Sinaloa Trying to Reconstruct Pacific Nacaraguan Drug Trade

El Universal (Mexico City) 2/1/09

After suffering destructive blows to its Caribbean operations, the Sinaloa cartel is said to be trying to reconstruct its trafficking network along the Pacific area of Nicaragua.

• The head of the Nicaraguan Army, General Omar Halleslevens, said that arrests of 20 Nicaraguans and Salvadorans this year who were engaged in trafficking operations in the Pacific area indicated that the cartel is trying to recover the coastal route that they abandoned last year for the Atlantic side.

Anti-drug sources confirm that 90% of the cocaine that arrives in the US passes from Colombia to Mexico through Central America over the Pacific side.