ABSTRACT
The illicit drug trade continues to be a global phenomenon and in spite of a number of efforts to control it, globally, the consumption of cocaine – Colombia’s primary illicit drug export – has remained relatively stable. The drug-terrorism association is not in itself a new manifestation with collaboration between the two aspects going back decades but during the 1990s, ‘narcoterrorism’ was used to describe the increasing range of terrorist activities the Colombian Cartels employed to develop, support and protect their drugs trade. The most infamous example of this form of ‘narcoterrorism’ was the campaign waged by the FARC whose inception and development is one of the most well documented (and evidenced). The FARC evolved to be the dominant actor in Colombia and South America and the growth of the illicit drugs trade, combined with FARC’s use of terrorism, facilitated this immensely. Due to political mismanagement, widespread corruption of officials and chronic instability in Colombia’s Government, the FARC was able to grow in strength unopposed by administration elements.
