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 You are in: Under Secretary for Political Affairs > Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs > Releases > Fact Sheets > 2005 
Fact Sheet
Bureau for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs
Washington, DC
July 14, 2005

Counternarcotics and Law Enforcement Country Program: Chile

Challenges

Chile is increasingly popular as a transshipment point for illegal narcotics, including Andean cocaine and heroin destined for the U.S. and Europe. As a result of increased U.S. support for interdiction efforts in the Andean source nations, narcotics traffickers are taking advantage of Chile’s clean reputation to transit their product through Chile via land, sea, or air routes. Chile has a growing internal cocaine and marijuana consumption problem, with Ecstasy becoming increasingly popular. Chile is also a source of essential chemicals for use in cocaine processing in Peru, Colombia, and Bolivia. Within a modern but secretive banking system, terrorist financing and money laundering activity continues to increase. Chile faces significant challenges in implementing the final phase of its judicial reform, completed in June 2005, which transformed the country’s criminal justice system from inquisitorial to adversarial.

Key U.S. Counternarcotics Goals 

  • Assist Chile to increase its effectiveness in three critical law enforcement areas: money laundering, judicial reform, and narcotics interdiction.

U.S. Programs

With combined assistance from the Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), Chilean law enforcement has launched several initiatives to increase drug interdictions and improve tracking mechanisms and equipment. Two particularly large seizures in 2004 stopped a record 3,532 kilograms of cocaine from reaching the American market. Chilean law enforcement agencies also arrested 9,400 persons for drug-related offenses, a 12% increase over the year before. Although Chile remains a non-drug producing country, it is a source of essential chemicals for use in coca processing.

U.S. Government support to Chile continues to reinforce ongoing priorities in administration of justice training for prosecutors, police, judges, and public defenders; enhanced police investigation and intelligence capabilities; INL- funded support of the police to provide equipment for counternarcotics operations; and a series of radio programs on drug prevention.



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