HomeNewsBriefVenezuela Destroys 17 Cocaine Labs Near Colombia Border
BRIEF

Venezuela Destroys 17 Cocaine Labs Near Colombia Border

COLOMBIA / 23 OCT 2013 BY NATALIE SOUTHWICK EN

Authorities in Venezuela have destroyed 17 cocaine labs near the border with Colombia, highlighting the continued pattern of the migration of Colombian organized crime.

Members of the anti-drug division of Venezuela's National Guard discovered the drug production facilities in northwestern border state Zulia state. Security officials found more than two tons of cocaine and processing materials in the labs, bringing the total amount of drugs seized in Venezuela this year to 39 tons, reported AFP.

La Serrania de Perija, where the labs were discovered, is a mountain range bordering Colombia's Cesar and Norte de Santander departments.

The seizure is not the first major laboratory bust in Zulia state this year. In March, authorities dismantled 21 cocaine labs in the town of Jesus Maria Semprun, just 150 meters from the Colombian border.

InSight Crime Analysis

Drug trafficking and organized crime have a long history on the Colombia-Venezuela border, where armed Colombian groups have operated for years. Zulia state in particular has historically been a stronghold for several fronts of the guerilla Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), as well as the narco-paramilitaries of the BACRIM (from the Spanish acronym for "criminal bands").

SEE ALSO: FARC in Venezuela

Initially, these groups primarily used Venezuela to escape the attentions of Colombian security forces. However, the country's growing importance to international drug trafficking, the boom in other criminal activities in the border region, and the country's easily corrupted security forces have led to a deeper criminal migration, with groups establishing bases, recruiting locally and running criminal enterprises in Venezuela.

The discovery of cocaine labs follows this pattern of criminal migration. Although authorities have been aware of the presence of such labs for some time, the sheer number discovered so far this year compared to the past suggests processing operations are growing quickly. 

Until recently, the territory around the Norte de Santander-Zulia border was controlled by the Rastrojos, but recent events suggest rivals the Urabeños are now staking a claim to the region. However, the labs are more likely linked to the FARC or other guerrilla groups, which oversee coca production in the region and are still able to operate with relative freedom on the Venezuelan side of the border.

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

CARTEL OF THE SUNS / 1 SEP 2022

InSight Crime charts the history of cocaine from agricultural extract to the basis of global criminal empires.

ELITES AND CRIME / 11 APR 2022

Elements of the Venezuelan underworld, whether drug cartels, street gangs or illegal mining groups, have hit upon a unique way…

COCAÍNA / 16 MAR 2022

The recent arrests of women transporting cocaine in fake pregnancy bellies, show that human couriers, an old method employed by…

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…