COLOMBIA IS A white powder paradise for a growing number of western tourists who visit the South American country solely to snort cocaine. Dealers loiter on dimly lit nightclub strips in cities such as Bogota, hawking their wares to Australians and other westerners hungry for blow.
Colombian drug trafficking is a global affair with money flowing into the region from all over the world. It has allowed the criminal groups to develop sophisticated smuggling operations, including a submarine recently discovered by police that is believed to be capable of transporting large amounts of cocaine to the United States.
Cocaine consumption in the United States has flattened after hitting a record high in the late 1990s, but in other parts of the world it continues to grow. As a result, cocaine production is booming in the Andean triumvirate of Colombia, Peru and Bolivia.
The government of President Juan Manuel Santos has made a number of important changes to its policies, but the war on drugs is far from over. https://diigo.com/0y9fuq , the largest rebel group, has agreed to a peace deal with the government and plans to disarm over the next few years, but many fear that other criminal gangs will quickly step into the void, leading to a Balkanization of cocaine production in Colombia and a spike in violence.
In fact, cocaine has never been more prevalent than it is today. https://postheaven.net/firespleen8/get-cocaine-australia-and-canada has shifted, and demand for the illegal drug is growing in Asia and Europe. Colombia is now producing more than 60 percent of the world’s cocaine.
As a result, the country’s right wing paramilitary groups have seized control of many fields and labs, as well as smuggling routes, and have been able to reap huge profits that they are using to fund their on-going civil war against left wing guerrillas. In addition to drug trafficking, these groups are responsible for a range of crimes, including human smuggling, piracy, the illegal logging of non-renewables and arms, and even smuggling of flora and fauna.
As the conflict continues, the country faces a host of other social problems, such as poverty and mass migration, with millions of Venezuelans streaming into Colombia to escape the political and economic crisis. Criminals are profiting from these flows by smuggling people into the country, many of them children and teenagers, who are being used as slaves for low wages. This is causing severe strain on local society and creating fertile ground for corrupt officials, who are turning a blind eye to the situation or taking bribes from the criminal networks. It’s an ugly picture that shows how the drug war is destroying both Colombia and its allies. To regain the support of its allies, the Colombian government must convince them that it can manage a legalization process without spiralling into a new war on drugs. It will take time and careful planning to make that happen. In the meantime, gangs will continue to reap massive profits from the illegal cocaine trade.