The War on Drug Trafficking as a long duration
Diego Martín Velázquez Caballero
The extensive combat against groups dedicated to drug trafficking in Latin America seems to become the new hegemonic strategy of the United States. What happened in Ecuador and the response of the authorities to a problem of such magnitude show the way in which capitalism devastates the State. The idea that narco-societies can only be combated through the use of the armed forces and an increase in the security budget is not so wrong from certain perspectives. The problem arises when we talk about longer wars and the development of prison complexes and security technologies where criminals will live much better than the people. The joke of school and prison has been overcome by the Ecuadorian president, in a state of war he thinks about building Elysium for drug traffickers.
The president of Ecuador attempted to respond like Felipe Calderón Hinojosa to a situation of terrorist drug trafficking; However, he went ahead to show off the corruption, patrimonialism and social precariousness that Plan Colombia or Mérida means. The War on Drug Trafficking has failed because it went on longer than it should have and because the armed forces are sent to fight with their hands tied while the political class is dedicated to looting and colluding with the mafias.
The war on drug trafficking has been a far-reaching policy that the United States promotes; However, according to the advertising that the Ecuadorian government has established, it can be seen that those who benefit are the North American construction companies and arms industries; that is, pentagonism. Mexico and Colombia can give clear examples of the failure of this policy; more than two decades in combat have left such a number of deaths and violence that the results are genocide and Failed States. The war against drug trafficking is the new counterinsurgency strategy of the United States against Latin America. Committing Latin American governments to these failed wars implies encouraging the abandonment of social issues and the promotion of underdevelopment. Although some businessmen consider that war is the right time for business, in the long term everyone loses, just look at how many have to pay property rights and must abandon their businesses for the washing machines of drug trafficking.
We must remember the degree of perversion of the Mérida Initiative, Plan Colombia and narcoterrorism. Drug trafficking is followed by money laundering, drug exploitation, neo-extractivism and all types of criminal activities. Who benefits from putting a country at war? While the president of Ecuador, like Calderón Hinojosa, think of militarization as the acquisition of toys and prisons as science fiction architectural designs, the people must think about migrating to the United States or prepare for an unimaginable escalation of violence; of which Ecuador has given signs.
The American narco-empire and mafia states are what make the ideal combination for Latin American colonialism: forced displacement, poverty, migration, neo-extractivism and corrupting patrimonialism; They constitute a social cycle that makes the narcoeconomy functional for the United States. North America has the capacity to destroy drug traffickers if it really wanted to end the problem; The point is that the main Drug Cartel is the Americans.
The more drug power advances, the more inefficient the State becomes. Federico Campbell talks about the Sicilianization of society and the necrosis of the State in Mexico, it is more than regrettable to glimpse this future for all of Latin America. No government finds a way to save its country from this fate and American drug addiction seems endless.
Only the full and courageous legalization of drugs will allow Latin America to escape this spiral of violence and poverty. If the United States wants to put an end to drug trafficking, let them come to fight drug traffickers or establish health measures for their population. The war on drugs is lost from the beginning and the one who loses the most is society.