War on Drugs in Colombia Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

War on Drugs in Colombia - Essay Example Colombia became the source country and the main supplier of cocaine to the world markets in the nineties. Almost 80% of the cocaine used in America came from Colombia. This illegal narcotic trade yielded billion of dollars as revenue, most of which was used to fund armed groups which were involved in drug production as well as trafficking. For the past fifty years or so, Colombia has been a very unstable country. In the 1960s it was the two Marxist guerilla outfits the National Liberation Army (ELN) and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) that were creating instability. In the 1970s it was drug trafficking that became a big problem for Colombia. Drug cartels almost controlled the country then. In the 1990s the right-wing paramilitaries were formed mainly consisting of drug traffickers and landowners. The main paramilitary group was the United Self Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC). The conflict in Colombia began even before large-scale production of cocaine began. The conflict was clearly a result of the unequal distribution of wealth and resources and the fact that people could get away with the abuse of human rights. The guerrilla forces vilated human rights and the wealthy in turn formed paramilitary forces to protect their power. The paramilitary forces dominated the drug trade, and the guerrillas have used money from the drug trade to finance their activities. â€Å"The War on Drugs† is the name given to the action taken by the United States and the participating countries to stop the supply of drugs to the United States and also to lessen the demand for drugs among the people.