With Peru south and west across the Amazon and the Colombian border a five-minute drive north through town, people here have long felt trapped by the drug trafficking that flourishes in this region. Both are bought by dealers in Tabatinga, sold on its streets and transported by ships from its port. Tabatinga has become so synonymous with illicit drugs that tourists and other international visitors often come through here specifically to find cocaine, as evidenced by the Greek, Lebanese, and Japanese prisoners being held in the city jail. The historically lax law enforcement along this triple border region, as it is known, also has proven an irresistible temptation to those seeking to ship drugs out. Tabatinga residents have been arrested in such places as Germany and the Netherlands after trying to take cocaine over those borders, and Brazilian police say they routinely seize hundreds of pounds of drugs along the frontier here.
Clandestine flights pass through the region daily, gliding undetected below radar.
Sposito said that in the past three years, Brazilian and Colombian authorities have dismantled 16 jungle landing strips near the border. Yet residents accuse the Brazilian government of not doing enough to stop the local or international drug trade and its accompanying violence. In July and August, at least eight people were killed in drug-related shootings, according to police. You don't want to see the wrong thing because you're afraid that they'll come back and get you the next day. Police say Mariano agreed to testify in court against the shooter.