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the tens of thousands of union leaders and others--political leftists, peasant farmers, human rights workers--who have been murdered by the Colombian military and closely tied rightwing paramilitary death squads, all funded by $6 BILLION in U.S. military aid to Colombia and by the cocaine trade itself. This huge military aid package (2nd biggest in the world, next to Israel) is being misused to prop up a government of fascist thugs and narco-traffickers. Wherever the US "war on drugs" goes, drug and weapons traffic, and death and mayhem, abound. It doesn't solve the problem; it makes it much, much worse. The same thing is now happening in Mexico. The "war on drugs" is misused to oppress the poor; it militarizes every problem, floods the society with more weapons, and results in a high murder rate and more drug trafficking.
The sheer death toll is staggering. But there is yet another cost added to this, with long term political, diplomatic and economic implications, and it is the alienation of peoples and leaders throughout Latin America. In Bolivia, for instance, the coca leaf is a traditional indigenous medicine--a highly nutritious leaf used in tea, and for chewing, to stave off hunger and permit survival in the high-altitude, icy climate of the Andes mountains. The US "war on drugs" makes no distinction between coca leaves--small peasant farmers growing a few plants for local use--and cocaine production and traffic. Toxic pesticides are sprayed on food crops, on farm animals, on children, driving small farmers from the land. The new leftist president, Evo Morales--the first indigenous president of Bolivia (a largely indigenous country)--has a completely different view of the issue. He himself chews coca leaves. He himself was a poor coca leaf farmer, and was (and remains) the head of the coca leaf farmers union. He campaigned with a wreath of coca leaves around his neck! He stresses the SACREDNESS of the plant, and the need for a SANE drug policy of respect for local tradition, while opposing and busting up cocaine gangs and associated crime. (No one is more opposed to cocaine drug lords, and the crime and violence they bring, than the small farmers themselves.)
Morales insisted that, a) local tradition be respected (no "war" on small farmers; no pesticide spraying), and b) aid should be aimed at helping small farmers make a living from other crops.
So, the Bushwhacks tried to overthrow him.*
The U.S. ambassador to Bolivia, and the DEA, funded and organized white separatists, in a fascist coup attempt against Morales that descended into rioting and mass murder, this September. Morales then threw the U.S. ambassador and the DEA out of Bolivia. The U.S. "war on drugs" is used to enter, interfere with, control and violate the sovereignty of 'third world' countries. It is not only an insane and destructive policy, in and of itself, it is a form of U.S. occupation that is extremely offensive to the sovereign people of the country in which it occurs.
The Bushwhacks cut off all aid to Bolivia, one of the poorest countries in South America, as punishment for this independent stance--and for the audacity of Morales and allied leaders (unanimous action by UNASUR, the new South American 'common market') in foiling the U.S.-sponsored coup. No, they cannot have their own drug policy. They must agree to be bullied and controlled by the U.S.
The U.S. "war on drugs" has not only hugely damaged our own society, it is wreaking havoc elsewhere, either directly--as with the murders and displacement of tens of thousands of people in Colombia--or in vast damage to U.S. foreign relations. It is nothing more than a military/police state boondoggle, which feeds on creating a climate of crime and violence. We want to stop cocaine from hitting our streets? Stop the "war on drugs" and watch it dry up.
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*(The Bushwhacks were trying to split Bolivia up. The white separatists want to secede from the national government, and take Bolivia's gas/oil reserves with them. In the September riots, they destroyed government and NGO buildings, beat up government reps and Morales supporters, blew up a gas pipeline and machine-gunned some 30 unarmed peasant farmers. Morales threw the Bushwhacks out of the country. And UNASUR supported Morales and helped restore the peace. This was one part of a three-country Bushwhack civil war strategy--Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela--to regain U.S. global corporate predator control of oil and gas resources. There are fascist secessionist plots, supported by the U.S., in all three countries. But it is notable that all three countries also reject the U.S. "war on drugs," not only because the "war on drugs" is corrupt and ineffective, but because it is an essential part of U.S./corporate game plan to defeat democracy and steal resources.)
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