毒品幫派的新金礦：走私鐵礦
摘錄自：天下雜誌 經濟學人電子報 2014/3/14
2014-03-11Web only
作者：經濟學人
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| 圖片來源：flickr.com/photos/cdeimages/ |
它又大又重，不能吸食也不會讓你興奮，每噸價格大約125美元，同樣重量的古柯鹼，批發價至少高達5,000萬美元。從各種角度來看，鐵礦在毒品幫派面前都算不上是好業務；但在3月3日，墨西哥當局在聖樊尚（Lázaro Cárdenas）港查獲近12萬噸的鐵礦，而且毒品走私組織聖殿騎士團（Knights Templar）打算將大部分鐵礦走私至中國。
出售這種笨重的物料，怎麼可能獲得巨大利潤？簡單來說，那不是普通的交易。聖樊尚位於米卻肯州，為墨西哥最大的太平洋港口，周邊區域也一直是毒品幫派的戰場。聖殿騎士團近年贏得領土戰爭，米卻肯州則是墨西哥最大的鐵礦產地。官方指出，聖殿騎士團強迫當地礦廠擁有者，每採掘1噸鐵礦，就得繳交4至7美元。他們也會將鐵礦等物料藏在貨櫃中送往中國，向中國換取製作合成毒品所需的前驅化學品。聖樊尚前年的鐵礦出貨量為150萬噸，去年已增至400萬噸，預估總值達數百萬美元。
不過，鐵礦開始成為主流，是因為毒品走私比表面上看起來複雜。聖樊尚是南美古柯鹼和前驅化學品的入口，亦是毒品跨越太平洋的出口，對毒品幫派來說極為重要。最垂涎此地的，就是大型國際毒品幫派；自2011年開始，毒品業務的主導權落入了錫納羅亞（Sinaloa）手中，其首腦即為2月22日落網的古茲曼（Joaquín Guzmán）。錫納羅亞將觸角伸入北美、南美、亞洲、歐洲，樹起致命的進入障礙；分析師指出，聖殿騎士團這樣的區域性團體，選擇改靠零售毒品交易、綁架、勒索等業務賺錢，但鐵礦才是它們最有價值的硬貨幣。
然而，最近幾周兩件事改變了。其一，墨西哥海軍去年11月掌握聖樊尚港之後，聖殿騎士團似乎已無法控制其最重要的業務，在該區亦遭受武裝自衛隊驅趕；本次查獲的大量鐵礦，可能代表著聖殿騎士團的消亡。其二，古茲曼落網後，納錫羅亞的全球毒品網路首度陷於危機，如果幾個想成為大毒梟的人因而浮出水面，他們應該會重操舊業才是。（黃維德譯）
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
The Economist
The Economist explains
Why Mexican
drug-traffickers started smuggling iron ore to China
By The Economist
From The Economist
Published: March
11, 2014
Mar 9th 2014,
23:50 by H.T. | MEXICO CITY
IT IS big, bulky,
you can't snort it, and it doesn't get you high. Per tonne, it sells for about
$125, compared with cocaine, which fetches at least $50m wholesale. By any
reckoning, iron ore would seem like a daft thing to peddle if you were in the
drugs trade. Yet on March 3rd Mexican authorities seized nearly 120,000 tonnes
of it near the port of Lázaro Cárdenas on the Pacific coast. Much of it they
reckon was due to be smuggled to China by the Knights Templar, a bloodthirsty
drug-trafficking outfit. Officials say that the business had become even better
for the Templars than drugs.
How can there be
so much money in selling such a dull commodity—even to the Chinese, who seem to
be addicted to the stuff? The simplest answer is that this is no ordinary
business. For years, Michoacán, the state where Lázaro Cárdenas is located, has
been lawless. Even though the port is the biggest on Mexico's Pacific coast, the
area surrounding it has been a battleground for drug gangs fighting over its
strategic location. The Templars, who in recent years won the turf battle, took
advantage of the fact that Michoacán is Mexico's biggest producer of iron ore.
Officials say they muscled in and forced the local mine bosses, some of whom
are Chinese, to pay from $4 to $7 per tonne of mineral extracted. By some
accounts, they also sent shipments of iron ore and other minerals to China
themselves, including gold, which was hidden in containers. In return, the
Chinese have sent chemical precursors for making synthetic drugs. With iron ore
shipments from Lázaro Cárdenas rising to 4m tonnes last year from 1.5m
previously, the bonanza was reckoned to be worth many millions of dollars.
But the main
reason it started to predominate was because smuggling drugs is more
complicated than it looks. Lázaro Cárdenas is an entry point for South American
cocaine, as well as precursors, and an exit route for drugs crossing the
Pacific. So it is highly prized by drug cartels. Those that covet it most are
the ones playing in the big leagues of international narcotics. Since 2011, one
gang has dominated that trade: the Sinaloa cartel, run until his capture on
February 22nd by Joaquín "El Chapo" ("Shorty") Guzmán. With
acute business acumen, and the usual cocktail of corruption, coercion and
killing, it extended its tentacles to North and South America, Asia and Europe,
erecting lethal barriers to entry along the way. Analysts say regional groups
like the Templars were forced to develop a working relationship with the
Sinaloans without challenging their hegemony. Instead, they opted to make money
from the retail drugs trade, and ancillary businesses like kidnapping and
extortion, but it was iron ore that gave them the most valuable hard currency.
In recent weeks,
however, two things have changed. First, the Templars are on the run. Since
November, when the Mexican Navy seized the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, the
Templars appear to have lost control of their biggest business. They have also
been hounded out of the region by armed vigilantes, backed by federal forces.
This latest seizure of iron ore may represent the fag end of a dying criminal
enterprise. Secondly, "El Chapo" has been jailed, and the authorities
are trying to dismantle the Sinaloa cartel before it reinvents itself under new
management. It may well survive Mr Guzmán's capture. (As the New York Times
memorably quoted, "If the CEO of McDonald's was arrested today, you could
still buy a hamburger in Tokyo tomorrow.") But for the first time in
several years, its control over a global drugs network is in jeopardy. If that
flushes other wannabe kingpins out, expect them to go back to selling things
you can stick up your nose, not into a blast furnace.
©The Economist
Newspaper Limited 2014
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