Anti Addiction Services Administration, published the results of a study involving 849 out-of-treatment drug users in the San Juan area. Their study found that 36.5% of the drug users in the study were crack cocaine users only, 42.4% were drug injectors only and 21.1% were both drug injectors and crack users.[21]

In April 2021, a shipment of cocaine with an estimated value of $50 million was intercepted in Yabucoa.[22]

In 2001, U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Puerto Rico seized 56 kilograms of heroin from commercial aircraft at airports and 28 kilograms of heroin from commercial maritime vessels in Puerto Rico. That same year, government officials arrested seven individuals in Puerto Rico, for swallowing between 36 and 98 condoms full of heroin, when they arrived from Aruba on a cruise ship. In June 2002, drug detecting dogs detected and CBP seized 24 kilograms of heroin in a cargo storage area on a pier in San Juan. That same year federal law enforcement officials in San Juan seized 1.4 kilograms of heroin from a passenger arriving from Aruba on a cruise ship.[2]

Addicts "shooting up" with dirty needles has created a public health emergency in Puerto Rico with an HIV positive rate that is 4 times higher than the U.S. national average.[23] Hogares CREA is one of the few organizations offering addicts rehabilitation services.[24]

In 2001, CBP confiscated 205 kilos of marijuana at airports throughout Puerto Rico. In 2002, a resident of San Juan was arrested at the airport, when government officials found 12.7 kilograms of marijuana hidden in his luggage.[2]