A Second Hand Conjecture

Counterterrorism Blog

For the first time in 25 years there are no clearly identifiable drug kingpins running the cocaine trade from Colombia. The FARC and AUC are both seriously degraded.

Yet, production has not diminished, and, according to Colombian and U.S. officials, the amount of cocaine moving out of the Andean region (Colombia, Peru and Bolivia) has showed almost no variation despite the tactical successes against the organizations.

We have spent billions but we are unable to reduce the flow with our current tactics. The nexus of terrorism and drug money continues to grow. This becomes more than a war on drugs when it is funding our adversaries. The drug war needs to be incorporated into the larger war against terrorist organizations. There is a similar argument for energy independence because we are funding our enemies to buy our energy. Degrading their funding is a significant part of winning this larger war.

Producing our own energy reduces the transfer of funds to the middle east. Legalizing drugs would drastically reduce the profits gained in the black market.

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IBD
He got it right – trade with Columbia.

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If Hugo inspires such love from the masses of South America, how do you explain this?

Colombia’s Uribe Approval Rating at Record 80%, Tiempo Reports

By Helen Murphy

Jan. 24 (Bloomberg) — Colombian President Alvaro Uribe’s approval rating rose to a record 80 percent in January from 74 percent in November, El Tiempo newspaper reported, citing a Gallup Colombia poll.

Uribe’s approval rating may have increased as Colombians rallied behind him amid verbal attacks from Venezuela’s President Hugo Chavez and over his management of the release of two hostages by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, El Tiempo reported Gallup director Jorge Londoño as saying.

Gallup Colombia interviewed 1,000 citizens in Colombia’s four main cities between Jan. 17 and Jan. 19. The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3 percentage points in Bogota, the daily newspaper said.

Feathers is certainly cheered. Meanwhile, Chavez’s ratings are heading toward George Bush’s.

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