Former President Fernando Belaúnde Terry of Peru first defined the term “narco-terrorism” in 1983. The term was first created to describe terrorist-type attacks against Peru’s anti-narcotics police. President Terry used to the word “narco-terrorism” to attempt to describe the narcotics trafficker’s use of violence and intimidation to influence the policies of the government. However, the word narco-terrorism has more than just one definition. According to the DEA, narco-terrorism is defined as, “participation of groups or associated individuals in taxing, providing security for, otherwise aiding or abetting drug trafficking endeavors in an effort to further, or fund, terrorist activities.” However, the latest definition of the term narco-terrorism is now defined by the UNSC as “terrorist groups that rely on narcotics to finance their operations”.
While conducting research about narco-terrorism and it’s history, involvement, and impacts I have decided to narrow the focus to the impact of cocaine in Latin American countries, specifically Bolivia, Columbia, Peru, and Mexico.
Nations Involved
Every nation in the world is involved in narco-terrorism whether it is directly or indirectly, licitly or illicitly. Because funding of narco-terrorism is based on ...
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"Treaties." United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. 2011. Web. Feb. 2013. .
The Transnational Institute, The Bolivian Documentation and Information Center, and Inforpress Centroamericana Guatemala. Democracy, Human Rights, and Militarism in the War on Drugs in Latin America. April 1997. Web. Feb. 2013.
http://www.tni.org/drugs/folder1/contents.html.
United Nations Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention. Global Illicit Drug Trends 2002. Web. Feb. 2013.
June 2002. http://www.odccp.org/odccp/global_illicit_drug_trends.html.
Evo Morales’ term as president of Bolivia reflects his childhood of hard work and perseverance. In an American’s eyes, it is easy to the see the negative effects of a drug such as cocaine. Evo Morales’ main fight was protecting the farmers of the coca plant, which is the origin of the drug cocaine. As he grew up working hard in the fields farming such plants as coca, he was able to relate with the many people whose lively hood revolved around the farming of the profitable plant. Although it is not documented that he is aware of the negative effects that any kind of drug has on not only the country that grows it but the world, I argue that he finds th...
Drug trafficking is a prohibited, global trade that involves the production, the distribution, and the sales of drugs. It is a topic that has become a very large issue all over the world. It also has had a very big effect on many different countries because they often depend on the business that the drug trafficking creates. Since it has become such a problem, there have been many different efforts to put a stop to drug trafficking by different enforcement agencies. A website about drug statistics, drugabuse.net, indicated that the Drug Enforcement Agency or DEA, as it is well known as, makes over thirty thousand arrests each year dealing with the illegal sales or distribution of drugs. It is also believed that Mexico’s economy would shrink by over sixty-three percent if they lost their drug trafficking industry. There are many different tribulations like this that drug trafficking has created. Many people see it as such a vital asset to some countries, so it has emerged as an extremely big business that brings in a boatload of money. Just like any other immense problem, drug trafficking has its causes and effects
As the demand for drugs in the United States has risen, the amount of drug–trafficking cartels in the US has increased proportionally. Each cartel, or a group of people that controls the production and distribution of drugs and other illegal substance, is trying to gain their own place in the multi-billion dollar black market. Violence is used to gain and maintain trafficking routes and ports into the United States. This makes the 2,000+ mile border between the United States and Mexico a warzone for cartels fighting against each other and against law enforcement. Cartels use immigrants wanting to enter the US, as mules to carry over drugs as they enter the US’s. The constant tension between the United States and Mexican governments and the cartels has risen as the violence continues and worsens. Cartels have played a major role in the relations between the Untied States and Mexico as the US has cracked down on foreign policy regarding drugs and violence on the border and in Mexico through the Merida Initiative and Beyond.
Relative deprivation theory is a helpful model for understanding the roots of terrorism in Peru. Various terrorist groups arose out of the failed leftist political parties who were unable to raise the living standards for the native Peruvians. The founders of these movements were from the middle class and wanted justice for the poor. Peru was still a mostly primitive society in the middle of the 20th century, with only the 0.1% elite classes controlling 60% the arable land, and the poor performing unskilled tasks in service of the hacienda owners (Osborn, 2010). In 1...
In Jeanette Schmidt’s article, Transporting Cocaine states, “Colombian cartels would pay the Mexican groups as much as $1,000/kilo to smuggle cocaine into the United States” (Schmidt, 2). The Colombian cartels would then pick up the drugs and resume distribution and sales efforts, making personal profits that are unrecorded. In order to seize these individuals who are growing in power and numbers, the U.S. must control the connections between Mexico and Columbia. Mexico is the biggest transporter amongst Columbia and the U.S. because it shares a border with the U.S. This increasingly poisonous drug trafficking leads to drug dealers...
Tokatlian, Juan G., Bruce M. Bagley. Economía y Política del Narcotráfico.(Economy and Politics of the Drug Trade) Bogotá, Colombia: C.E.I. Uniandes, 1990.
The international drug trade is deeply routed in the global economy. The drug business is protected and run by drug cartels, who make huge profits in a multi-billion dollar industry. This industry has humble beginnings with poor farmers in lower income societies. An example of this type of society is Mexico. Unlike America, not as many drug laws are enforced in Mexico. As a result, more drug materials are grown here. Farmers start by growing and processing the plants that make the drugs, and then they illegally ship them across foreign borders. In some areas of Mexico, crops that produce drugs can be the most profitable, explaining why a decent amount of farmers work for drug cartels. Though neighboring countries look for solutions, there is a problem with trying to reduce the drug production in foreign countries like Mexico. It ...
. “The illegal drug market in the United States is one of the most profitable in the world. As such, it attracts the most ruthless, sophisticated, and aggressive drug traffickers.” Throughout the years drug trafficking has been a major issue in America. These issues have impacted our economy, security, which promote new laws and policies throughout the U.S. and among our boarders. Drug Trafficking has created conflict with other countries such as Mexico. “…criminal groups operating from neighboring Mexico smuggle cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, amphetamine, and marijuana into the United States. These criminal groups have smuggled heroin and marijuana across the Southwest Border and distributed them throughout the United States since the 1970s.” (Policy Almanac).
“The links between terrorism and narcotrafficking are real and growing, according to current and former U.S. officials who participated in a special symposium December 4 at the headquarters of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA).
Concerned authorities have focused essentially on criminalization and punishment, to find remedies to the ever-increasing prevalent drug problem. In the name of drug reducing policies, authorities endorse more corrective and expensive drug control methods and officials approve stricter new drug war policies, violating numerous human rights. Regardless of or perhaps because of these efforts, UN agencies estimate the annual revenue generated by the illegal drug industry at $US400 billion, or the equivalent of roughly eight per cent of total international trade (Riley 1998). This trade has increased organized/unorganized crime, corrupted authorities and police officials, raised violence, disrupted economic markets, increased risk of diseases an...
The United States has a long history of intervention in the affairs of one it’s southern neighbor, Latin America. The war on drugs has been no exception. An investigation of US relations with Latin America in the period from 1820 to 1960, reveals the war on drugs to be a convenient extension of an almost 200 year-old policy. This investigation focuses on the commercial and political objectives of the US in fighting a war on drugs in Latin America. These objectives explain why the failing drug policy persisted despite its overwhelming failure to decrease drug production or trafficking. These objectives also explain why the US has recently exchanged a war on drugs for the war on terrorism.
Drug trafficking is a very controversial topic because it is an illicit business that generates billions of dollars for the leaders of cartels. Due to those revenues since 2006 combatting drug trafficking for the government of Mexico has become a priority. Illicit drugs are illicit because they represent a threat to the health of consumers. And more often illicit drugs are presented to be part of millions of people’s daily life. To Mexico drug trafficking represents one of the 10 most important industry of the country because of the popularity drug trafficking has gain. Domestic and bilateral efforts to combat drug trafficking have not worked because of the size of drug trafficking an because the negatives of drug trafficking, corruption and violence and detrimental macroeconomic effects, far outweigh the positives, namely microeconomic benefits.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) 2002, Globalization, Drugs and Criminalisation: Final Research Report on Brazil, China, India and Mexico, viewed 3 April 2014, http://www.unesco.org/most/globalisation/drugs_vol2.pdf
At every level of the illicit narcotics market – from cultivation to production to trafficking and consumption – the narcotics trade saps the capacity of the Afghan people and undermines good governance. Equally as scary is what happens to the narcotics trade on Afghanistan’s democratic human development and institutions, which America has supported through heavy investment. Counter narcotics efforts within Afghanistan are fundamentally the responsibility of the Afghan government and people. This is why, across the board, we will focus even more intensively on building the Afghan government’s capacity to successfully and sustainably take responsibility for future
Terrorism is one of the most extensively discussed issues of our time and at the same time it is also one of the least understood. The term itself “terrorism” means many different things to different people, cultures, and races. As a result, trying to define or classify terrorism with one universal definition is nearly impossible. The definition of terrorism used in this research is a reflection of much of the Western and American way of defining it. The definition of terrorism is,