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The New Hundred Years War? US National Security and the War on Drugs in Latin America

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Bruce Michael Bagley
Bruce Michael Bagley*
Affiliation:
Graduate School of International Studies, University of Miami (FL)
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Extract

No president has spoken out more against drugs than President Reagan. No Administration has signed more anti-drug treaties or spent more money to stem the flow of drugs into this country. But as the Reagan years draw to a close, American law enforcement officials acknowledge that they are losing ground in the fight against a new generation of drug smugglers who have the business skill — and capital— to threaten not only the streets of America but even the stability of countries long friendly to the United States

(Sciolino with Engelberg, 1988: ly)

When President Reagan Declared his “war on drugs” in the early 1980s, the United States entered a new era of drug diplomacy in its foreign policy toward Latin America.Control of drug trafficking currently ranks higher than immigration, foreign debt, and communist expansion in Central America as a priority issue in US-Latin American relations. In a March 1988 New York Times/CBS News poll, 48% of the respondents indicated that drug trafficking was the most important foreign policy issue facing the nation compared to Central America (22%), arms control (13%),terrorism (9%), and Palestinian unrest (4%). Equally revealing, when asked whether it was more important to stop the drug trafficking of Central American leaders or to support them in the fight against communism, 63% gave top priority to halting the drug traffic, compared to only 21% who felt that stopping communism was more important (Sciolino with Engelberg, 1988: 10y).

Type
Two Views of the Drug Issue
Information
Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs , Volume 30 , Issue 1 , Spring 1988 , pp. 161 - 182
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 1988

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