Shirkers and Drug Runners: The Limits of US-Bilateral Counter-Narcotics Cooperation in the Caribbean Basin

American policy makers contend that drug trafficking and terrorism are inextricably linked. Drug traffickers are more likely to move cocaine through countries with longer coastlines, which reduces the chances of detection by coast guard personnel than countries with shorter coastlines, which increases likelihood of detection. The US/Caribbean Basin (CB) bilateral maritime counter-narcotic interdiction indicator was collected from the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and various issues of the International Narcotics Control Strategy Report. Drug enforcement officials agree with academic scholarship on the issue, and argue that rising wealth in the United States increases the availability of disposable income to consume illicit drugs, which will affect the level of cocaine trafficking that goes through the Caribbean Basin. The Caribbean Basin's geographic proximity to South and North America makes it a major trans-shipment center for South American cocaine that is destined for markets in the United States.