Who benefits from the global trade in drugs?
I am in the south looking north, in Latin America, in Colombia. The disconnect is acute. The biggest event of the day? The appearance of the Mexican and Colombian presidents at Davos.
No, don’t think Davos rocks here in the Andean foothills, on the rolling desert along the coast. But Latino presidents on the world stage, that’s a rarity – and the people here know it. Not that the north will notice these guys. Yet these presidents are at the heart of the most devastating economic and physical war, centred on drugs.
Damn Colombia for her domination of the cocaine trade: well over half of the world’s supply. It’s easy. But damn us in the west for our vast superstructure of abuse, cash, crime, rooted in this trade. Ha, that’s easy!
So here we are amid one of the most undiscussed crises in the world: the vast global trade in drugs. And let’s chuck Afghanistan in for good measure. In whose interests is it for this trade to continue? Certainly not just the little coca farmers of Colombia. Theirs is a subsistence life. Blame the harvesters and industrial manufacturers, yes. But who is running the thing in our own countries? Who is compromised?
That’s why coming to Colombia is worth it. Sure, it’s a thrill to meet Jaime, the brother of Garcia Marquez. But the real thing is to seep inside the woodwork of Colombian thinking. For them, too, this drug thing is beyond massive.
OK. That’s off my chest. I shall return to it, no doubt. I’m off for some politics and literature. I’ll be blogging again later.
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Would love to hear more on what you managed to find out there, inside the woodwork of Colombian thinking. The drugs trade is behind so much of the evil in this world and it definitely needs a bit more of digging into. The connection with the banking world is amazing.
And – what is it like, being Colombian and knowing that to many people in the world, your beloved country is mainly known for its drug production, its criminality, corruption and violence? There must be a sense of unfairness and frustration hidden deep down in that woodwork somewhere…Found any?
And, Jon – regarding your carbon footprint and travelling around…I don’t think you have to worry that much, as 30+ years of biking must have had some positive impact to the global environmental well-being. Think of all the car journeys in London you never did!
By the way – we need you to go around the world – diging into stuff! Keep on digging!
It is terrifying the grip that drug production has on many countries. It is also terrifying how many people in this country turn a blind eye as the ‘indulge’ on a Fri and Sat night. Part of this problem must be the lack of exposure the subject has in the mainstream media over here and in other nations.
Hope ytou do come back to the story Jon and keep digging!
I wonder: if there was a “connection” between users and producers of drugs (like, for example, intensive farming and the food industry), would it make a difference? I only just saw “Jamie Saves Our Bacon” the other day, and I’m sure it would make people think twice before buying the cheapest bacon. If youth drugs awareness programmes focussed on the effects of drug production on locals, what would happen to their views on drugs?
Colombia & Mexico. The two biggest US allies in the region. Blair’s just got a new job working for Colombia’s govt – which has the worst record on paramilitary killings of trade unionists, not that it’d bother a war criminal. Mexico is a nice client state for US capital, the last elections were rigged to stop a populist becoming president…
Afghanistan. Occupied by US/UK forces. Drug production has rocketed since war began, producers are being paid for their loyalty to the government and for not resisting occupation…
Who benefits from the drug trade? Who benefits from free trade? Same people: capitalists. Some legal, some illegal. Capitalists all the same.
Jon:
The people that benefits are the drug dealers in the countries, that allowed ILLEGAL drugs to be imported into other countries…
With regards Afghanistan you might ask why under the Taliban, opium production was almost completely halted? but guess what? we and the US arrived, and production is at its highest levels ever. Who has the capacity to transport this amount of heroin ‘unnoticed’? and under most western countries laws the only industry that is not investigated for large cash deposits seems to be the banking industry.Someone is depositing the money somewhere.