Puerto Rican drug war has U.S. toiling simply to keep up

Published 5:00 am Monday, September 21, 2009

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico With a stucco mansion in the hills outside San Juan and four luxury cars, including a Corvette, Wilfredo Rodriguez lived well for a part-time worker on an airport ground crew.

U.S. prosecutors say Rodriguez, who wrapped cargo in plastic for American Airlines, built his fortune over the last decade by smuggling drugs aboard commercial flights one small slice of the hundreds of tons of South American cocaine that flow through Puerto Rico to the U.S. mainland each year.

His arrest last week highlights the challenges for law enforcement on this U.S. Caribbean territory, as traffickers flood the island with drug money and make it one of the most violent places under the American flag.

Its hard to keep up, U.S. Attorney Rosa Emilia Rodriguez said in an interview. These people make a lot of money, and they reinvest their profits in their business, and they have the most sophisticated equipment, the most sophisticated methods.

While most of the drugs reaching the United States arrive through the southwest border, an estimated 30 percent come through the Caribbean and of all the islands, authorities say, Puerto Rico is easily the biggest transshipment point. As American soil, it is attractive because drugs leaving here do not have to clear customs to reach the U.S. market.

At least 1,430 metric tons of cocaine reached the island last year, according to the Key West, Florida-based Joint Interagency Task Force South, which coordinates the tracking of drug shipments in the region. The drugs, which have come at similar levels for years, are often spirited ashore Puerto Ricos 300-mile coastline in boats from neighboring islands.