Pubdate: Sat, 21 Jan 2012
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2012 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v12/n048/a09.html
Author: William L. Marcy IV

THE DRUG WAR IS LONGER THAN IRAQ OR AFGHANISTAN WARS

While military pressure has been exerted in all coca-producing 
nations at different times, the military defeat of guerrilla 
organizations, such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, 
known as FARC, or the Sendero Luminoso, hasn't halted the cocaine 
mafias' operations and ability to adapt to narcotics-control efforts 
because the goals of the cartels and the guerrillas are intrinsically 
different. (Cocaine: The New Front Lines," Review, Jan. 14).

Since the defeat of the Cali Cartel in 1995, the mafias have 
developed an organizational structure similar to a multiheaded hydra, 
which can't be defeated by killing one head. Learning from the 
Medellin and Cali cartels, the mafias keep a low profile and feed 
their inputs into Mexico where the cartels vie for control over the drug trade.

While Plan Colombia has brought much-needed security to that country 
by halting the FARC's terrorism, kidnappings and extortion, it hasn't 
defeated the cartels, associated paramilitary groups and their 
corrupting influence over Colombia. Plan Colombia and other 
narcotics-control programs implemented since 1972 have been unable to 
address the endemic corruption that pervades the region, as well as 
the economic factors that drive coca production.

William L. Marcy IV

Buffalo, N.Y.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom