Drug Influence on the Island

 Puerto Ricans are known for their beautiful island, sexy music, and good Latino food, but Puerto Rico is known for their drug war and violent crimes.  In Bodega Dreams, we get a brief insight to the life of a drug game and the influence it plays on the people in the community.  Willie Bodega is a Puerto Rican drug lord in the projects in East Harlem, New York.   He tries to give back to his Puerto Rican people by financing renovation on old project buildings, then turning around and renting them out to deserving Puerto Ricans, under market value.  Chino, the books narrator, is a married, baby on the way, in community college, guy.  Everything he makes gets saved to help find a home for himself and his wife.  Chino becomes involved with Willie through his friend Sapo, but gets dragged into Willies business, when Willie finds Chino useful. Chino can’t refuse to help Willie as the reward will help him land the perfect home for his wife and unborn child.   

This drug war and act of violence crimes is nothing new to the island of Puerto Rico. In 2011 Puerto Rico reached its all time high in murders. Large amounts of them were drug related murders.  Just as the book showed the positions of the drug game in the characters Willie and Chino, models of that hierarchy play out in real life, everyday in Puerto Rico. Like Jose Figueroa Agosto a Puerto Rican, leader of the largest drug trafficking organization in the Caribbean.  He was arrested this past year in 2011, but he was the man who ran the game, the top dog, much as the book portrayed Willie in Harlem. He had lots of people who worked under him. Many whom could have been “Chinos”, forced into the game because of finical burdens. After reading this book and recently coming back from a Puerto Rican trip, I wanted to research this problem, this relationship, drugs and Puerto Ricans had with one another.  In the book, Bodega Dreams, we read how Puerto Ricans were involved in the drug war in America.  The question I want to pursue for this paper, how influential is the drug war on the island of Puerto Rico and the people, but how influential is America on the drug war in Puerto Rico?

Many young Puerto Ricans become dragged into the drug business, in order to make a quick buck for their family. Many young Latino men get involved in the drug business on the island, much like Chino was pushed in. They are looked at, as easy targets to convince to participate in illegal activity as they have no other way to provided for their family. On my trip to Puerto Rico I met a Latino male, who took me around, showed me, and described his home to me. I saw the beauty in Puerto Rico. The dazzling flowers, animals, oceans, views, but inside the beauty was death and violence. I saw men holding guns, shots rang out through the night air. I was warned everywhere I went. “Don’t stop at the red light, its pass midnight, we could be shot.” “If someone breaks in, let them. Let them take whatever they want. Just don’t try and stop them.” People were always looking out for me, one, I think, was because I was American. Second because the island is dangerous place from all the drug activity happening. The island has become a popular point in the Caribbean for the drug trade. It is right along the route from Colombia to America. Cocaine, heroin, and marijuana are the main drugs that arrive in Puerto Rica. Many of them are bound for the US.  This map to the left, I got from Google images, shows the suspect maritime activity in 2007. Though it may be slightly dated, it shows the popular routes for drug trafficking in that year.  We see how many of the products final destinations are the United States, and how many of those stop in Puerto Rico first. The map may be old, but the distribution of drugs has only increased as time has prevailed. Now in the year 2012 the US-Mexican border security is becoming more and more intensified, rerouting drugs through the Caribbean. Routes, such as the one to Puerto Rico have been successful and will just increase in popularity enhancing the dangers of the drug war. 

As we (a Puerto Rican male, a Puerto Rican female, my roommate, and I) drove around the island, and especially the capital city, San Juan, gang names could be found on the sides of the buildings. Calli Cuarto, means Fourth Street, which is a popular gang to have graffiti marks on housing complexes. According to CNN U.S., the FBI, Drug Enforcement Administration, and local police departments raided a housing complex in mid-October with warrants of 82 suspected gang members of the Calli Cuarto. The gang was blamed for 25 out of the 1,133 of the homicides that had occurred on the island in 2011. Netas, are another popular gang in Puerto Rico. They claim the lives of many young Latinos by joining the gang life. In the National Drug Intelligence Center, Narcotics Digest weekly, it discusses this very dangerous prison gang. It now has members in United States located within prisons and on the streets. The number of members participating in this group are said to be around 40,000 in Puerto Rico alone, 30,000 in the United States and another 30,000 in other countries. The colors of the Los Netas can be shown with pride throughout the housing projects. As discussed in the book, Teen Gangs: A Global View, Duffy and Gillig describe the gangs influences on Puerto Rican communities. “It is the belief among those of low socioeconomic status that all Puerto Ricans may end up in jail at any given time in their lives.” Puerto Rico has a high poverty rate 44.5%.  That means just over half of the population lie above the poverty rate. The average household income is around $27,000, making it the poorest territory/states of the United States. With seeing the poverty rate and looking at this book, its unreal how much influence gangs have on communities. They influence a large number of young males to join, but inspire the poor to have pride when they have nothing.

The Puerto Rican male, I was in the car with, began talking about friends he had, who were now part of the gang life. “Many of the boys who are my age (22), started when they were 15.”  The Puerto Rican female sitting beside him begin discussing how it was almost necessary for the people to participate in drug activity. “70, no 65%, yes, roughly 65% of people in Puerto Rico make money off the drug business. Its plays a larger impact on people’s lives, then the media likes to portray.” It wasn’t hard to believe her.  The larger cities were filled with housing projects. I saw, for my first time, a real homeless man sleeping on the sidewalk, and across the street another homeless man was digging in the trash, trying to find something to eat. Here I was in a $60 dress and $35 shoes, I had just picked up for the night. I felt a lump in my stomach as I watched the man dig and dig, then walk away without anything. If I had nothing like this homeless man, I could understand how people here would feel like they had nothing to lose. I would feel like I had nothing to lose. When there isn’t much hope, it’s not hard to see why people participate in the drug war.

Not only does it affect the community by influencing the lower class, the violence that comes with drugs and protecting territory affects the island. “It doesn’t matter who you are or where you are, you are in danger.” Carjacking is popular type of crime that occurs with gang activity. They (gang members) are always looking for new wheels in order to transport their products. I have been told and read stories of senators, mothers, punk kids, being in the city of San Juan at a doctor’s appointment, at home in the hills, or at the grocery store, and have been carjacked. Crimes such as these occur frequently and throughout all of Puerto Rico. It is dangerous for everyone on the island, but especially cops. “The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico may be an island paradise for tourists, but it's also one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a cop.” Kevin Johnson from USA Today wrote in his article. The article discussed the dangerous job Puerto Rican police officers have. In the past decade in Puerto Rico, 40 police officers have been murdered, only Texas and California have higher police murder rate. FBI: Critical Incident, mentions how many police officers must ride with their weapon on the ready when being on duty in Puerto Rico.

Police officers may have an active role in trying to control the drug war, but corruption does not stop with just drugs. Law officers have been found on many occasions to have been dealing and smuggling the heroin and cocaine. Just in the years of 2003-2007 out of 100 law officers that were put on trial 75 were convicted of police corruption. One of the largest known police corruptions happened in Puerto Rico in the year of 2001. 28 state officers were arrested and charged with drug-running charges. Police officers are not the only ones; in 2008 Governor Anibal Acevedo Vila of Puerto Rico was charged with 24 counts including fraud and tax crimes. In the same year Senator Jorge de Castro Font, was charged with 32 counts including extortion, fraud, and money laundering. The people of Puerto Rico look at this as examples to follow. They see people on the high end of society participating in such an activity with so much to lose, that if they have nothing, why shouldn’t they participate?  

            The drug war may not have been shown in great detail in Bodega Dreams, but Puerto Rico the Island, and all the people whom call it home, know this war all too well.  The small Caribbean Island is trapped due to “handy” location and its rights as a US territory. America influences the Puerto Rico drug war, as they are a stop along the journey to the United States. If the amount of money in drugs wasn’t so great, the risk to trafficking them would never be taken.  The drug war influences the people of Puerto Rico by instilling fear of violent crimes at any minute. They recruit of young Latino males to gangs. Drugs influence the all the people of Puerto Rico to participate in the distribution. It is looked as the only way to make a living and survive, yet it’s creating the violence in the country. Maybe one day the people will find hope in something other than this and this war on drugs will come to an end.