Money-laundering drug cartels are driving deforestation in Guatemala

CARLOS ALONZO/AFP via Getty Images

Drug traffickers in Central America have been known to practise “narco-ranching”, in which they launder cash by using it to buy cattle and land, then sell the meat in Mexico for money that can’t be traced to drug activity. A new analysis suggests this practice may be responsible for up to 87 per cent of deforestation in a nature reserve in Guatemala – and the situation may be similar in protected forests along the drug …