The grasp drugs have on colomb
The grasp drugs have on colombThe Grasp Drugs Have on Colombia
The paper is going to examine the effect and extent to which drugs have a grip on the country of Colombia. This subject runs deep into the Colombian culture, and effects a huge range of people. People all the way from the President clear down to the farmer/peasant. Drugs and drug trafficking are part of the every day society, the economy, and severely tangled in the political structure.
The first, and largest, problem is that of Politics. The Colombian government is wrought with corruption. “The endemic corruption that undermines the drug war is rooted in the high profits that make it a rational choice for government officials and police and military officers whose low salaries cannot compete with traffickers’ bribes.” (Bertram, Blachman, Sharpe, Andres p.170) These bribes are often used by drug dealers to buy legislators. In 1995 several congressmen, the attorney general, and the president’s campaign advisor were indicted for accepting drug money for their cooperation. It is hard to truly speculate today how many government officials are actually on the payroll of the drug cartels. Officials can make anywhere from $5,000 to $70,000 and beyond to just turn their heads and look the other way. This bribery has seeped its way through all levels of anti-narcotic forces as well. This is to say that those who are there to fight the problem aren’t fighting at all, and are even profiting from it. On a large-scale one drug lord by the name of Jose Gonzalo Rodrigues Gacha was said to have spent millions of dollars to pay of an entire army brigade.
At the present time the main question is what can be done to change the government and make it legitimate. In the past there have been many attempts to regulate the drug cartels. Most of these have had a very bloody, to say the least, result. An example of this was August 18, 1989 when drug dealers assassinated Senator Luis Carlos Galan. He was the leading candidate for president, and in his platform was a call to strengthen action against the dealers. In retaliation the current president, Barco, made the same decree. United States president George Bush soon endorsed him. The United States would then indite any dealers that could be captured. The cartels soon realized what would happen if they were sent to the U.S. These criminals would stand trial, and were guaranteed to be put in jail for years. If they were not sent to the U.S., and simply kept in Colombia they would see little jail time. In most instances they would pay their way out of jail, and be right back into the drug trade as soon as they hit the street. This crack down against drugs was with good intentions, but it had serious negative repercussions that soon hit the government. “The drug dealers responded with a massive bombing campaign centered in Medellin and Bogata.” (Wiarda and...
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