Essay on Columbia

Dangerous illegal drugs have plagued American citizens and their youth for as long as the country has been in existence. These harmful drugs are not only responsible for countless amounts of deaths, but the corruption of the American society in general. All too many times have these drugs been blamed for insanity, racism, rebellion, and straight up violence. Today the government is spending approximately $19.179 billion in one year to combat these evils (Gifford). Unfortunately, even with all of this effort going in to stop illegal drug use, the “War on Drugs” is yet to produce almost any positive results. Because of this, politicians are urging the government to spend even more money to combat the seemingly

Colombia was one of the three original countries along with Ecuador and Venezuela that emerged from the collapse of Gran Colombia in 1830. Over the last 40 years, there has been a campaign to overthrow the government partially because of the drug trades throughout Colombia. The movement does however lack support from military and support from the necessary influences. In recent years, there have been challenges for control of the territories throughout Colombia and also for the drug trade.

This U.S. support was part of an amplified foreign assistance policy in a shared effort with the government of Colombia to improve local security and combat the rising narcotics market. After a visit to Bogotá in 2000, former director of the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy General Barry McCaffrey, affirmed in a speech to the Atlantic Council of the United States that “with international solidarity and support for Colombia’s broad-based long-term strategy (i.e., Plan Colombia), drug traffickers and terrorist groups can be deprived of their income, drug production will be crippled, and Colombia’s long-suffering people might secure their basic right to earn a legitimate income without fearing for their lives” (McCaffrey, 2000). Plan Colombia bound the government of Colombia to an encompassing goal: “to strengthen the State in order to regain the citizens’ confidence and recuperate the basic norms of peaceful coexistence” (Plan Colombia, 1999: 3).

​Secondly, The US has provided military aid to the corrupt Colombian government, which is in collusion with paramilitary death squads, who, according to the notable Jacobin Magazine, “are both Colombia’s largest human rights violators and the chief impediment to peace.” The Center for Global Development found due to this collusion, “a ten percent increase in US aid is associated with a fifteen percent rise in paramilitary

Colombia is a country in South America in the northwestern part of the continent. Colombia has a lot of natural resources, including beautiful beaches, dramatic mountains, and lush rain forests, but it is known for its political unrest and the violent influence of powerful drug cartels. Despite a long history of democratic government, Colombia has one of the most rigidly stratified class systems in Latin America. Colombia is the only country in South America with coasts on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Its neighbors on the east are Venezuela and Brazil; on the south, Ecuador and Peru; and to the northwest, Panama. The capital and largest city is Bogota. Colombian society is divided between the upper and lower classes, with

The Guerilla Armies of F.A.R.C and E.L.N are detriments to this country. Involved in violence and alarming amounts of kidnappings and attacks, these groups are incredibly dangerous, any more growth or spread of their influence is threatening. The challenges with these organizations this including major drug cartels like Pablo Escobar’s Medellin is that abundant military enforcement is not likely to succeed. These organizations large profit margin and overall wealth. New groups can form and cause problems, not to mention these groups far more integrated into Colombian

Colombia, also known as the Republic of Colombia, is the fourth largest country in South America. It is bordered by the Caribbean Sea, the Pacific Ocean, Venezuela, Panama, Brazil, Peru, and Ecuador. Colombia’s population is over 46 million people and consists of a large variety of ethnic groups. Over the past 40 years there has been a campaign to overthrow the Colombian government with an escalation in the 1990s. The violence continues today and is mainly influenced by guerilla warfare and the drug trade (Nations Online, 2016).

The issue of drugs, and how they run massive intercity trade throughout the world, has no doubt been a long established practice for many organized crime fellowships; and an equally established battle for law enforcement agencies attempting to control it in America’s youth. There have been several human right debates on whether the most auspicious way to reduce crime-related drug deaths and arrests is to view the issue as a criminal matter or a health matter, especially in the youth of America. While no one thinks drug addiction is a good thing, more and more people are starting to think that the war on drugs — a war that costs United States taxpayers $51 billion per year — needs a fresh approach. Since President Nixon deemed drug abuse as

The Colombian Conflict is a long drawn out, ongoing low-intensity intrastate war between the Colombian goverment, paramilitary troops, crime syndicates and left-wing guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), with the Colombian goverment and the paramilitary troops combatting against the guerrillas. Its origins can be traced back to 1964. Since its inception, tens of thousands of people have been killed, injured or kidnapped and hundreds of thousands have been displaced due to the conflict. There has been massive property damage and large-scale theft of property, notably land. The government has no legitimate monopoly of force and is extremely weak; it does not and cannot effectively protect its citizens.

      The new policy that the government has unfolded on the War on Drugs, has pointed the finger of responsibility toward stopping terrorism by stopping the individual drug users. Terrorism affects the entire world, and the United States has assumed a position at the spearhead to confront it. There is no way to actually stop terrorism, but one way to financially divert the problem is to stop the money from flowing to the organizations.

Additionally, Colombia is now only behind Sudan with the world’s second most displaced citizens or refugees within their own country. The cause of that displacement is the paramilitaries, along with the Colombian military. Colombia contains tremendous natural resources such as oil, gold, and silver. However, there are millions of peasant

Not only is there a civil war raging in the country with many different factions vying for power but the government there has been extremely corrupt due to factors ranging from extreme wealth inequality to low government salaries that make police and soldiers vulnerable to corruption so they can feed their families. Pablo Escobar was able to make such a fortune off cocaine not only because the extreme demand for cocaine in the United States but also because for a long time the authorities in Columbia did not view him as such a major problem they were more concerned about bringing peace to

Drug use and distribution is an international epidemic, and each country adapts to the introduction of drugs differently. Unfortunately, when thinking of Colombia one is automatically consumed with thoughts of a drug epidemic and horrific violence. This is because Colombia has been the host of some of the world’s most notorious and violent drug distributing organizations. The drug trade in this country is a severe problem not only on a social and economic level, but also on the health of the entire country. The rise of drug distribution in Colombia during the 1980s directly impacted the country’s economic, social, and political systems. And the rise of drug awareness worldwide during this era was directly affected by the violence in this

The United States’ new claim in today’s world of propaganda and mind-warping media is that The War on Terrorism = The War on Drugs. Recently simple anti-drug slogans have been manipulated into aggressively and often erroneously exaggerated media assaults. (planetpapers.com) The United States claims that each person can help fight terrorism by choosing not to buy or use illicit drugs, and the government itself can help fight terrorism by implementing a more effective War on Drugs throughout the country. They claim that illicit drugs are the major monetary support of terrorist groups throughout the world, which in some respects is correct. Due to this claim, teenagers and drug

Imagine living in the most violent state in your country. Every day someone gets murdered by the cartel. Every day you have to deal with cartel members stealing money from you and there is nothing the government can do. There are some areas that the police barely watch because they know it will cause a run in with the cartel. In Colombia during the 1980's several cartels battled over territory and thousands died fighting for the cartels. All this fighting was just over selling drugs in not just Colombia, but also in the northern neighbor, the United States of America. Several different drugs were smuggled across the border over the years. One of the bigger drugs that were transported to America was cocaine. Cocaine quickly made its way around and was extremely profitable for the cartels. Pablo Escobar and his cartel, the Medellin Cartel, were the biggest producer and supplier of cocaine. They were the biggest problem for the governments of both countries. The Medellin Cartels involvement in the cocaine trade affected the Colombian public by causing the public to live in fear due to the violence involved with cartel’s fighting over territory and drug trade routes into America and their conflicts with both the American and Colombian governments during the 1980’s.