Mon 17 Oct 2011
Women and Drug Trafficking in Latin America
Posted by Bert Kreitlow under Uncategorized[19] Comments
from pbs.org
Professor Ellie Schemenauer from the UW–Whitewater Department of Womens Studies spoke to our Latin American Studies class on Oct. 17.
Professor Schemenauer researches women and narcotics trafficking in Latin American and the Caribbean area. Some of her research was conducted in South Florida with the cooperation of drug enforcement officers. In the her doctoral thesis, Professor Schemenauer argued that notions of what it means to be a woman figure into the way the so-called “War on Drugs” is both conducted and talked about by the personnel engaged in this so-called war. Her interviews also shed light on the lives of the women transporting drugs, which is a flesh-and-blood aspect of this problem that more visible policy discussions and crime data have overlooked.
October 18th, 2011 at 10:15 pm
Dr. Schemenauer spoke to us about women drug couriers in the Americas. She gave us a brief history of the gradual role of women in the illicit drug trafficking business and shared a story of a woman who was a convicted drug trafficker she interviewed during her field research. She talked about various methods women used to transport the illicit drugs and broke down into two categories they types of women involved in the drug trafficking business. She also talked about the change in U.S. sentencing guidelines because it was becoming apparent to judges that the culpability was not matching the crimes committed. She pointed out the difference in treatment by law enforcement between the “victim” drug couriers and the “vamp” drug couriers. The vamps are dismissed as improper women and given little sympathy whereas the victims are felt sorry for and seen as used and abused by the drug lords. This brought her to an interesting point on U.S. imposing itself in other countries on behalf of these women victims. It is justified because the U.S. blames the women’s native country for not having a handle on the drug traffickers so the U.S. must assert itself into other countries to protect these poor women. I think her point here speaks to the topic of U.S. foreign relations with Latin American countries, namely Cuba which was addressed by some people in our class for the current events blog post. One question I would ask is what is being done in Latin American countries to protect women from falling victim to drug traffickers?
October 18th, 2011 at 11:18 pm
In this presentation, Professor Ellie Schemenauer discussed the issue of female drug couriers. She based her research on a specific type of “mulas” as they are better known as. The specific type would be women who traffic illicit drugs via commercial airlines in their bodies or in immediate belongings. Lately, swallowing or inserting drugs protected by capsules has become very popular for “mulas”. She stated there are two major corridors through which illicit drugs are transported, the Eastern corridor and the Western corridor. She focused her research on the Eastern one. This corridor goes through the Caribbean Islands all the way to Miami, Florida. Professor Schemenauer conducted her research through formal interviews to actual “mulas” who were caught and are now in prison, some are still waiting to be sentenced. She also interviewed personnel of the US border patrol. Media reports, observations in the Miami International Airport, legal cases, and congressional documents on illicit drug trafficking shaped the rest of her research. She stated that “mulas” are a clear example that shows the so-called Drug War is in reality a struggle between the United States and drug cartels to control women’s bodies. She explained how these women can be looked at in two different ways by the US border patrol, victims or vamps. The view of victims is the most common one, and it is based on the belief that “mulas” are victims of threats and they have no other way of surviving but to participate in this illegal trafficking. Through the example of Paula, she demonstrated that even if these women want to get out of the drug trafficking business, once they take the initial loan of money, it is too late. Some women drug traffickers are looked at as vamps. These are usually the women that use motherhood and feminism to try to get by without being questioned by customs when they arrive to the airports.
In class we have been learning about current events in Latin America. We looked at research presentations on kidnappings, drug cartels, and other forms of violence that are problematic in Latin America. This presentation on women drug couriers ties to our class discussions in multiple ways. The issue of “mulas” is a major one and not many people know about it. Before Professor Schemenauer’s presentation, I had never heard anything about this topic. Overall her presentation has broaden my understanding of the use of women in drug trafficking and has added another issue Latin American countries are having to my knowledge.
Does Professor Schemenauer buy into the whole classification of victims VS vamps?
October 19th, 2011 at 12:12 am
I found Dr. Ellie Schemenauer’s discussion on Drug Trafficking and Women very captivating. She mentioned how South America is the major supplier of drugs, such as cocaine, heroin, and marijuana. And she also mentioned that North America is the major consumer or the country with the most demand for these drugs. I am curious as to how the demand here in the United States compares to other countries in Europe?
Dr. Schemenauer had an interest in who the women, or mulas, were and how they got involved with trafficking drugs across international borders. I was very impressed and amazed by all the different people she spoke with relating to this manner: border patrol, customs agents, and the mulas themselves. Her story about Paula was especially intriguing and gave me an insight into the world of a mula. In my mind, Paula seemed very brave trying to negotiate with the drug traffickers. And I found it odd that though she knew her trip would not be successful, she went ahead with her job of trafficking drugs. I wonder if she had no choice but to go; if her children were being threatened?
But what I found to be the most interesting was her comparison of victims versus vamps. I understand that a few mulas are truly duped into trafficking drugs; however, many “victims” are conscious and aware they are transferring these illegal drugs and the dangers that come with their job. So are they really as much a victim as many people perceive them as? I would be very interested in seeing research in this area.
October 19th, 2011 at 1:23 am
The presentation addressed the major issue of drug trafficking by women coming into the United States from Latin America. Dr. Schemenauer began her presentation informing us about the ways in which these women smuggle these drugs and why they do it. What a lot of these drug couriers will do is swallow the drugs (the drugs are put in pellets and then swallowed), carry them in their stomach or alimentary canal, or put them in concealed packages that can go in shoes, shoulder pads, and other things. The swallowing of these pellets is extremely dangerous because if one of the pellets breaks than the cocaine or heroine is exposed to the body and will likely kill the courier. It doesn’t make a lot of sense that women would risk their lives and risk going to prison if they’re caught by border patrol, but a lot of these women are coming from difficult situations (they may be desperate for money, they may have a family member in jeopardy if they don’t transport the drugs, etc.). We also learned that the major supplying countries of cocaine are Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia, while Mexico is the major heroin and marijuana supplier. One of the most interesting things that Dr. Schemenauer brought up was the fact that these women couriers are generally either viewed by the border patrol and courts as victims or vamps in these situations. Victims (such as Paula) are characterized as either being at risk of death or violence (whether it’s towards the courier or a family member), or they are coming from a poverty stricken situation (might be a single mother). Vamps on the other hand are usually in it because they are bad and have poor intentions (in it to make a lot of money, in it for access to drugs, etc.) They will fake motherhood, try to look sexy to get by border patrol, or will try to act innocent (like a victim) but generally the border patrol isn’t fooled by these women and they have less sympathy when it comes to their punishment / sentencing. The question I asked Dr. Schemenauer at the conclusion of her presentation was whether or not a lot of these women that successfully get through border patrol make multiple attempts to smuggle in drugs (are there a lot of repeat offenders). Most of her research deals with those women that got caught by border patrol, but she believes that there are quite a few repeat offenders that can find ways to get through multiple times. All of the information presented was extremely relevant to our class as we will dig deeper into the subject in class and perhaps get more statistics, stories, etc.
One other question I had for Dr. Schemenauer that I was unable to ask due to time restraints was: what made her interested in the topic of female drug trafficking and if she would ever consider changing her research (or adding) to the studying of male drug trafficking?
October 19th, 2011 at 1:29 am
Drug Couriers Reflection
Drug trafficking has developed into ingenious ideas on how to smuggle over the last 40 years. This was the main point made, in Ellie Schemenauer’s presentation about drug cartels and trafficking. She spoke of drug couriers, or the people who actually have the drugs on them when they cross borders. Originally it was a male dominated trend to smuggle drugs across borders, but as the means to stop drugs from entering evolved, so did the drug couriers themselves. Women were first used as couriers in the 1980’s, as drug trafficking took a step into the more “abstract” thought. Throughout the years women who have been apprehended for smuggling drugs across the border are placed into two categories.
The first category is victim, usually associated with poor, single mothers, or people that have been threatened by violence against them if they do not comply. The other category used to classify female smugglers is vamp, or a tricky person. Vamps have been known to dress up and look like a professional business woman, or a sexy single that is just looking for fun. The punishment has been nearly the same for any female courier whether she is a vamp or a victim, until recently in 2005, where sentences may be reduced if intelligent information is presented after arrest. A question that I thought about during the presentation was, why would traffickers intentionally snitch someone out, such as Paula’s story, when they could just get more drugs across if they had not said anything. I felt that if someone was caught smuggling drugs, wouldn’t the security been even more suspicious of everyone that day? This presentation relates to what we have been learning about in South America because, the countries involved seem to be the suppliers of the North American drug habit. It was more background knowledge about the countries we have been learning about.
October 19th, 2011 at 5:16 am
When the topic of drug trafficking is brought up, the initial images one usually thinks up are shady mob bosses, powerful drug dealers, guns, intense-looking men, etc. What Professor Schemenauer presented to us was that of what we usually don’t see as stereotypical drug traffickers; women. In the 1970s, it was mostly unsophisticated men performing the drug trafficking, and by the 1980s Border Patrol began to notice the women getting involved. By 1990 women were being put into professionalization of drug couriering. The women assigned to transport the drugs would do so in a variety of ways. In their hair, briefcases, hip extensions, in their bodies, etc. Some of the risks the female couriers hold are scary. On some occasions the couriers would swallow pellets of cocaine, and if just one of those pellets opened up the courier would overdose almost instantly. The presentation all blended in nicely with the study of Latin America for Latin countries, such as Columbia, Peru, Bolivia, and Mexico are the suppliers to the northern countries, USA and Canada. One question I pondered quite a bit during this presentation was focused on the Vamps. Professor Schemenauer explained how the security at airports would look for women that are possibly faking motherhood, women wearing suits, or women with possible fake hip/hair extensions. This was all interesting and made me wonder, if we know this knowledge now, then do the drug suppliers and couriers know this too? I’d imagine this would create a lot of problems for the DEA and border patrol once the traffickers find out what’s considered suspicious and what classes are not. Enforcement on stopping drug traffickers will always continue to get smarter on the issue, but so will the traffickers.
October 19th, 2011 at 9:49 am
Professor Schemenauer gave a very interesting discussion about how drug cartels use women as drug couriers. She explained how cartels train women to transport drugs by air plane. She said that the women usually dress up as business women so they blend in better in the airport. Drug couriers will hide drugs by hiding the drugs in secret compartment in suitcases, swallowing them or by hiding them in body cavities. Drug cartels will train women to swallow drugs by having them practice swallowing foods such as olives so that they can swallow the drugs easier. When women swallow the drugs the drugs are in the form of a pellet. She also went on to explain how cartels move drugs through the eastern and western corridors which is the east and west coasts. She also explained how border control agents classify the women transporting drugs as either victims which is the “poor single mother” smuggling the drugs because they need the money or vamps which are the women “faking motherhood or the professional women” which smuggle drugs to make a lot of money. She said that when she was doing her research in Miami with the police and airport security that some of the agents felt bad for some of the victims. My question for Professor Schemenauer is while doing your research in the air port how often did security catch women drug couriers? (Was it a daily thing that drug couriers got caught by security or did it vary).
October 19th, 2011 at 10:17 am
Dr. Ellie Shemenauer spoke to our class on October 17th regarding the major issue of women and drug trafficking in Latin America and the Caribbean. The first thing Dr Shemenauer did was define some key terms and concepts relating to the topic, such as “mulas” and “trafficking corridors”. The world “mula” is Spanish for the word mule, and in this context it specifically refers to drug mules. The trafficking corridors are split into four distinct parts: north, south, east and west. In the north are the majority of the drug consumers and in the south are the suppliers. The eastern corridor encompasses the Caribbean, where a lot of the transportation and money laundering takes place, and the western corridor includes Central America and Mexico, where there are the most drug transshipment locations. Dr. Shemenauer’s main point in the lecture was how prominent women have become in drug smuggling, specifically by air. When speaking to border patrol workers, Shemenauer was able to conclude that the women who were caught with illicit drugs were categorized as either “victims” or “vamps”. Women are considered to be victims when they have the image of a poor, working, single mother. Most of the time, border patrol workers feel sorry for these women, as opposed to being disgusted by the other category of women: vamps. Vamps are women smugglers who are much more wily and astute about their ploys to get into the United States. Many of these women play up womanly attributes such as a curvy body or motherhood.
This lecture integrated very smoothly into our class discussions about US relations with Latin America, as well as our discussions about drug cartels throughout Central and South America. My question to Dr. Shemenauer would be: “Do you think there will be a new generation of evolved drug smugglers in the near future? What are some new ways that people are sneaking illicit drugs into the US?”
October 19th, 2011 at 10:31 am
From Steven Brandner
Professor Ellie Schemenauer talked on Monday and told us about how drug Cartels where starting to use women to get the drugs in the USA. She told us the history of the subject as well as the research she did on It whether it was the at the airport just observing or being at the jail and talking to people who got caught and what their story was. At the airport the people told her that they do feel bad for some of them that are called the victims that don’t know there doing it or are doing it because they were threatened. They don’t feel bad for the ones that fake pregnancy or anything like that because they are trying to hide it up one of the ones that caught my eye was the case of Paula. She had a resident status here in the United States as she lived in Alaska. But she came back for her kids and then they didn’t have money and she had to borrow money just to feed her kids and make sure they are safe. She knew that it was wrong that she even stood up to the Upper Bosses. But in the end she didn’t have the money to pay them back so she went and got caught. She answered most of the questions that I had about Paula about why she would so such a thing or what it was like for her as she was sitting there. If I did have one question though my questions would be is that how a lot of the women get into this type of thing as they need money to support their kids and then they find themselves doing something that they know is wrong. I would say yes because I can see where if a mom had to feed her kids they would go to great lengths to get what they want as they are trying to give a better future to their kids. This ties into what we have been talking about with blogs about drug smuggling and all the violence their it shows what women have been brought into and how they are paying for it. I like that they changed the law so they the judges could give a little break to the ones that didn’t know well enough or where set up. Maybe Paula was we will never truly know I think she may have been but also you have to look she was always called over Paula said.
October 19th, 2011 at 11:00 am
I thoroughly enjoyed Professor Ellie Schemenauer’s presentation on women drug couriers. She began by defining mulas as women who smuggle drugs by air in their personal items or within their body. She then touched on the high drug demand of the north and major suppliers of the south that have created the necessity for mulas in the drug industry. She introduced the two major trafficking corridors, east and western, and discussed her research mainly on the eastern corridor. I was especially interested in how she obtained her information and went about her interviews. She said that she spent six months trying to get an interview with a convicted mula, and a year and a half trying to convince the airport to allow her to shadow customs employees. I was extremely impressed by her persistence. Next she talked about the history of women in illicit trafficking, and explained how women were introduced in the 80s along with an increase in sophistication of the trafficking. She introduced the terms “victims” and “vamps”, and talked about the different treatment and sentencing of the two classifications of women. She tied this topic into gender issues, and explained how this women drug courier war is really a man’s war over the possession of the female body. Professor Schemenauer’s presentation seemed extremely relevant to my recent current event assignment dealing with drug cartels. I was shocked to realize the gaping hole in my research and am extremely interested in studying more on this topic.
One question I have for Professor Schemenauer is if she thinks women will continue to play a large roll in drug trafficking in the future.
October 19th, 2011 at 12:59 pm
Professor Ellis Schemenauer’s presentation focused on which women were being targeted, how boarder control “see” these women, and who has control over these women.
She began her presentation describing how northern Latin Americans are the major consumers while southern countries (Colombia, Peru, Bolivia, Mexico) are the suppliers. In the 1990’s most of the drugs went through the Eastern corridor into Florida. The Western corridor consisted of drugs coming from Mexico into the U.S. In the 1970’s, drug kingpins would use peasants to transport drugs. The drug kingpins began switching their tactics in 1980’s to transporting the drugs through women. They believed women wouldn’t be targeted because they are viewed as “innocent.” In 1990’s they began training women with strict instructions on how to act, what to wear, and how to play of the middle class businesswomen. Kingpins would also train women to store the drugs internally. Between drug kingpins and security there was a struggle to gain control over the women.
Professor Schemenauer then described how the women were viewed. Women caught are classified into two categories: victim and vamp discourses. The victims are targeted through intimidation, risks of violence, and death. As in Paula’s story, she was short on cash and was vulnerable. Even though Paula new she would have to import drugs, she needed the money and felt this was the only way. When boarder control, police detectives, judges, and DEA interview these women, they feel bad for the situations these women had to go through. They see the unfairness in U.S. security guidelines to these women. The feelings for vamps are the direct opposite. These women fake motherhood, use shape shifter method, use their sexiness, and are professionals. If these women are caught the officials feel no guilt and want the full punishment towards these women.
Professor Schemenauer’s presentation had a lot of connection with our current event issues on drug cartels and kidnapping. In both we learned where they drugs were created and where the major suppliers are. Also, how the U.S. created the war on drugs to stop the inflow of drugs and stop them at their sources.
A questions that occurred to me was why has the middle corridor went away? Is it because the U.S. increased security there, or did the drug kingpins feel there was an easier way through the other two corridors?
October 19th, 2011 at 3:45 pm
Dr. Ellie Schemenauer’s presentation on women drug traffickers was very interesting. She did most of her research of women couriers that came by plain to Miami. Women couriers started to become more popular in the 1980’s. The drug kingpins had noticed that it was easier for women to get by then men because they looked innocent. In the 90’s to today the drug trafficking business has become professionalized. She explained how the north, most the United States but also Canada, are the major consumers. The south is the major suppliers of drugs, which include Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia who make cocaine and Mexico makes heroin and marijuana. It was really interesting on how she got all her information. It took her six months before she could even start talking to a drug courier who was in jail. After she got done with her interviews with the convicted mule she started asking the Miami International Airport if she could shadow customs employees. It took her a year and a half before they finally agreed on her shadowing customs employees. She said that she called at least one time a day telling them what she wanted to do. I was very surprised that she stuck with it for such a long time. During the shadowing process she go to understand how the customs agents thought were the traffickers and who were not. She asked some of the employees what they thought on the laws against traffickers. Some of them said that they felt sorry for the ones that were forced into the position. She referred to these types of people as victims. Most of these victims are poor single mothers who are forced to be couriers. The employees also said that there are some that they don’t feel bad for at all, they know what they are getting into. She referred to these as the vamps. It was interesting to see how she ended up tying it all into gender issues. Also, it was interesting to see how it has evolved from when it started in the 80’s to how it has evolved to today.
The one thing that I would have to ask Dr. Ellie Schemenauer is how often are the customs employees stopping these couriers.
October 20th, 2011 at 12:58 am
Professor Ellie Schemenauer portrayed to our class the prevailing drug problem, arisen from overpowering drug cartels, throughout Latin America. She focused on the process of transportation narcotics into North America, where the demand is sky high. Professor Schemenauer went into detail of where the drugs where supplied. Colombia, Peru, Bolivia are large cocaine suppliers, while Mexico is able to cultivate large amounts of marijuana and heroin. From here, there are major corridors, the eastern and the western, where the drugs are transported and smuggled across the border. This lead right into the basis of her presentation, women drug couriers.
Professor Schemenauer began with a brief history of how and when drug cartels began utilizing women for trafficking. In the 1970’s most of the couriers were men and unsophisticated. When the 80’s came around, women were first noticed in the transportation process. Women generally aren’t profiled as your typical “drug” associate. With this in mind, a women trafficker seems innocent and harmless. These were the initial reasons drug cartels attempted to use women. However, as time went on, the more refined their attempts became. The sophistication grew to a level where women were swallowing up to sixty capsules of narcotics to get pass the border, women would insert drugs in their vagina and anal cavities, women would stuff drugs in their bras and hip pads. All of this is extremely dangerous and ill-advised. As Professor Schemenauer claimed, along with the US airline security personnel, women couriers were put into two categories: Victims and Vamps. While all the women traffickers faced the risk of death, intimidation, and becoming incarcerated, their techniques differed. For instance, the women considered to be victims, generally were poor, single mothers or were “pawns” for drug cartels. The vamps would attempt to fake pregnancy, accentuate their bodies, or flirt with security personnel. It is easy to feel sorry for the victims, but in the end they are committing a crime. For both techniques, the punishments were the same by the US sentencing guidelines. Professor Schemenauer’s presentation was excellent. She was easy to listen to and was obviously an extremely credible source on the subject. It was interesting to hear her specific, personal accounts from her interviews with former women couriers, along with the US border security. Knowing now that you are very educated on this topic, have you put any thought into what can be done in order to prevent women from trafficking? In your opinion, what solutions to the drug problem in Latin America do have? Do you expect America to take over in the near future?
October 20th, 2011 at 4:48 pm
Professor Ellie Schemenauer’s presentation was about how women are being used to sneak drugs into the U.S. from Latin America. She started out by going over some of the terms, history, and where different drugs come from and how North America is considered the consumer of the drugs and South America is considered the supplier of the drugs. When she was describing the history she talked about how when drug trafficking started out it was mostly men and very unsophisticated in the 1970s. Then in the 1980s it became more sophisticated and women were starting to be used as drug traffickers and by the 1990s it had become professionalized. She also talked about why the women wanted to become drug couriers and ways they tried to sneak the drugs by security. I found all of the different trafficking techniques very interesting and sophisticated. I also found it interesting that they classify drug couriers as victims and vamps. Another thing Professor Schemenauer talked about was her research and interviews she has done with women drug traffickers, specifically Paula. One thing I was wondering during the presentation was the success rate of drug traffickers. This presentation relates to the class because most of the drugs she talked about came from Latin America and one of the topics for our current event assignment was drug trafficking. I really enjoyed this presentation and I learned a lot.
October 24th, 2011 at 1:13 pm
I really enjoyed the lecture that Professor Ellie Schemenauer presented to us in class. The whole idea of women acting as drug carriers is something I had never heard much about before in previous classes, so I was interested to learn more about it. I found it interesting that the majority of women smuggle the drugs on flights, hidden in places like the lining of suitcases, handles of strollers, secret compartments, inside their hair and stomaches, etc. She explained how areas in the north (such as the United States) are the places with the demand for drugs, whereas the South is comprised of the major suppliers and is where the majority are produced. The major trafficking corridors she talked about were the Eastern Corridor (Caribbean islands) and the Western Corridor (Central America/Mexico).
The whole idea of women drug carriers acting as either victims or vamps was really interesting to learn more about. I found it interesting how certain women play to those certain roles in order to smuggle the drugs to their destination. The women who take on the victim role would be more likely to take on a motherly persona by hiding the drugs within strollers or using children in a way to detract attention from themselves while going through airport security or customs. It was interesting to learn that security guards are starting to catch on to this method of drug carrying and use the poor, single mother profile to look for potential suspects. Women who fall under that category also take on a middle-class business woman type persona to blend in as well. On the other hand, women who choose to play up the vamp appearance will hide drugs in their bras, implants, etc. and sometimes flirt with security guards in hopes of passing through without getting caught.
It is interesting to think about how much the methods and ways in which drugs are being carried has evolved over time and how it has to keep changing in order to complete the ultimate goal of delivering the drugs undetected.
October 24th, 2011 at 7:04 pm
The presentation by Ellie Schemanauer about women drug couriers and the movement of illicit drugs in the America’s was very engaging and informative. She began by explaining how a drug courier is when people smuggle drugs by air using personal items, or different body parts to hide them. The business of drug couriers has advanced over the years and will continue to be an issue in years to come.
Women couriers often hid these drugs in their purses or hidden compartments on suitcases, and may have been swallowed or in their vagina. Obviously this operation is very tricky as the airline security is becoming more advanced and it’s very dangerous since hiding these drugs causes them to make drastic measures that could be harmful to their body. The lengths that women will go to in this business are insane but most of the time it is their only option. Often this type of job is pointed towards single poor mothers that are desperate for money. However, in some cases the women are not as innocent and are using their sexual appeal or faking motherhood to get by the airline security. The women that are more manipulative like this tend to be treated and punished more severely than the poor single mothers.
Women didn’t always used to be the drug couriers though, in the beginning stages of the movement of illicit drugs it started off with men. Men in the 70’s started this process in a very unsophisticated way, and by the 80’s they became more sophisticated and smart about their approach. It wasn’t until the late 80’s and 90’s that they discovered how women would be less suspicious and more successful in smuggling the drugs though. As the future continues the drug couriers will not end and the traffickers will continue to look for more advanced ways to approach they mobility of their drugs.
This directly relates to our class since we have been discussing different issues and problems that Latin America has been experiencing, with drug trafficking being an obvious issue. Getting a further look in at the process of how it is completed and the role of women in the smuggling was very informative. The only question I have is, what is done after the trafficking is complete and what process follows?
November 6th, 2011 at 3:22 pm
Cal Miller
Oct. 25
In class on October 17th, our Latin American class was lucky enough to listen to a discussion by Ellie Schemenauer. She has done a lot of research in the area of women drug couriers, named mulas. She first started out her presentation explaining the relationship between the northern countries and the southern countries in terms of regional focus and trafficking corridors. She told us that the southern countries supply the high demand of drugs of the northern countries, something many people don’t realize is that there is a problem both ways, both consumption and production.
Ellie briefly explained the history of drug couriers and how the idea of using women as the couriers began. Initially, in the 1970s there were unsophisticated male couriers that attempted to smuggle drugs into the United States. These couriers were easy to identify by DEA agents because they were clearly peasant farmers and weren’t very sneaky. In the 1980’s, an increase of sophistication underwent the drug couriering business and women were being used to deter themselves from the DEA agents. This turned into the professionalization of couriering in the 1990’s, in which people were trained what to wear and say while carrying the drugs to help increase chances of success.
The cultural construct of women being innocent allowed traffickers to use them as successful drug couriers and is the main reason why they began using them. Ellie explained that there were two categories of women drug couriers, victims and vamps. The victims are considered to be forced into the drug couriering trade because they are poor. Additionally, the drug traffickers pressure them into doing things they don’t want to and are essentially bound to completing the transaction upon agreement. The other category of drug couriers are vamps and are considered sexual female tricksters. Vamps intentionally take advantage of their innocent looks as women and have purposeful intent to fool DEA agents. They do things such as fake mother hood and hid drugs in a fake pregnant belly or accentuate their bodies to help use their sexual prowess to get them out of trouble.
Ellie presented the story of a 22 year old mula from Columbia named Paula. Paula was caught in the Miami International Airport for smuggling heroin that was hidden in a false compartment in her suitcase. A unique fact about Paula’s story was that she already had her green card and residency in the United States but wasn’t making enough money there. Paula would be considered a victim because she was extremely financially strained and needed to take care of her children, so she felt she had no choice but smuggle the drugs for money. Ellie then explained how the drug couriering trade was always a competition of the masculine figures of the drug kingpins and the DEA agents, both trying to control the women’s bodies. The main point I think Ellie was trying to convey was that these mulas are pawns of a game being played between the drug traffickers and the DEA agents. One question I have for Ellie is regarding the victims vs. the vamps, does the classification of the mula give them more or less jail time? If so, how significantly different are the sentences?
November 6th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Rina Solorzano
Oct 24
On October 17th Ellie Schemenauer went to my Introduction to Latin America class to share her experience and research work about women drug couriers and the transnational movement of illicit drugs in the Americas.
In her presentation Ellie started explaining relevant concepts such as what a drug carrier is, the definition of regional focus and trafficking corridors in regards to illicit drugs, and what an ethnographic research is. According to Ellie, drug couriers generally smuggle drugs by air in their personal items or within their bodies. She also mentioned there are two main regional focuses in the transnational illicit drug movement in the Americas, one is the major consumer which is the North region (The United States and Canada), and the other is the major supplier, which is the South (Colombia, Mexico and other countries).
Also, to help us understand women’s participation in the illicit drug movement, Ellie presented us Paula’s story.
Paula who at age 22 was a drug courier from Colombia was detained in the Miami International Airport for smuggling 800 grams of heroin in a false compartment in her suitcase. Her story reflects the cruel reality that many women go through when cartels take advantage of their bad economic situation and convince them to become mulas or drug couriers. However, Ellie also explained that there is another type of women couriers known as “vamps,” this type of women are considered more blameful and less victims. According to Ellie, those considered vamps are punished more harshly than those considered victims.
Ellie’s presentation showed us what many Latin women go through in order to improve their lifestyles, but also the bitter end they face after getting caught smuggling drugs. I wonder if the Colombian government is doing something to decrease women participation in the transnational movement of illicit drugs?
November 7th, 2011 at 6:16 pm
Dr. Ellie Shemenauer was a guest speaker for our class on October 17, 2011. Her presentation was focused on the role of women in the transportation of illegal drugs. She started by discussing the trafficking routes from the major producer, South America, and the major consumer, North America. The Eastern Corridor (Caribbean) and Western Corridor (Mexico and Central America) are the main trafficking routes, with the Western Corridor having the most trafficking across it. Dr. Shemenauer then began to explain the history of drug trafficking and a personal interview she had with a women drug courier. In the 70s mostly men were used as couriers and methods much unsophisticated. During the 80s law enforcement noticed the use of women and more sophistication in their methods. From the 1990s to the current drug lords have professionalized the use of drug couriers. Paula was a women drug courier used in the drug trade to transport illegal drugs by plane. Her case was different then most because she had residency in America, but as soon as she got off the plane she was pulled aside by officials. The women used in drug trafficking were placed into two groups by the border patrol, Victims and Vamps. Dr. Shemenauer explained how Victims are generally of the poor, single mother variety and are forced into the drug trade. The Victims, though they have awful circumstances, still face the harshness of the law for drug trafficking. Vamps are the women who appear professional and use their sexuality and promiscuousness to fool the border patrol. The presentation by Dr. Shemenauer fit in well with our class discussions on drug trafficking and the means these drug cartels will use. My question for Dr. Ellie Shemenauer is, “How will North and South America work together as one to eliminate the exploitation of women in the drug trade?”