Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-lnqnp Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-27T14:44:03.789Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The FARC's Best Friend: U.S. Antidrug Policies and the Deepening of Colombia's Civil War in the 1990s

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Mark Peceny  and
Michael Durnan
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The strengthening of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) during the 1990s was an unintended consequence of a series of tactical successes in U.S. antidrug policies. These included dismantling the Medellín and Cali drug cartels, interdicting coca coming into Colombian processing facilities, and using drug certification requirements to pressure the Colombian government to attack drug cartels and allow aerial fumigation of coca crops. These successes, however, merely pushed coca cultivation increasingly to FARC-dominated areas while weakening many of the FARC's political-military opponents. This provided the FARC with unprecedented opportunities to extract resources from the cocaine industry to deepen its long insurgency against the Colombian state. The Colombian experience demonstrates the importance of creating a more sophisticated understanding of how lootable wealth can exacerbate civil wars.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 48 , Issue 2 , Summer 2006 , pp. 95 - 116
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2006

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Andreas, Peter. 2000. Border Games: Policing the U.S.-Mexico Divide. Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Bagley, Bruce, and Juan, Tokatlian. 1992. Dope and Dogma: Explaining the Failure of U.S.-Latin American Drug Policies. In The United States and Latin America in the 1990s, ed. Jonathan Hartlyn, Lars Schoultz, and Augusto, Varas.. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. 1–34.Google Scholar
Bagley, Bruce, and William, Walker eds. 1994. Drug Trafficking in the Americas. New Brunswick: Transaction.Google Scholar
Bertram, Eva, Morris, Blachman, Kenneth, Sharpe, and Peter, Andreas. 1996. Drug War Politics: The Price of Denial. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Bowden, Mark. 2001. Killing Pablo: The Hunt for the World's Greatest Outlaw. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press.Google Scholar
Carpenter, Ted Galen. 2003. Bad Neighbor Policy: Washington's Futile War on Drugs in Latin America. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Center for International Policy (CIP).. 2004. U.S. Aid to Colombia since 1997: Summary Tables. http:www.ciponline.orgcolombiaaidtable.htm Accessed March 20, 2006Google Scholar
Clawson, Patrick, and Rensselaer, Lee 1996. The Andean Cocaine Industry. New York: St. Martin's Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, Paul. 2000. Rebellion as a Quasi-Criminal Activity. Journal of Conflict Resolution 44, 6: 1–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Collier, Paul, and Anke, Hoeffler. 2000. Greed and Grievance in Civil War. World Bank Policy Research Working Paper 2355. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Contreras, Joseph, and Fernando, Garavito. 2002. Biografia no autorizada de Álvaro Uribe Vélez. Bogotá: Oveja Negra.Google Scholar
Crandall, Russell. 2002. Driven by Drugs: U.S. Policy Toward Colombia. Boulder: Lynne Rienner.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Echandia, Camilo. 1998. Indagación sobre el grado de concentración de la actividad armada en el conflicto interno colombiano. Documento de Trabajo no. 12. Bogotá: Universidad de los Andes, Centro de Estudios Sobre Desarrolllo Económico. Paz Pública, Programa de Estudios Sobre Seguridad, Justicia, y Violencia. http:economia.uniandes.edu.cohtmlcedepazpublicapaz_publica.htm Accessed March 20, 2006Google Scholar
Fearon, James, and David, Laitin. 2003. Ethnicity, Insurgency, and Civil War. American Political Science Review 97, 1: 1–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ferro, Juan Guillermo, and Graciela, Uribe. 2002. El orden de la guerra: las FARCEP entre la organización y la política. Bogotá: Centro Editorial Javeriano.Google Scholar
Gugliotta, Guy. 1992. The Colombian Cartels and How to Stop Them. In Drug Policy in the Americas, ed. Peter, Smith.. Boulder: Westview Press. 1–28.Google Scholar
Human, Rights Watch 2001. The Sixth Division: Military-Paramilitary Ties and U.S. Policy in Colombia http:www.hrw.orgreports2001colombia Accessed March 20, 2006Google Scholar
Isacson, Adam. 2003. Washington's New War in Colombia: the War on Drugs Meets the War on Terror. NACLA Report on the Americas 36, 5: 1–18.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kay, Bruce. 1999. Violent Opportunities: the Rise and Fall of “King Coca” and Shining Path. Journal of Interamerican Studies and World Affairs 41, 3: 1–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Klare, Michael. 2001. Resource Wars: the New Landscape of Global Conflict. New York: Metropolitan Books.Google Scholar
Leogrande, William, and Kenneth, Sharpe. 2000. Two Wars or One: Drugs, Guerrillas, and Colombia's New Violencia. World Policy Journal 17, 3: 1–11.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mitchell, Chip. 2004. Colombian Government to Set up Paramilitary Haven. Notisur, June 24. http:www.ladb.unm.edu Accessed March 20, 2006Google Scholar
Molano, Alfredo. 2000. The Evolution of the Farc: a Guerrilla Group's Long History. NACLA Report on the Americas 34, 2: 1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Notisur 2004. Colombia: President Álvaro Uribe Faces Criticism from U.S. upon Completing Second Year in Office. August 13. Albuquerque: University of New Mexico Latin America Data Base. http:www.ladb.unm.edu Accessed March 20, 2006Google Scholar
Pizarro, Eduardo. 1991. Las FARC: de la autodefensa a la combinación de todas las formas de lucha. Bogotá: Tercer Mundo.Google Scholar
Rabasa, Angel, and Peter, Chalk. 2001. Colombian Labyrinth: The Synergy of Drugs and Insurgency and Its Implications for Regional Stability. Santa Barbara: Rand Corporation.Google Scholar
Restrepo, Luis Alberto. 2001. The Equivocal Dimension of Human Rights in Colombia. In Violence in Colombia 1990–2000: Waging War and Negotiating Peace, ed. Charles, Bergquist, Ricardo, Peñaranda, and Gonzalo, Sánchez. Wilmington: Scholarly Resources. 1–126.Google Scholar
Richani, Nazih. 2002. Systems of Violence: The Political Economy of War and Peace in Colombia. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Rohter, Larry. 1999. Colombia Tries, Yet Cocaine Thrives. New York times, November 20: A6.Google Scholar
Ross, Michael. 2003. Oil, Drugs, and Diamonds: The Varying Role of Natural Resources in Civil War. In The Political Economy of Armed Conflict: Beyond Greed and Grievance, ed. Karen, Ballentine. and Jake, Sherman.. Boulder: Lynne Rienner. 1–70.Google Scholar
Ross, Michael. 2004. What Do We Know about Natural Resources and Civil War Journal of Peace Research 41, 3: 1–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Serafino, Nina. 2001. Colombia: U.S. Assistance and Current Legislation. Washington, DC: Congressional Research Service. May 15.Google Scholar
Snyder, Richard. Forthcoming. Does Lootable Wealth Breed Disorder?a Political Economy of Extraction Framework. Comparative Political Studies.Google Scholar
Stares, Paul. 1996. Global Habit: The Drug Problem in a Borderless World. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.Google Scholar
Suárez, Alfredo. 2000. Parasites and Predators: Guerrillas and the Insurrection Economy of Colombia. Journal of International Affairs 53, 2: 1–602.Google Scholar
Thoumi, Francisco E. 2003. Illegal Drugs, Economy, and Society in the Andes. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
U.S. Department of State.. 2000. Remarks of Barry R. McCaffrey, Director, Office of National Drug Control Policy to the Atlantic Council of the United States. November 28. http:www.ciponline.orgcolombia112801.htm Accessed March 20, 2006Google Scholar
U.S. Department of State.. 2002. International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, 2001. March. http:www.state.govpinlrlsnrcrpt2001c6085.htm Accessed March 20, 2006Google Scholar
Vargas, Ricardo. 1998a. The Farc, the War, and the Crisis of the State. NACLA Report on the Americas 31, 5: 1–27.Google Scholar
Vargas, Ricardo. 1998b. A Military-Paramilitary Alliance Besieges Colombia. NACLA Report on the Americas 32, 3: 1–45.Google Scholar
Vargas, Ricardo. 1999. The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) and the Illicit Drug Trade. Acción Andina, Transnational Institute, and Washington Office on Latin America. June. http:www.tni.orgarchivesvargasfarc.htm Accessed March 20, 2006Google Scholar
Vargas, Ricardo. 2003. Drogas, conflicto armado y desarrollo alternativo: una perspectiva desde el sur de Colombia. Bogotá: Acción Adina Colombia.Google Scholar
Washington Office on Latin America (WOLA).. 2002. Colombia Cracks down. Colombia Monitor (July): 1–14.Google Scholar