ABSTRACT
Over recent years, the US has attempted to reduce the import of Colombian drugs through Plan Colombia and the Andean Regional Initiative. Whereas the US and Colombian governments presented these multi-billion dollar programs as necessary for stabilizing a war-torn country, critics around the world argued that US military aid led to human rights abuses and environmental destruction, weakened the Colombian state and society, and strengthened paramilitaries. This chapter largely disregards these important issues. Instead, it explains the displacement of the South American drug industry in the early twenty-first century.
During the second half of the 1990s, US policy-makers became increasingly concerned about Colombia. Large rebel and paramilitary groups roamed the cities and countryside, the illicit drug industry was thriving, and the Colombian government was unable to exert control. These problems directly affected US perceived security interests, prompting US policy-makers to redefine the US role in Colombia. Drugs were the most obvious reason for an increase in US aid. Every year, the US federal government and the state governments spent many billions of dollars to combat the narcotics trade, but drug consumption continued unabated.
