Corridor profile
12 legs · cocaine · 2 under monitoring.
The Caribbean corridor: jurisdictions crossed and their legal position
Movement north through the island chain by go-fast vessel and light aircraft. The jurisdictions on it are small, numerous and legally distinct, several of them dependent territories whose treaty obligations arrive by extension — so a single corridor crosses more legal orders in a few hundred kilometres than any other in this dataset.
Why the legal profile of a corridor matters
A corridor is only as controlled as its most permissive crossing. That is easy to assert and hard to check, because it requires knowing what each state along the route is actually bound to do and what its own law provides — which is what this page sets out. The narrative account of how the route works is on the drug routes page; what follows here is the record, leg by leg.
Of the 12 jurisdictions on this corridor, 9 are party to all four instruments tracked on this site and 2 are not party to the Firearms Protocol. 0 carry no national instrument confirmed against a citable register, and 0 name no enforcement authority confirmed on their own government domain. Those last two are statements about what could be sourced, not about what exists — the distinction is set out under sources and methodology.
The legs
| Jurisdiction | Conventions | Firearms Protocol | FATF | Tier |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Colombia | 3 of 4 | not a party | Not listed | A |
| Venezuela | 4 of 4 | 10 Jun 2013 | Increased monitoring | A |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 4 of 4 | 6 Nov 2007 | Not listed | A |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | 3 of 4 | 29 Oct 2010 | Not listed | A |
| Saint Lucia | 3 of 4 | not a party | Not listed | A |
| Barbados | 4 of 4 | 11 Nov 2014 | Not listed | A |
| Dominica | 4 of 4 | 17 May 2013 | Not listed | A |
| Antigua and Barbuda | 4 of 4 | 27 Apr 2010 | Not listed | A |
| Anguilla | 4 of 4 | 6 May 2002 | Not listed | C |
| British Virgin Islands | 4 of 4 | 6 May 2002 | Increased monitoring | C |
| Dominican Republic | 4 of 4 | 7 Apr 2009 | Not listed | A |
| Jamaica | 4 of 4 | 29 Sep 2003 | Not listed | A |
The instruments in force along this corridor
32 national instruments are confirmed against an official register across the 12 legs of this corridor. Read together they are the statutory basis on which anything charged along the route has to rest, and the unevenness between them is the reason a case built in one jurisdiction can fail in the next.
| Jurisdiction | Instrument | Confirmed on |
|---|---|---|
| Colombia | Ley 30 de 1986 | funcionpublica.gov.co |
| Colombia | Ley 600 | unodc.org |
| Colombia | Decreto Numero 2467 De 2015 | unodc.org |
| Venezuela | Law Narcotics | unodc.org |
| Venezuela | Ley Orgánica de Drogas - Asamblea Nacional | asambleanacional.gob.ve |
| Venezuela | Ley orgánica sobre sustancias estupefacientes y psicotrópica | unodc.org |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 2009/ – The Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act 2009 | oas.org |
| Trinidad and Tobago | 2009/ – Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters (Amendment) Act 2004 | unodc.org |
| Trinidad and Tobago | The Proceeds of Crime Act, 2000 | oas.org |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Proceeds of Crime Act 2013 | oas.org |
| Saint Vincent and the Grenadines | Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act 1993 | oas.org |
| Saint Lucia | Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act 2013 | unodc.org |
| Saint Lucia | Proceeds of Crime Act 1993 | oas.org |
| Barbados | Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Act, 1992 | oas.org |
| Barbados | Proceeds of Crime Act, 1990-131990 – 13 | oas.org |
| Barbados | Drug Abuse (Prevention and Control Act), 1990 – 14 50 | unodc.org |
| Dominica | Act Pages Authorised (inclusive) byL.R.O. 1-2 1/1995 3-38 1/1991 39-40 | dominica.gov.dm |
| Dominica | Drug Prevention (Amendment) Act 2020 | dominica.gov.dm |
| Dominica | Drugs Prevention of Misuse Act No 20 | unodc.org |
| Antigua and Barbuda | The Misuse of Drugs (Amendement) Act 2019 | laws.gov.ag |
| Antigua and Barbuda | The Misuse of Drugs (Amendment) Act 2008 | laws.gov.ag |
| Antigua and Barbuda | Proceeds of Crime (Amendment) Act 2008 | ondcp.gov.ag |
| Antigua and Barbuda | The Money Laundering (Prevention) (Amendment) Act 1999 | ondcp.gov.ag |
| Anguilla | Proceeds of Crime Act 2009 | oas.org |
| Anguilla | Drugs Trafficking Offences (Amendment) Act 2004 | gov.ai |
| Anguilla | Drugs Trafficking Offences Act | gov.ai |
| British Virgin Islands | The Proceeds of Criminal Conduct Act 1997 | eservices.gov.vg |
| British Virgin Islands | Drug Trafficking Offences Act 1992 | bvi.gov.vg |
| Dominican Republic | Law No. 17-95, amending Law No. 50-88 (1) of the Dominican Republic on | oas.org |
| Dominican Republic | Law No. 50-88 [Of 30 May 1988] On Drugs And | oas.org |
| Jamaica | The Precursor Chemicals Act, 1999 | jamaicatradeportal.gov.jm |
| Jamaica | The Maritime Drug Trafficking (Suppression) Act, 1998 | laws.moj.gov.jm |
Where the route is weakest on paper
Tracing. Colombia, Saint Lucia are not party to the Firearms Protocol, so along those legs there is no treaty obligation to mark weapons at import or to keep transfer records. Where there is no treaty obligation to mark or trace weapons, a weapon crossing here can lose its documented history without anyone breaking a rule.
Financial controls. Venezuela, British Virgin Islands are under FATF increased monitoring. The proceeds of a corridor move back along it, so a monitoring finding on a leg is a statement about the return path as much as about the outbound one — the mechanisms are set out under illicit finance.
Questions
Which jurisdictions does the caribbean corridor cross?
12 of the jurisdictions covered on this site: Colombia, Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Saint Lucia, Barbados, Dominica, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, British Virgin Islands, Dominican Republic, Jamaica. Each has a record setting out its treaty position, any national instrument confirmed against an official register, and its current standing in the monitoring process.
Is the legal framework consistent along this route?
No route in this dataset is uniform. On this one, 9 of the 12 legs are party to all four instruments, 2 are outside the Firearms Protocol, and 0 carry no national instrument confirmed against a citable register. Those differences are what a corridor exploits — the traffic settles where the combination is most permissive.
Which leg of the caribbean corridor is the weakest on the record?
On the three checks this dataset can apply — Firearms Protocol coverage, a confirmed national instrument and current monitoring status — Colombia carries the most gaps of any leg on this corridor. That is a statement about what can be verified, not a ranking of enforcement: a jurisdiction that publishes little scores worse than one that publishes badly. The record for each leg sets out which of the three is missing and why.
What does the monitoring status add to that picture?
2 of the 12 legs are currently under FATF increased monitoring: Venezuela, British Virgin Islands. That is a finding about the financial controls rather than about drug enforcement, and it matters on a corridor because the proceeds move back along the same relationships the goods moved forward through.