America’s cocaine habit fueled its migrant crisis
And it’s destroying Guatemala and Honduras.
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Today, the US is facing a migration crisis on its southern border with Mexico. Thousands of people from Central America, especially Guatemala and Honduras, are fleeing their home countries, taking a dangerous journey north through Mexico, and claiming asylum in the US. How did this crisis begin? Much of it can be traced back to the 1970s cocaine trade. Cocaine, which is mostly produced in Colombia, used to be shipped by boat and plane across the Caribbean. But in the 80s and 90s, the US cracked down on this route, so traffickers started shipping their drugs through Central America and over land to Mexico. That created a violent and competitive turf war between gangs and organizations in Guatemala and Honduras, and after the governments cracked down, violence only increased, forcing people to flee, often to the US.
Through Vox Atlas, producer Sam Ellis demonstrates where conflicts occur on a map and the ways in which foreign policy shapes a region. Watch all the episodes here: http://bit.ly/2SThVsf
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@kermitz81
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Just say NO!
@roboelectrooverlord6346
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Interestingly they skipped all the declassified CIA documents about our destabilizing Columbia, Panama,Honduras and Guatemala. Secondly the Zeta’s were trained by the USA.
@gwydionskinner7639
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Politicians won't change the demand end of drugs because it would mean upsetting their own voter base and constituents, particulary voting doners who are wealthy.
@XXXXXXXXXXX77766
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
This should be more popular so those Americans that say it's mexicos fault
Can understand!!
@zoidberg101
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
I think people should just stop using cocain.
@phillypaolo
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
US never really tried to stop the drugs to come in…. come on, everybody knows…
@Angel-ek9tx
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
I feel the same about Politicians not seeing the Big Picture. Too much talk about migrants and illegal immigrants. I feel that many migrants and illegal immigrants would rather stay in there on country. Probably much easier to survive in own country. Are the migrants and illegal immigrants carrying Kilos of drugs? I have heard US is a profitable country for illegal drugs. Many of politicians in Mexico and Central America give impression of not trying stop drugs. I think they have been overwhelmed and just don't have much power. Some may even be corrupt. Yes there are some bad migrants and immigrants crossing over in US. The big picture is those ports, planes, etc. Use those machines to move goods at ports and etc. and use those many employees for inspections. More emphasis on Following the Money in US.
@billyopez2636
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
KAMALA is PRO-lgbts
@Mainoo37-u7w
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Is USA cocaine better than Northern Ireland cocaine?
@Zero.freingetei
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
No music trap
@AmrianENF
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
At the end the president of Honduras was detained for drug trafficking.
@RobertRobinson-dy3rj
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
They are called illegal immigrants 😅
@Chandankumar-qw6hb
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
😮omg
@MrDruiz87
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Nixon's racist War on Drugs is a big failure
@tayebizem3749
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Every cartel catching another rival cartel member means more gore videos still going on online community
@kylet.4582
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Not nearly enough of this video talks about why the US is addicted to cocaine
@guy661
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
People dont just "flee violence" , if they weren't a part of it to begin with.
A very incomplete analysis of human movement, this IS.
@dipjyotimitra186
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
We can minimize either Drug usage or violence. Not both.
@juicygranolabar
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
"Boat loads of cocaine through the Caribbean to South Florida"
That explains… so much…
@dedgzus6808
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
I blame the migration patters of coke-heads on most everything these days.
@Bludcalvin20099
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Guetmala isn't dangerous it is but in some places not all of the places also I was born there. The media only show's you what they can.
@HugoSanchez-eb2pz
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
United States* America is the name of the continent and the USA does not own the whole continent, it doesn’t have a real name it’s just stating it’s location
@TrueBlueFlowerChild
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
The title says it all.
@ByAnyMeansLA24
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Now we're in 2022, and the irony that the Honduran president shown next to Obama was extradited for trafficking coke to the U.S. And the "funny" part is that the DEA and the government waited for his 8 years period as a president to get him in a U.S. prison. Oh, wait, there's more, also the Honduran ex president's brother was sentenced to life for drug trafficking 😬😬
@jokotri2186
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
If CIA so powerful, I wonder if they could infiltrate other developed country and make their population so heavily addicted to drugs, so Mexico and Columbia would decrease their drug shipment to America to meet the other country demand.
Sounds like winning strategy to me.
@mr.fantastic6568
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Those drugs wont stop coming if you dont solve the source of the problem, whcih is the demand inside the US
Apparently they havent still learnt from the prohibition era
Burning cocaine farms or targetting cartels and drug lord will only limits the trade
@douglasconnolly6357
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Sigh, thanks for my daily reminder to be ashamed to be an American. I have been since I was fourteen and I first read abou the 1953 Iranian Military Coup. I got a lump in my throat when I first learned about Operation Condor, it made me want to cry. As I child I used to dream of traveling in the world. As an adult, I know that doing so would prompt people to discriminate against me because of my nationality. I also know that I deserve this discrimination, because it is a fraction of what other people suffer as a result of my country. I know that being called a Yankee Imperialist is nowhere near as bad as getting bombs dropped on my head as a Child in Yemen.
If could be honest here, I wish I was Chinese. Everyone loves them, especially in the middle east. Even if people discriminate against them, the ones that do are called racist. It seems like it's never okay to discriminate against people because of their nationality. Unless their nationality is American.
@mikeprzlomski2092
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Imagine how rich America would be if we produced and sold Cocaine and cut off the Cartels demand !
@ECPlex
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Not to mention all the cocaine that Coca-Cola brings in
@jojooo6021
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
They created a war zone, and denying the freaking people asylum
@SuperGorli
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
most simple action: legitmize cocaine and produce it in the us. At this point it would barely make any difference on the difficulty to obtain cocaine, but the price would drop extremely since it would just be another low-gain crop to produce.
@muledhumichael5093
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Cocaine is like bitcoin
@markbulmer1670
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
This is our culture ? To destroy poor countries or to stunt their growth with ridiculous prohibition policy ?
@bradythehuman5835
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
There was an unintended pun in here. Drug dudes carried cocaine on SPEED boats
@markcrawford5810
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
Even a broken clock is right twice A-day.
@prajwolkatwal133
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
The only way to stop this drug-related crisis is for Scientists can make soft drugs that have low side effects because people have serious sadness problems around the world and America is one of them.
@shawnhiggins8978
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
What war what a joke the dea is the biggest drug dealer in the world
@88500990
September 17, 2025 at 11:33 am
I don't understand the drug situation in the US… I mean just looking at what they're doing in China Japan and South Korea, they're applying death penalties to even small marijuana dealers to show absolutely zero tolerance on drugs, it seems to be pretty effective? Saves a lot of money? Some of these countries have more or less authoritarian government but still… I mean…
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