Thread: Colombia and America's War on Drugs

Colombia and America's War on Drugs


by James J. Brittain
Global Research
November 30, 2009


Since their systemic targeting of producer nations through militarized methods of eradication, state officials in Washington have regularly shown consistent inaccuracies when concerning the effectiveness and validity of its so-called ‘war on drugs’. Dating back to the 1980s, Colombia became a figurative and literal battleground in this war, as the world’s principal cultivator of coca (the primary ingredient in the production of cocaine). As liberalized economic policies debilitated Colombia’s rural political economy hundreds of thousands of small and medium-sized producers, campesinos, and landless farmers gravitated toward the narcotic industry via cultivation as a way of life and survival. The United States, however, proclaimed such activities a threat, as drugs were proclaimed a risk to ‘national security’ (White House, 1986). In turn, Washington devoted a great deal of time, money, and military resources to curb coca ‘at the source’. Yet this militarized approach toward eradication produced incredibly poor results. Rather than facilitating a decline the narcotic industry witnessed an enormous acceleration over the past two decades.



Sources: United States Embassy in Bogotá, 2009a: 2009b; ONDCP, 2008a, 2007, 2006, 2005; Latin American Working Group, 2003; United States Department of State, 2003; Abruzzese, 1989.

A fascinating shift related to this historic debacle was, however, reported in early November. The United States Embassy in Bogotá announced a miraculous 29% decrease in Colombian coca cultivation and an estimated 39% drop in cocaine production in 2008 alone (2009a; 2009b). Such figures are incredible, for rates of coca cultivation have, in actuality, significantly risen since Washington embarked on its war on drugs in Colombia. Throughout the 1980s, when Colombia was identified as a threat to US national security, cultivation averaged 46,000 hectares. By the 1990s levels had reached 61,000 hectares, while the past decade saw median rates hovering at 140,000 hectares. Taking the subject a step further, when one situates rates of coca cultivation in conjunction with rates of coca eradicated via manual and aerial techniques it becomes glaringly apparent that growth rates have done anything but declined. To the contrary, coca accelerated – especially under the administration of Ã

The sad part is that our government is allowing Colombians as well as others to stay here even though their visas expired. Many of the ones who I spoke to see no problems smuggling and selling drugs here that came from their homeland. There attitude is so what if there are buyers.