HomeNewsBriefDominican Official Blames Drug Woes on Foreign Criminal Groups
BRIEF

Dominican Official Blames Drug Woes on Foreign Criminal Groups

CARIBBEAN / 20 JUL 2012 BY TRACEY KNOTT EN

A top anti-narcotics official in the Dominican Republic has claimed that foreign mafias and cartels are at fault for the Dominican Republic’s drug problems.

In a July 16 announcement, Dominican drug czar Marino Castillo claimed that the rise in drug consumption and trafficking in the Dominican Republic is partially due to the influence of foreign criminal organizations. According to Terra Colombia, Castillo blamed organized crime groups like the Russian mafia, as well as Mexican cartels like Sinaloa, for some of the country’s drug problems.

The presidential advisor went on to explain that the Dominican government is making efforts to counter drug trafficking, including purchasing sophisticated radar from Israel to track boats used in drug smuggling.

Castillo made a similar claim in February 2011, when he alleged that the Russian and Italian mafias were investing in real estate properties in the Caribbean country.

InSight Crime Analysis

There is evidence to back Castillo’s claims. In July 2011, Dominican authorities arrested a Mexican trafficker who allegedly worked for the Sinaloa Cartel, indicating that the Mexican group may have some presence in the country. Moreover, in 2007 the International Relations and Security Network, which is funded by the Swiss Department for Defence (DDPS) and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, reported that the Italian mafia was using several businesses in the Dominican Republic as fronts for drug trafficking.

However, in regard to Castillo’s claim about the Russian mafia, the only open source evidence of the group operating in the Caribbean is over 10 years old. In the 1990s, the Russian mafia had been reported to be involved in money laundering and drug smuggling schemes with Colombian drug traffickers and the Italian mafia.

Castillo’s statements may be intended to direct attention and blame away from the country’s problems with crime and corruption. The Dominican Republic’s homicide rate is roughly three times that of the United States and it struggles with corruption, ranking it 129th out of 183 countries on Transparency International’s 2011 Corruption Index.

With governments in Mexico and Central America cracking down on criminal activity, Caribbean countries provide an increasingly appealing alternative for drug traffickers. The US State Department has warned that use of the Caribbean smuggling routes could potentially rise, and the presence of foreign traffickers in the Dominican Republic could be evidence of this.

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.

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

CARIBBEAN / 31 MAY 2022

Top authorities in Trinidad and Tobago have warned legislators that the Caribbean island nation is likely to see a rise…

CARIBBEAN / 15 OCT 2021

Merchants travelling to Trinidad and Tobago, fishing vessels, even the occasional tourist – all are tempting targets for pirates off…

COCAINE / 7 SEP 2022

César Peralta, alias "El Abusador," became the most powerful and well-connected drug trafficker in the Dominican Republic.

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…