How cocaine smuggling through Latin America really works

The Indicator from Planet Money

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4.7 • 9.2K Ratings

🗓️ 6 January 2026

⏱️ 9 minutes

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Summary

Former Venezuelan leader, Nicolás Maduro, appeared in a New York court yesterday. He’s facing drug-trafficking and weapons charges after the U.S. abducted him and his wife in an explosive operation over the weekend. But is there any credibility to the drug-trafficking accusations? And what does the cocaine supply chain look like in 2026?

Today on the show, tracing cocaine’s journey from the Andes to the streets of U.S. cities.

Further reading:
Ioan Grillo – El Narco

Related episodes:
Venezuela’s economic descent (Updated)
Why Are Venezuelans Starving?
Lessons from a former drug dealer

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Transcript

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0:00.0	NPR.
0:11.7	Former Venezuelan leader, Nicholas Maduro appeared in a New York court yesterday.
0:16.1	He pleaded not guilty to drug trafficking and weapons charges.
0:19.9	This is after an explosive abduction by
0:22.0	U.S. forces in Caracas and is the culmination of months of American attacks on vessels in the
0:27.4	Caribbean and Pacific alleged to be carrying cocaine. The attacks have killed at least 115 people.
0:32.7	The stated motivation for the Trump administration to depose Venezuela's leader extends far beyond
0:38.5	cocaine.
0:39.8	Trump has mentioned oil many times, and also the migration of alleged Venezuelan
0:44.5	criminals into the U.S.
0:46.7	But the drug trafficking accusations against Maduro go back many years under both Republican
0:52.0	and Democratic administrations.
0:59.5	So we wanted to learn more about what cocaine trafficking looks like right now.
1:04.5	This is the indicator from Planet Money. I'm Darien Woods.
1:09.3	And I'm Stephen Besaha. Today on the show, the cocaine supply chain.
1:13.7	We trace the drug from leaf to nose and ask how the Venezuelan government might have been involved. Hey, how you doing? How you doing? Good.
1:23.9	Jan Grillo is a journalist based in Mexico City and the author of the El Narco trilogy of his journalistic work.
1:31.1	He's been on the drug trafficking beat for 25 years, and yet he's got a bit of firsthand experience from a military base in Mexico.
1:39.4	A general once showed him a pile of seized cocaine.
1:42.9	He held the cocaine to me and he said, go on, have a taste.
1:47.5	I didn't know if he was joking.
1:49.5	So I put my finger in the cocaine and licked it like that.
	...

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