The Drug Trade, Politics and The Economy: The Colombian Experience

Abstract

For Colombians today, drugs are probably the phenomenon which has had the greatest impact on national life. In different ways and with varying degrees of accuracy, all kinds of effects are attributed to the drug trade. For some, one of the main causes of the upward trend of the economy over the last 20 years has been the resources generated by the drug trade. For others, the violence, which has affected the country to a degree unparalleled in any society not at war, is primarily attributable to the large groups of criminals created by the narcotics industry. The destruction of the judicial system, customary impunity for criminal offenders and growing corruption are usually attributed to the influence of the drug traffickers. Many believe that the money and resources have in their turn allowed drugs to influence popular culture, the management of the media, political campaigns and parties, and the distribution of power in general. It is not only foreign journalists or US government rhetoric that characterise Colombia as a “narco-democracy”. Every day Colombians see on the news how Congress, mayors from remote regions, the judicial system or the bureaucracy are penetrated, influenced and directed by the “narcos”.

Translated by Pam Decho.