Drugs And Peace Negotiations

DRUG AND PEACE NEGOTIATIONS

The relationship between subversion and drug trafficking has been subject of political debate, and one element in the complex peace negotiations. The relationship between drug trafficking and armed guerrilla groups is extremely complicated because it includes a multiplicity of actors that interact simultaneously in different ways, has a changing nature, and often attempt to pin it is distorted by the actions of the guerrillas to keep it secret. The commonly expected ratio corresponds to armed struggle movements that pursue political ends largely financed with drug money and sometimes have the support of coca producers.

The absence and weakness of the state as provider of internal order and basic services, and regulatory frameworks as general supervisor in large parts of the country contribute to the presence of guerrillas and drug trafficking in these areas. In other words, both groups are nourished and strengthened by the weakness of the state and its little or no presence, also, they contribute to destabilize the regime. In the case of the guerrillas, their integration into rural bases gives a greater ability to ensure order as representatives of the state. They often appeal to bribery, while taxing it. The difference is that when state officials involved not obtained the necessary security in exchange for bribes. There is no fixed and clear rules regulating bribery because this is a personal and private profit governed by the law of supply and demand, the law of maximum profit possible. In contrast, the rates are fixed and guerrillas considerations, clear and inflexible.

The guerrilla involvement in the drug trade has fundamental differences with organized crime. The original philosophy of the guerrillas and drug trafficking not only consistent but also are opposite, mutually exclusive and conflicting. The guerrillas were originally inspired by the pursuit of social justice for the dispossessed peasants land and displaced by violence. The guerrilla involvement with drugs, especially in the case of the FARC, took place a decade after the consolidation of peasant guerrillas, in the early sixties. To them, illegal drugs were a symptom of the breakdown of global capitalism and an opportunity to contribute to the collapse of the Colombian system, to attack the Empire from within and develop a support network among farmers in newly settled areas.

The guerrillas have played a leading role in the coca growing areas, marijuana and opium poppy, in which perform key functions of government replacement. These studies show that crops and manufacturing of illegal drugs are a source of funding for the guerrillas through taxes charged to participants in the business. The participation of guerrillas in the illegal drug business conditions and more complex the agenda of any successful process of peace negotiation. In fact, the implications of narco-guerrilla connection make

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