Chapter 376
Translator: crow
Chapter Title: War with the Cartels
The United States had been waging a war on drugs for a long time.
It had started precisely during the Richard Nixon era.
“We will root out drugs from this society.”
Just like in Korea, America responded to drugs with harsh punishments.
The moment you touched drugs, you were thrown into prison.
The problem was that the results weren’t as good as expected.
“Kids who were just doing light drugs come back from prison having learned the heavy stuff?”
Even aside from that, harsh punishments brought plenty of other problems.
“Prisons are bursting at the seams.”
Unlike Korea, America had far too many drug addicts.
Trying to lock them all up meant prisons couldn’t keep up.
With America’s prison system facing these issues, it was no wonder Washington was drawn to striking at the source.
The U.S. government devised a plan: provide aid to major drug-producing countries in exchange for deploying special forces to hunt down the cartels.
“Those damn cartel bastards—let’s make them feel the heat.”
The issue was that drug cartels in Central and South America were completely different from those in Southeast Asia.
Unlike Southeast Asia, Central and South American cartels weren’t run by warlords, local guerrillas, or ethnic minorities.
They were straight-up criminals.
That meant their bases weren’t in remote wilderness—they were right in the middle of cities.
“Doesn’t that make it easier?”
Not at all.
The cartels made full use of the thick human shield around them.
The Medellín Cartel used human walls, while the Cali Cartel built a protective shield with advanced surveillance equipment.
Even taking down those two cartels wouldn’t end the game.
“You think there are only two cartels in Colombia?”
Colombia had plenty more ready to replace them.
Mexico, which controlled the routes into the U.S., had the massive La Federación cartel.
“Still, taking out the big ones first should solve the problem.”
A joint strike force was formed, centered on the Green Berets—specialists in jungle warfare—along with Marine recon units and other special ops teams.
This special task force had two main roles.
“One: destroy drug farms and processing facilities.”
“Two: raid cartel leadership in cities and cut off the heads.”
America decided to cooperate with the Colombian government for the operation.
But there was one problem.
“The Yankees are sharpening their knives for you. Watch out.”
The Colombian government was riddled with cartel informants.
Once the cartels got the warning, they immediately went to ground.
They expanded hideouts everywhere and massively increased their armed manpower.
The U.S. military vaguely picked up on this through signals intercepts and decided to boost troop numbers.
“1,500 should do it?”
It was essentially a military operation, so Colombia’s pro-U.S. regime pushed back.
“If you parade around so openly, what does that make us look like?”
“Well, what do you want us to do?”
“Scale it down and coordinate with the Colombian military.”
With the Colombian government digging in its heels, America couldn’t ignore the demand.
“Fine, let’s do it that way.”
The resulting cooperation crippled U.S. efficiency.
Plans leaked left and right, and scheduled operations kept getting delayed.
“These guys really trying to catch the cartels?”
Doubting the Colombian government, the U.S. deliberately held back on intel sharing.
And that actually paid off.
“See? Intel was leaking through them, just like we thought.”
As the U.S. exercised more discretion, the cartel hunt gained speed—but it inevitably strained relations with the Colombian government.
“Arrogant Yankee bastards. Do they think this is U.S. soil?”
Anti-American sentiment grew among Colombians, boosting groups like the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces.
The U.S. military didn’t sweat it much.
“It’s fine. Stuff their mouths with cash, and they’ll shut up.”
The real concern for America was something else.
Casualties.
The cartel hunt racked up far more losses than expected.
Kids laughing happily in city streets would turn on U.S. troops in an instant, opening fire or lobbing grenades. That was nothing.
The cartels even launched terror attacks against U.S. forces.
“Drug dealers doing terrorism now?”
Not surprising, really.
Pablo Escobar of the Medellín Cartel had already assassinated three presidential candidates back home.
Facing enemies like that frayed U.S. nerves.
Spotting anyone approaching meant going on edge, leading to plenty of shootings of innocent civilians.
“Stop killing already! You came to take out cartels, not massacre civilians!”
The Colombian government’s backlash was par for the course.
Colombian cartels put up fierce resistance, but Mexico’s was no slouch either.
Mexico’s La Federación was a nationwide behemoth with sky-high tolerance for losses.
“They burned a few of our warehouses and farms? No big deal. We’ll just raise prices.”
Monopolizing the market meant they barely blinked at most hits.
“Use every resource we’ve got. This is war.”
America flew planes over Mexico, even spraying defoliants on discovered marijuana fields.
“But the Koreans didn’t go this far, did they?”
Of course not. Korea didn’t need to.
Southeast Asian drug groups weren’t as rich or massive as Central and South American cartels.
Still, America was determined to crush drugs.
The U.S. government kept pouring in military power, come hell or high water.
“Persistent bastards, those Yankees.”
Unable to withstand the relentless pressure, some cartels started waving the white flag.
The Cali Cartel was a prime example.
“We’ll shut down operations, so please legitimize our legal businesses.”
“Have they lost their minds? What kind of negotiation is this?”
America wanted to eradicate the cartels completely.
“Leave them alive, and they’ll just start peddling again.”
The no-negotiation stance left the cartels in a bind.
Fight to the end? America’s power was terrifying.
Surrender? No way they’d just roll over.
After agonizing, the cartels chose an alternative.
“Let’s bring in some muscle to protect us.”
They allied with guerrilla groups like the Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces.
“Got the cash?”
“We may lack muscle, but we’ve got money to spare.”
Hiring guerrillas with cartel funds turned the situation into hell.
Guerrillas bought helicopters and missiles galore with that cash.
Those weapons were turned on government forces and the U.S. military.
As the cartels made their last stand, the war ground back into stalemate.
But America was America.
Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo, godfather of Mexico’s La Federación, was assassinated after U.S. forces tracked his cell phone during a move.
America seized every opportunity with intercepts and such to pick off major cartel bosses.
But that didn’t always yield positive results.
When big bosses fell, swarms of smaller cartels sprang up, creating new chaos.
These minnows were impossible to negotiate with or track.
“How do you track every single one?”
Even after all that effort cutting inflows, imports barely dropped.
“No, after chopping off the big heads, volumes should’ve gone down, right?”
Nope.
The heads America took out were small fry compared to the “real mega-dealers.”
“What? Cali and Medellín are small fry?”
Only one group could say that.
America’s top intel agency, the CIA.
“The CIA? Why them?”
“Ahem.”
Truth was, the CIA was the hidden kingpin of drug dealing.
To fund their operations, they acted as middlemen, buying drugs wholesale and selling them on U.S. soil.
Pathetic, but skipping middlemen like in Mexico meant huge profit margins.
“An intel agency doing that shit?”
“To stand against Korea and the Soviets, we need budgets. This is legitimate national security work.”
That’s how the CIA justified it.
“Let this slide, and it’ll blow up big. What if the Koreans find out?”
“How would those bastards figure it out?”
After much deliberation, the U.S. government decided to rein in Langley’s rogue ops.
“This isn’t a get-out-of-jail-free card. Clean it up fast.”
“Understood.”
As the CIA pulled out of drug brokering, imports plummeted dramatically.
For a little while.
Supply soon rebounded.
“Why?”
Simple reason.
“Competition drives market growth.”
New cartels filling the voids left by La Federación in Mexico, Medellín and Cali in Colombia evolved by slashing margins in the “competitive process.”
Drugs became cheaper and more accessible than ever.
Cheap synthetics like crack boosted market reach even further.
Only then did America realize the situation was veering far from Korea’s path.
“Screwed.”
That summed it up.
America’s war on drugs was half a failure.