NCJ Number
129715
Journal
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs Volume: 29 Issue: 2 Dated: (Summer 1987) Pages: 1-34
Date Published
1987
Length
34 pages
Annotation
Focus is on the social, economic, and political implications of narcotics production and traffic for the three Latin American source nations of Bolivia, Peru, and Colombia.
Abstract
The entrance of illegal money influences the source nation's political process. Traffickers work to protect their industry and incomes by securing political power at all levels. The strategy in Bolivia and Peru to give priority to interdiction and law enforcement at the expense of eradication must shift. Both countries must devise strategies to confine coca cultivation to traditional areas and to traditional usage. The twin problem of drug abuse and drug trafficking necessitates concerted action on the part of both consumer and producer nations. The United States, and increasingly Western Europe, must support with money and politically precarious deeds the goal of demand reduction. Colombia epitomizes the multiple ramifications of drug trafficking for a source nation. Contraband, corruption, and violence are commonplace. Trafficker mores and money are corrupting the fabric of Colombian society at all levels and in ways totally unacceptable to the average citizen. On balance, the economic impact of the narcodollar is systemically destabilizing. 24 references