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| Hoover Recommends Cures for Colombia |
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Posted by FoM on July 19, 2001 at 15:22:43 PT The last resort is military action Source: United Press International 
Colombia is crippled by its most serious political, economic, social and moral crisis in a century, which also seriously threatens both Latin America and the national interests of the United States in the region, according to a new public policy paper released by the Hoover Institution.In the report, "War and Lack of Governance in Colombia: Narcos, Guerrillas and U.S. Policy" (Hoover Press, 2001), Hoover fellows Edgardo Buscaglia and William Ratliff write that the crisis "is seen most poignantly in the violence and chaos caused by a thriving illegal drug industry that has become closely linked" with the armed insurgency. The Hoover Institution is based in Stanford, Calif. But the authors point out that underlying the crisis is the Colombian government's historical inability to govern in half of the country. The authors say that responses to the problem so far have been either tragically inadequate or misdirected. And they take the position that without a drastic redirection of the joint U.S.- Colombian effort -- ranging from major institutional reform in Colombia and incorporation of broader international support, to a more realistic view of the drug war itself -- the problem will only get worse. Redirecting current policy, the authors contend, requires a fundamental shift in current thinking. "Colombia's crisis, and the crises in varying stages in neighboring countries, cannot be squarely tackled until the enormous financial incentives and thus profits of the illegal drug trade are eliminated," they write. "This would require a decriminalization of consumption in the user countries." Buscaglia and Ratliff conclude that the burden of resolving the drug crisis falls most heavily on the United States, "for without killing the U.S. black market (for drugs) no viable solution is in sight for other nations." The authors say that historical precedents show that federal and state regulation of drug production which incorporates the same type of mainstream punitive legal standards applied to other hazardous substances, along with shifts in public policies toward preventive health and social policies, would substantially reduce the profits from drug trafficking. The most effective response within Colombia must focus more on institutions and politics than on the current military eradication of coca plants, say Buscaglia and Ratliff. This must, they say, involve acknowledgment by the Colombian government that in many places it has never provided adequate, or indeed any, legal, health, or other services needed by local communities, while the guerrillas have done so, even if in a self-serving and incomplete fashion. Serious negotiations, the authors say, must aim at challenging the insurgents to incorporate themselves and their institutions into the national political system. They note that this has occurred with other groups in Colombia, and is being tried from El Salvador to Sierra Leone. "A fatal weakness in joint U.S.-Colombian strategy today is that U.S. guidelines preclude working to decouple the activities of drug traffickers and armed insurgents," the authors write. "Only by severing the links between organized drug-related crime and organized political violence, however, will the right- and left-wing armed insurgents have incentives to begin the peace process with the objective of ending the armed struggle." If the insurgents refuse to cooperate, the authors say the last resort is military action with international -- not just American -- support. Buscaglia and Ratliff conclude that the jury is still out on whether the Bush administration will conduct more successful policies than its predecessor. Some early statements reflect a better grasp of the need to devote more attention to political, social, economic, and institutional conditions in Colombia; placing the Colombian problem in a broader regional context. The two analysts say that President Bush's flat-out rejection of decriminalization, however, along with some of his political appointments, have been much less encouraging. Source: United Press International Related Articles & Web Site: Hoover Institution Colombia Drug War News Drug War Could Escalate Plan Columbia Broadens Home Comment Email Register Recent Comments Help |
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Comment #2 posted by kaptinemo on July 20, 2001 at 05:39:47 PT:
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| point of view. Don't get me wrong; I don't like sharks. As a kid in the summer, one of my Uncles would take us out on the Atlantic for deep-sea fishing. He always kept a rifle handy, and taught us kids to make dum-dums and to load the clips. Whenever he'd see a dorsal fin pop up, he'd nail the shark, but good. Sometimes that would start a frenzy, but he always had lots of ammo. But his main point was that anything that mindlessly voracious, that would feed on its' own, could never be trusted. Rather like pols, no? But chumming the water with pieces of anti would be damned unfair to the sharks; they might get sick and die. And the Coast Guard might chase you for toxic dumping. [ Post Comment ] |
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Comment #1 posted by lookinside on July 19, 2001 at 16:20:01 PT:
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| Colombia's crisis, and the crises in varying stages in neighboring countries, cannot be squarely tackled until the enormous financial incentives and thus profits of the illegal drug trade are eliminated," they write. "This would require a decriminalization of consumption in the user countries." seems like i've heard things like this before...makes alotta the only possible reason is they are corrupt, power hungry, i still think the best way to utilize the anti's would be as [ Post Comment ] |
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