Is the U.S. Winning the Drug War in Latin America Research Paper - 1

Is the U.S. Winning the Drug War in Latin America - Research Paper Example CON: No, the US is not winning the drug war in Latin America 1. Latin American nations are moving towards drug legalization 2. Drugs have become important in balancing international trade in Peru by earning the nation a huge foreign income 3. US anti-drug operations in some nations like Guatemala and Mexico are accused of victimization in their war on drugs 4. Venezuelan government is aiding drug traffickers by making the nation a key launching pad for US and Europe-bound cocaine 5. Latin America has marked a huge rise in coca production over the past few years despite the US efforts of discouraging its production Amidst the narcotics decriminalizing calls by some leading Latin American leaders, Janet Napolitano, the US Homeland Security Secretary defended the drug war strategy of the US. In her tour of Central America and Mexico to strengthen the security cooperation with the nations, Napolitano claimed that the US would continue assisting the Latin American efforts of going after t he regional producers and traffickers of drugs despite persistent drug-related violence.1 She claims that drug war has not failed but is rather a continuous effort of keeping the regional population from addiction to the dangerous drugs. Felipe Calderon, the Mexican President, supports the war and his target is the leading kingpins, capturing and/or killing several key cartel figures with the help of the US. The two nations are also united in the search for Joaquin Guzman, after he escaped in 2001 from prison.2 Alvaro Uribe, Columbia’s President, started meeting the other regional nations’ leaders on 4 August 2009 in support of the US anti-drug campaign. During the trip, Uribe’s aim was attempting to appease the other leaders from Latin America’s concerns regarding a deal that he expected to sign to allow the United States to relocate its recommendable drug-interdiction flight activities to Colombia following the dismissal of such operations from Ecuador. The plan could raise the number of the American troops within Colombia to facilitate war on drugs.3 This effort by President Uribe shows that the US war on drugs has impact on the Latin American countries and this support implies the war is not that badly off. The nation is under so much international pressure as the international community assumes that the US should deal with the whole situation with finality. This pressure may in turn make the US appear as if it is doing so little in this drugs war, which is not entirely the case.4 However, most Latin American nations consider this war as an overwhelming failure. Jose de Cordoba argues that drug violence has spiraled beyond control in Mexico with a commission headed by 3 former heads of Latin American states blasting the war on drug as a failed effort, which is pushing the societies in Latin America to their breaking point.5 Consequently, the first Latin American Conference attendees favored decriminalization of possession of dru gs for personal use.6 Moreover, the attendees claimed that legislative reforms were underway to facilitate smaller sentences are given to the small traffickers, and set up policies, which minimize harm via encouraging the addicts to seek help from the health system. Such a hemispheric summit could spark open revolt against US-led drug war. Actually, Latin Americans are determined to gain their independence from the ‘disastrous’ US anti-drug policy.7 In an article dated 7 August 2009, Romulo Pizarro, Peru’s drug czar, estimates that the earnings of the foreign