What routes do Colombian cocaine shipments take to reach the United States, and how have they changed since 2020?

1. Pacific maritime runs: a rising highway to Mexico and the U.S.

Large volumes of Colombian cocaine now move north by sea across the Pacific to Central America and Mexico before entering the United States, with criminal groups exploiting remote coastal launch points such as the Micay Canyon and Darién to dispatch go-fast boats and semi-submersibles that link to overland routes through Nicaragua, Honduras and Mexico ^{[1] [2] [5]}.

2. Caribbean maritime tradition still matters—but its share has ebbed

Historically dominant Caribbean sea lanes that land on the Bahamas, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and other islands remain active transshipment chains feeding Florida and the U.S. East Coast, but regional controls and interdictions have reduced some traditional Caribbean exit points even as traffickers continue to use speedboats, pleasure craft and fishing vessels to move loads ^{[6] [7] [3]}.

3. Overland corridors through Central America and Mexico: the chokepoints

Colombian shipments are routinely offloaded in Central America—sometimes after initial maritime movement—and then moved overland through Guatemala and Mexico toward U.S. markets; Mexican cartels frequently manage the long-haul smuggling into the United States, making Mexico a central relay rather than a mere destination ^{[2] [8] [9]}.

4. Air routes, commercial flights and clandestine strips: the hidden arteries

Traffickers use a mix of methods to exploit aviation: commercial cargo and passenger flights with drugs concealed in fruit or luggage, “mules,” and clandestine airstrips inside Colombia that feed short hops to the Caribbean or Central America before maritime or land transshipment, a pattern documented in prosecutions and national reporting ^{[2] [3] [10]}.

5. The role of neighboring states—Venezuela and the transshipment mosaic

Neighboring countries, especially Venezuela, serve as transit and processing nodes for some flows—airborne routes and maritime staging—though reporting shows Venezuela’s direct share to the U.S. is limited relative to wider regional flows; traffickers routinely exploit porous borders and weak governance across multiple neighboring states to diversify exit points ^{[11] [5] [12]}.

6. How routes have changed since 2020: more Pacific, more fragmentation, more concealment

Since 2020 the trend lines show a northward tilt toward Pacific maritime routes and Central American overland relays, expanding use of clandestine airstrips, and greater reliance on containerized and mixed-mode shipments to frustrate interdiction; authorities’ accounts and recent prosecutions describe shipments being flown to Colombian islands, unloaded and then moved by boat to Nicaragua or Honduras en route to Mexico and the U.S., while naval campaigns and strikes reflect a U.S. focus on maritime interdiction ^{[2] [1] [3]}.

7. Drivers, actors and incentives shaping the corridors

Fragmentation of Colombian organized crime and the rise of dissident groups and the Clan del Golfo, combined with longstanding partnerships between Colombian producers and Mexican distribution networks, produce flexible routing choices—traffickers select Pacific, Caribbean, aerial or overland corridors depending on enforcement pressure, geography and corrupt facilitation inside ports and airports ^{[4] [13] [2]}.

8. Conclusion: a multimodal, adaptive business that resists single fixes

The evidence paints a multimodal trafficking system: Pacific and Central American maritime runs have become more prominent since 2020, traditional Caribbean channels persist albeit diminished in some sectors, and aviation and commercial-shipment concealment remain tools of choice—together creating an adaptive network that shifts routes in response to interdiction and political opportunity ^{[1] [6] [2]}.