Federal Efforts: The 1982 South Florida Drug Task Force, led by George Bush under President Reagan, aimed to curb the trade. Operations like the DEA’s Operation Swordfish (1980) resulted in 67 indictments and seizures of 100 kilograms of cocaine, but the trade’s scale overwhelmed authorities.
Challenges: Corruption, including the Miami River Cops Scandal, and the cartels’ sophisticated methods hindered efforts. The trade’s decentralization after the Medellín Cartel’s collapse in the early 1990s made enforcement harder.