Ending the war.ALONG-STANDING CONFLICT. SOME 38,000 DEAD AND MORE THAN a million people displaced from their homes. Sound like Kosovo? Think again. Colombia's the scene and the situation is getting worse. Peace talks are faltering, military actions are increasing, and the 34-year-old civil war threatens to spill over into Ecuador. Venezuela. Peru and Brazil. It's time for a solution. Colombian President Andres Pastrana has correctly made peace his main priority. His strategy is to split the growing alliance between the guerrillas and the drug traffickers. He wants to negotiate a settlement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia Noun 1. Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - a powerful and wealthy terrorist organization formed in 1957 as the guerilla arm of the Colombian communist party; opposed to the United States; has strong ties to drug dealers (FARC Noun 1. FARC - a powerful and wealthy terrorist organization formed in 1957 as the guerilla arm of the Colombian communist party; opposed to the United States; has strong ties to drug dealers ) and the National Liberation Army Noun 1. National Liberation Army - a Marxist terrorist group formed in 1963 by Colombian intellectuals who were inspired by the Cuban Revolution; responsible for a campaign of mass kidnappings and resistance to the government's efforts to stop the drug trade; "ELN (ELN Noun 1. ELN - a Marxist terrorist group formed in 1963 by Colombian intellectuals who were inspired by the Cuban Revolution; responsible for a campaign of mass kidnappings and resistance to the government's efforts to stop the drug trade; "ELN kidnappers target ), while continuing to wage war against the drug lords. Pastrana's plan won't achieve peace because he is negotiating with the wrong group. For starters, he has no leverage with the narco rebels who control almost half the national territory. After almost four decades of fighting, the Colombian Army has failed to weed the 20,000 guerrillas out of the jungle. Now that the insurgents Insurgents, in U.S. history, the Republican Senators and Representatives who in 1909–10 rose against the Republican standpatters controlling Congress, to oppose the Payne-Aldrich tariff and the dictatorial power of House speaker Joseph G. Cannon. increasingly draw profits from drug trafficking, the prospect of defeating them is worse. Even if he does strike a pact with the rebels, the president will not stop the violence until he ends the war on drugs. If he were to legalize le·gal·ize tr.v. le·gal·ized, le·gal·iz·ing, le·gal·iz·es To make legal or lawful; authorize or sanction by law. le the US$3-5 billion export industry in Colombia, the drug lords would become his biggest allies in supporting a return to law and order. The maneuver would also sap the guerrillas of a major source of funding. The United States would go ballistic over the decision, but the current U.S. policy- providing about $300 million dollars in aid a year and pushing the Colombians to keep fighting drugs--is not acceptable. The Andean nation suffers death and destruction to uphold the U.S. prohibition on drugs. while illicit narcotic narcotic, any of a number of substances that have a depressant effect on the nervous system. The chief narcotic drugs are opium, its constituents morphine and codeine, and the morphine derivative heroin. See also drug addiction and drug abuse. profits fund a Marxist movement that threatens the stability of the Colombian government. Pastrana must break the alliance between drug traffickers and armed insurgents if he is to save his country. Legalizing drugs is the fastest way to shift the balance of power and stop the violence that has gripped the country for decades. While he risks the wrath of the Clinton Administration, the alternative is allowing a drug-fueled Balkanization of South America. Mike Zellner Mike_Zellner@latintrade.com |
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