HomeNewsBriefBolivia Purchases Radars to Combat Cocaine Air Bridge
BRIEF

Bolivia Purchases Radars to Combat Cocaine Air Bridge

BOLIVIA / 11 NOV 2015 BY DAVID GAGNE EN

Bolivia has taken an important step towards reducing its key role in South America's cocaine air bridge by agreeing to purchase radar equipment designed to detect drug planes.

On November 9, Bolivian Defense Minister Remy Ferreira signed an agreement to buy radar equipment valued at 200 million euros (roughly $215 million) from the French company Thales Air Systems, reported EFE. Bolivian President Evo Morales and French President François Hollande were also present for the signing, which took place at the Elysee Palace in Paris. 

Bolivia serves as the principal transit point in the so-called "cocaine air bridge" that connects one of the world's largest cocaine producers, Peru, to the world's second-largest consumer, Brazil. 

Morales was optimistic the acquisition would improve his country's ability to combat aerial drug trafficking. "The best agreement in the fight against drug trafficking is this transfer of radars to Bolivia," Morales said.

The purchase of the French radars has been in the works for months, but negotiations had previously stalled due to lack of funds. 

InSight Crime Analysis

Morales has reason for optimism. Radar equipment has previously been credited with drastically reducing drug flights in Colombia, and more recently in Honduras. Moreover, the lack of radars has consistently been identified as one of Bolivia's key vulnerabilities in the fight against transnational drug trafficking. If the Andean nation manages to gain control over its airspace it could potentially reverse its growing role in South America's resurgent cocaine air bridge.

SEE ALSO: Evo's Challenge: Bolivia the Drug Hub

Radars should also enable Bolivia to better enforce other already-existing measures intended to reduce drug flights. Bolivia approved a plane intercept and shoot-down law in April 2014, but security forces have reportedly been unable to implement it due to lack of aerial monitoring equipment.

Bolivia is set to join a growing number of Latin American nations equipped to take down suspected drug planes, such as Peru, Venezuela, Colombia and Honduras. 

However, the installation of radar equipment is unlikely to act as a panacea for all of Bolivia's drug trafficking problems. A number of factors have contributed to the country's status as South America's new drug hub, including largely intractable issues such as corruption and the continued cultivation of coca crops. 

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Tags

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

BOLIVIA / 26 JAN 2022

Authorities in Bolivia have arrested the Andean nation’s former anti-drug chief as he tried to flee the country, but how…

BOLIVIA / 23 SEP 2022

As world leaders met for the United Nations General Assembly, Latin American presidents expressed various concerns about organized crime.

BOLIVIA / 8 NOV 2022

Environmental crime is driving deforestation across the Amazon, where some parts are now emitting more carbon dioxide than they absorb.

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…