Latin American Program in the News: "Vast Web Hides Mexican Drug Profits in Plain Sight, U.S. Authorities Say"
Latin American Program Associate Director Eric L. Olson is quoted in this article about the crackdown on the extensive money-laundering network sheltering the Sinaloa cartel.
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"Few people have gone to prison or have had their businesses shut down as a result of the American sanctioning. Instead, analysts said, it functions more as a scarlet letter that can complicate finances by prohibiting American banks, companies and citizens from doing business with them, making cross-border banking difficult and chasing away some legitimate investors.
"The U.S. operations and designations are pretty unilateral," said Eric L. Olson, a scholar at the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute. But Mexican officials "don't have to go along" with the American enforcement actions, he noted.
Even when nations work together, "the ability to shut down the finances of a global operation is pretty difficult," Mr.Olson said. "It's one thing to go after an individual business like a shoe repair shop in Querétano, but to dismantle the overall organization like the Sinaloa operation is global."
Guadalajara and Culiacán, the capital of Sinaloa State, which both lie in agricultural hubs along drug smuggling routes, are places where Mr.Guzmán is believed to have hidden his cash."
The full article is available here.
About the Author
Eric L. Olson
Director of Policy and Strategic Initiatives, Seattle International Foundation
Latin America Program
The Wilson Center’s prestigious Latin America Program provides non-partisan expertise to a broad community of decision makers in the United States and Latin America on critical policy issues facing the Hemisphere. The Program provides insightful and actionable research for policymakers, private sector leaders, journalists, and public intellectuals in the United States and Latin America. To bridge the gap between scholarship and policy action, it fosters new inquiry, sponsors high-level public and private meetings among multiple stakeholders, and explores policy options to improve outcomes for citizens throughout the Americas. Drawing on the Wilson Center’s strength as the nation’s key non-partisan policy forum, the Program serves as a trusted source of analysis and a vital point of contact between the worlds of scholarship and action. Read more
