The US War on Drugs in Latin America Essay - 3424 Words

The US War on Drugs in Latin America Introduction The United States has a long history of intervention in the affairs of one it’s southern neighbor, Latin America. The war on drugs has been no exception. An investigation of US relations with Latin America in the period from 1820 to 1960, reveals the war on drugs to be a convenient extension of an almost 200 year-old policy. This investigation focuses on the commercial and political objectives of the US in fighting a war on drugs in Latin America. These objectives explain why the failing drug policy persisted despite its overwhelming failure to decrease drug production or trafficking. These objectives also explain why the US has recently exchanged a war on drugs for the war on†¦show more content†¦The alternative crop programs the US proposed to replace coca failed for various reasons. The unstable political situation made the area too dangerous to bring in â€Å"agronomists, engineers, and project specialists† to survey the land (Kirk 265). Even if farme rs had been successful in growing alternative crops, the Colombian market for legal crops such as corn, yucca, coffee and chocolate was already â€Å"battered by global shifts in price.†(Kirk 264) Legal crops had to be transported on poor roads and farmers had to wait months to be paid for their goods. These were no competition for coca which was paid for immediately, often times with American cash, and transported without any charge to the farmers (Kirk 243). The US again failed to address the reality that entire peasant villages were built around the coca industry, when devising the Dignity Plan in Bolivia. This plan took effect between1998 and 2002. The war on drugs in Bolivia meant the indiscriminate destruction of both legal and illegal crops by the country’s military. Legal crops destroyed included staple foods and exotic crops. The plan resulted in human rights violations and the dislocation of thousands of peasants- a direct contradiction of the US Senate’s Leahy amendment calls for funding to beShow MoreRelatedPresident Franklin Roosevelt And The United States1699 Words   |  7 PagesDuring a 1928 goodwill speech in Latin America, President Herbert Hoover said, â€Å"We have a desire to maintain not only the cordial relations of governments with each other, but also the relations of good neighbors† (United States History). Hence, the Good Neighbor phrase was coined as the Coolidge Administration was crit icized for armed intervention in Latin America. The Hoover Administration’s policies were created to strengthen relations with Latin America; for instance the retraction of the TheodoreRead MoreThe Impact Of Latin American Culture On Latin America1656 Words   |  7 Pagesbeing in an active war zone, living in Latin America would be much like that. 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