Cultivating Cannabis in a paraguayan nature reserve: Incentives and moral justification for breaking the law

Abstract

Paraguay has become the main cannabis producer in South America and one of the largest exporters in the world. Some investigations about the cultivation of marijuana in the country portray a cruel environment in which peasants are exploited in "almost feudal" conditions by intermediaries who buy their crops at unreasonably low prices. However, a group of peasants who use the Mbaracayú Forest Nature Reserve as their labour area have created a safe and profitable ecosystem for developing their business. Based on interviews with key informants and visits to the area, the article describes the constraints and incentives that lead those peasants to engage in criminal activities, the strategies they have used to establish protective barriers, and the moral justifications that emerge as a result of their success in doing business. Although there are violent practices and extortion, we claim that the decisionmaking process to get involved in illegal markets is a free action influenced by alternative moral understandings that provide reasons and justifications for breaking the law. The moral map of these cannabis growers goes far beyond the mere economic justification of generating material resources and is related to economic, institutional, and social premises linked to a generalized aspiration of dignity and a life worth living. The functioning of informal institutions learned through previous interactions with state and non-state actors who regulate and protect the market, the perceived social approval/legitimation of the activity by referent groups, and the awareness of the capacity and skills necessary to successfully conduct the business have a crucial importance in the moral reformulation.

Agriculture in Protected Areas of Latin America: News Website Review

“…A particular case is the Mbaracayú Forest Nature Reserve in Paraguay, where a group of farmers use the reserve to grow cannabis, being for them a safe and profitable ecosystem to develop their business as it is a large, wooded area, with different entry and exit points, which makes it impossible to control human movement; these factors make it an ideal space for clandestine planting in areas they call "drug moles", which justice considers impossible to prosecute because it is difficult to locate them. In addition, this practice in the protected area was extended to protect their market from threats and extortion by state and non-state actors in the organized crime market [31]. Likewise, another case of cannabis crops in protected areas is presented by Costa Rica, whose plantations are concentrated in the South of the Caribbean slope of the country, specifically in the Río Pacuare Forest Reserve, the Banano River Protective Zone, the Hitoy Cerere Biological Reserve, and especially in the La Amistad International Park [32].…”

Detection dogs fighting transnational narcotraffic: performance and challenges under real customs scenario in Brazil

“…Customs Border Posts at the border with Paraguay, the largest producer of marijuana in South America, overcome by violent criminal organizations ( 37 , 38 ), possibly justify increased seizures of marijuana by NDDs at these locations. Maritime transport is one of the most prevalent ways of cocaine shipment to Europe from South America ( 8 , 39 ), and inspection of containers and cargo terminals with NDDS in CBPs located at Brazilian ports significantly contributed to large quantities of cocaine seized observed in this study.…”