The cocaine routes

BarcelonaIt's the drug of greatest concern today. Over the past four years, the global cocaine market has continued to grow, and in 2023, according to figures released by the United Nations this Thursday, cocaine will reach record levels in production, seizures, consumption, treatment, and related deaths," Pietschmann, a researcher with the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) since 1997, said. World Drugs Report 2025, cocaine production soared by 34% in 2023, reaching over 3,708 tons. In 2019, half that amount, 1,784 tons, was recorded. The increase in recent years is mainly due to Colombia, which is the world's largest producer and accounts for nearly 70% of the market. The hectares where the cocaine is planted—equivalent to 525,000 soccer fields—have grown far below total production, indicating greater concentration and higher crop yields.

This drug "floods" European markets, Pietschmann asserts in conversation with ARA, claiming that 45% is ultimately seized thanks to police operations, both in the countries of origin and destination. In 2023, 2,275 tons of white powder were intercepted, 68% more than in 2019. The chief investigator of the World Drugs ReportAngela Me, who acknowledges that countries like Ecuador and Brazil are not as "monitored" and may also produce cocaine that escapes UN radar. A former Catalan drug trafficker points in the same direction: cocaine grown in Ecuador and Brazil also arrives in Catalonia. In any case, both Me and Pietschmann agree that, despite the recent "record" seizures, there is more drug "available" than ever. This means that the price, which has remained stable for decades, is not falling and that it reaches the consumer pure, without contaminants.

• If you want to investigate the map in more detail, open the high-resolution version in another tab.

• If you want to investigate the map in more detail, open the high-resolution version in another tab.

Ecuador, on the rise

Cocaine arriving in Europe is exported from Ecuador, Colombia, and Brazil, in that order of importance. And above all by sea: 83% of the merchandise is sent via maritime routes. Cartagena and Buenaventura, in Colombia, and Callao, in Peru, are also common points of origin. From Brazil, the drug also makes its way to Europe or even Africa. From Santos or the port of El Salvador, further north, the drug travels to the European continent or the African coast. On the Mediterranean coast—like Barcelona, ​​​​which also receives the drug that comes from Africa along with hashish—the drug penetrates Europe and turns Spain into a major gateway for cocaine. He even warns me that cocaine is arriving directly to Asia, where there is a lot of "potential" because of the consumer market.

Turkey is also becoming a new player in this business, according to one of the Brussels Institute for Diplomacy and Economy's analyses on drugs. There are four main reasons for this emergence by the Erdogan regime: the ease of acquiring Turkish nationality, which can be obtained by purchasing assets worth more than $250,000; the fact that Turkish citizens cannot be easily extradited; the fact that the country has implemented several tax amnesties that allow for the laundering of organized crime money; and the ties that have been revealed between the political elite and some mafias.

This Brussels Institute report also highlights the importance of Balkan gangs. "They now control the logistics of cocaine transport from Andean laboratories to street dealers in major cities such as Paris, London, and Berlin. In recent years, criminal emissaries from Montenegro, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and Albania have moved to South America to broker shipments and obtain the lowest possible wholesale prices," the report states, indicating that they buy a kilogram for €1,700–€3,500 from producers and sell it for €25,000–€35,000 to European distributors. Europol reaffirms this: "They exercise complete control over the cocaine supply chain and exploit corrupt opportunities in ports and shipping companies."

The lead investigator of the World Drugs Report It points to the historical substitution of Italian gangs, which historically held a "monopoly" on cocaine imports into Europe. In these last two ports, among the largest in Europe, controls have increased, and this has opened up new avenues. As Europol's Socta report points out, the networks "cooperate to share resources" and "the risk of importing large quantities of cocaine."

The violence associated

In Colombia, major crops are found in three states near Ecuador—Cauca, Nariño, and Putumayo—and one to the north, San Andrés. In some municipalities, according to Pietschmann, 40% of GDP depends on this business. Former FARC and National Liberation Army (ELN) combatants control production and distribution—Spain is the country where most Colombians are arrested in connection with the white powder—and the presence of guerrilla groups leads to more violence. This continues in Colombia and Ecuador, where the homicide rate has increased sixfold in three years, coinciding with the country's emergence as one of the world's major distributors, especially through the port of Guayaquil.

Since the 1990s, Colombian cartels have shipped drugs through Mexico to reach the United States. Mexicans controlled the land access routes to North America, and it was easier for Colombian producers to partner with them than to seek new ways to introduce drugs from the southern hemisphere. Everything happens through Mexico, and that leads to more violence and disputes between mafias. In the port of Manzanillo, for example, where the Jalisco Nueva Generación, Los Mezcales, and Sinaloa cartels operate, a homicide rate of 154 per 100,000 inhabitants was recorded in 2024 (in the United States it's 5.9, and in Catalonia it's below 1).