Since their systemic targeting of producer
nations through militarized methods of
eradication, government officials in Washington
have regularly brandished bogus data when
concerning the effectiveness and validity of the
US's 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. 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, denounced 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 has consistently produced incredibly
poor results. Rather than facilitating a decline
the narcotic industry witnessed an enormous
expansion over the past two decades.
A fascinating shift related to this historic
debacle was reported in early November. The
United States Embassy in Bogota announced a
miraculous 29 per cent decrease in Colombian coca
cultivation and an estimated 39 per cent drop in
cocaine production in 2008 alone. 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. [1 hectare
= 2.47 acres.] 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 Alvaro Urribe Velez
[2002-2010]. Such information devastates the
"success" Washington (and Bogota¡) today claim.
Who drafted and released the information to the
public? While formally released through the US
Embassy in Bogotá, the report and findings came
from the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
specifically the US Director of Central
Inttelligence, Crime and Narcotics Center (CNC).
What is unique about this is the unspoken absence
of the White House's Office of National Drug
Control Policy (ONDCP). For the greater part of
the last decade, the ONDCP has been the principal
medium for formally releasing information related
to coca cultivation levels within Colombia. The
fact that the CIA/CNC released this report and
not the ONDCP should spark some question and debate.
<http://www.counterpunch.org/brittain11202009.html>Link
--
Posted By johannes to
<http://www.monochrom.at/english/2009/11/its-really-war-on-poor-war-on-coca.htm>monochrom
at 11/20/2009 07:10:00 PM
