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The DEA Santa Cruz

The Santa Cruz Resident Office provides logistical, technical, and investigative support to five different Bolivian National Police Counter-Narcotics (FELCN), to specialized police units, and to the Counternarcotics Prosecutors Office within the Santa Cruz area.  DEA Agents and Intelligence Analysts work with FELCN intelligence and enforcement units to target and dismantle large-scale cocaine and precursor chemical trafficking organizations operating in the eastern region of Bolivia.  The Santa Cruz Office, under the congressionally funded Andean Ridge Initiative, continues to support the deployment of FELCN personnel into critical trafficking zones, as well as the professional development of FELCN officials.

The Santa Cruz Office also covers Sucre in its Area of Responsibility.  No staff is stationed in Sucre, but assistance is provided to local authorities on counternarcotics cases, most drug transit.

Virtually all of the Santa Cruz Office's casework involves the manufacturing and transporting of cocaine base and/or cocaine HCL. The department of Santa Cruz is also a significant trans-shipment area for drugs, weapons and other contraband originating in Brazil, Colombia, Paraguay, and Peru.  With it international airport, Santa Cruz serves as a major regional hub for drug couriers traveling on commercial airlines to Europe via Argentina and Brazil and more recently to the U.S.
Most of the cocaine produced in the Santa Cruz area is destined for Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina and Europe.