Before the Mexicans and Colombians jump out of their chairs, we must tell them, gentlemen, ladies, sit down and listen to the truth. In Colombia, Mexico and the United States, after more than 50 years, the fight against drugs continues to be costly and totally useless.
In Mexico, we must take seriously and with concern the hearings in Congress last week, in which Merrick Garland himself, the United States Attorney General, was demanded by members of both chambers to inform them if our country is cooperating with work against drug trafficking. The reason is that there is an intention to declare the Mexican drug cartels ‘Terrorist Organizations’.
This same idea was taken up by CPAC, the largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the United States, to propose that US special forces combat the cartels inside Mexico.
While in the lower house (federal house of representatives) Dan Crenshaw, a Republican congressman from Texas, and Michael Waltz, a Republican congressman from Florida, presented an initiative to use the necessary force to combat foreign organizations that are a danger to the security of USA. That initiative has already been accepted for discussion in committees.
The truth is that Washington has spent millions upon millions of dollars to end the root of drug trafficking, and now a growing number of people are wondering if it is worth it to keep throwing all that money away.
Despite this reality, last August President Joe Biden ordered the renewal of aid to Colombia to fight against the largest cocaine producers in the world. Reluctantly, the United States has to accept that during all these years the profits from drug trafficking created armed armies operating with impunity in Colombian territory.
That is why Gustavo Petro, president of Colombia, wants a change in strategy, and he is right: the evidence is more than present.
The Colombian cartels in 2023 have more power, more money, more soldiers, more partners and more international accomplices than ever. In short, they have more power today.
Colombia and Mexico are paying a heavy price because the war on drugs is a failure. In both countries we reached the limit. In none of the governments do they even pretend that things have changed, and all Colombians and all Mexicans realize it.
How did we get to this point?
The populations of Mexico and Colombia decided that it was better to show indifference, while Plan Colombia and Plan Mérida failed and drug trafficking became a hidden power.
After 51 years of the war on drugs, we must insist that this bench has three legs, and that the third is that of the United States.
Looking back, we also see the present
In 1971, Richard Nixon as president of the United States declared war on drugs in a famous speech that marked the beginning of a long history.
In 1973, with the first two years of experience, Nixon created the agency in charge of combating drug traffickers. He called it DEA: Drug Enforcement Administration. But that same year the president was bogged down fighting on three other fronts: the wars in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Watergate, and he was so alienated by all three that he decided that to win the war on drugs he would also apply a strategy military.
It was in the 70s, that Mexico entered what was the beginning of the war on drugs, because even then there was an enormous cultivation of marijuana and poppy, the base plant to produce heroin. That is why the first thing they did in our country was fumigation and burning of crops.
It must be clarified that this part of the “fight against drugs” in Mexico was intended more to pretend before Washington than to solve the problem of drug consumption and production. Mexico sees this as a US problem.
In the late 60’s, due to things in life, I ended up in a boarding school in Quebec, Canada, it was then that I witnessed how easy it was to obtain marijuana on the campus of private schools and how easy it was to obtain LSD in the nightclubs on weekends. And if that was in Canada, imagine what it was like in the United States, where all of Nixon’s military strategy ran up against the reality of drug use in protest of the Vietnam draft.
Fast forward half a century and you will see that since he came to power, Gustavo Petro, the first left-wing president of the world’s largest cocaine-producing country, has been denouncing the militaristic vision of the war on drugs. Petro repeats and repeats that “Guns will not solve the drug problem”,
Today fifty-odd years later, Colombia, Mexico, and the United States produce and consume more drugs than ever before. And with them, the entire planet also has the largest supply of illegal drugs in history.
I don’t want to talk about the world, this column is only about Colombia, Mexico and the United States, where it is difficult to accurately estimate the human cost of all these years of war on drugs. In Colombia, it’s not just production and trafficking, but how that is strongly intertwined with an armed conflict that goes on and on… like the rabbit announcing batteries.
In Mexico, too, the dead, the disappeared and the displaced number in the hundreds of thousands. And in addition to these direct victims, there is also collateral damage to human rights, democracy, the economy and the international projection of the country.
Why did Colombia become, and remained for so long, the world’s largest producer of cocaine? Why is Mexico now the largest trafficker and producer of fentanyl?
The two issues are debated in all three countries, but with a big difference. Mexico and Colombia continue to be plagued with poverty and social injustice, and that is a breeding ground for violence and illegality.
The United States today faces the reality of more than 70,000 deaths annually from fentanyl abuse. But don’t expect Washington to one day admit its guilt. Although there is progress, in the same congressional hearings last week, Senator Charles Grassley demanded a full report from the DEA and the FBI of those in the United States who are partners with the cartels.
We can talk about Colombia’s incredibly fragmented geography and its difficulty in forming a nation without social and economic divisions.
From Mexico we can discuss endlessly its unique strategic position between two oceans, its long history of smuggling and corruption.
The two countries live in a vicious circle: drug trafficking flourishes in fragile institutions that it constantly corrupts.
Dr. Francisco Thoumi, an independent academic and member of the United Nations International Narcotics Control Board, whom I have known for more than 30 years, is undoubtedly the most recognized expert on Colombia’s role in global drug trafficking. Francis has always maintained that… “The war on drugs was decided in Washington, initially as an internal war.”
Today it is important to remember this warning, because in Washington there is once again a new dynamic aimed not at resolving the high drug addiction of Americans, but at using it as a pretext to create a smokescreen that clouds the view of those who will vote for a new president next year.
Americans know that drug trafficking leaves deaths and misery in Mexico and Colombia, and they also know that in both, the internal justice systems are weak and are subservient to central governments.
Overdose deaths affect millions of Americans, but are not seen as a common crime against the public. Here the legal system is very strong, from the federal government to the smallest of local governments it has well trained, well equipped and well paid police forces. That is why in the United States, drug crimes only occur in poor black neighborhoods.
Be careful… there is something else that should worry us
At the national government level in the United States, it is of enormous concern that the cartels’ private armies are growing and already dominate parts of Mexico. They are justifiably afraid that this will happen just miles from the huge US-Mexico border. I am telling you this because it would be irresponsible to ignore that these irregular forces are provoking all the new proposals for the use of military force that we are hearing in Washington.
Please don’t be fooled. Much of this is politicking, but beware!
Mexico, Colombia and the United States need to rethink solutions before this grows and there are no alternatives but force.
