Review: Democracias bajo fuego

Contents: Democracias bajo fuego

Review: US Anti-drug Policy Raises Problems in Latin America,Terra Viva, No. 19, July 1998

The anti-drug drive by the United States in Latin America is generating serious internal conflicts in countries south of the US border.

At the heart of the problem is Washington's insistence that the military in various nations be involved in operations which have led to a re-positioning of military institutions in the region.

A new book published in Montevideo argues that democratic systems in Latin America are in danger of being caught in the crossfire between drug traffickers and those involved in the war on drugs. The book, "Democracies under Fire: Drugs and Power in Latin America", contains research and analyses of a team of professionals and journalists from nine Latin American countries and the United States. The authors explore the risks faced by democratic regimes in the region in relation to the drug traffic.

These involve the big part played by the illegal drug trade in the economy of many countries, the accompanying corruption and impunity, and the "militarization" being promoted by the United States in the context of the war on drugs.

Adriana Rossi, Ph.D., a specialist on issues related to drug trafficking, says in the book that in Argentina a "dark tryst intertwines the interests of power and illegal activities.

If two decades ago the destruction of democracies in Latin America was carried out through violent de facto regimes, it appears that today it is being accomplished by the emptying out of democratic institutions that has taken place as a result of the emergence of illegal economic interests within spheres of power", Rossi says.

Parallel states

"Criminal networks that facilitate illicit activities within police forces and military institutions, a complacent judicial system that accomodates to those in power, and a Congress dominated by government supporters all point toward the existence of a parallel state with its own laws and modes of operation which is replacing the state itself".

Carlos Fazio, a Uruguayan-born journalist naturalized in Mexico, asks whether Mexico is not in fact a "narcodemocracy", and states that "Salinismo" (a reference to former President Carlos Salinas, who ruled from 1988 to 1994) was a "cornucopia for narcos, bureaucrats and businessmen" who took the country as booty.

Using the hypothesis of Mexican sociologist Luis Astorga, Fazio concludes that there is a structural interdependence between paricular institutions, social actors and traffickers, yet it is the latter which appear as the primary culprits.

After analyzing the allegedly bilateral agenda between the United States and Bolivia, Theo Roncken, member of the Bolivia Center for Documentation and Information, concludes that is, in fact, completely unilateral.

According to Roncken, Washington has imposed on Bolivia not only a repressive anti-narcotics policy, but also the legal framework for the administration of justice in relation to the drug trade in that country. This influence "intensifies the criminalization of broad sectors of the population and international demands have pushed the Bolivian state towards an increasingly authoritarian model", he says.

For his part, Colombian sociologist Ricardo Vargas Meza states that in his country, the involvement of the military in the war on drugs has acquired a political character, because it sets as its targets "those regions with a strong guerrilla presence".

Moreover, paramilitary forces - which have massacred hundreds of peasants - emerged from the multi-million dollar land investments made by Colombia's drug barons in southern Amazonia. Their actions have been tolerated by the government because they are considered part of the counterinsurgency effort, Vargas Meza says.
"As a matter of fact, these interests are helping to polarize the conflict, justifying their actions by claiming to be neutralizing the social base of the guerrilla. Yet it is coca-growing peasants who are hardest hit by paramilitary violence", he declares.

Candles for God, devil

"In Colombia, Washington lights one candle for God and another for the devil", because while the US denounces human rights violations, it increases military aid, accepting the fact that their weapons are not only used against the drug barons, but also against the guerrilla.

"This in fact favors a dirty war in the coca and poppy-growing regions of the country", Vargas Meza says.

While some of Latin America's armed forces have accepted US-demands to become an anti-narcotics force, others have resisted this role in an attempt to defend their sovereignty. This is the case in the four Mercosur countries - Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay.

The Uruguayan journalist and writer Samuel Blixen, examined the conclusions of the 10th Symposium of Strategic Studies of State Defense in Mercosur, held last year, in which the military institutions of the four Mercosur countries and Chile, which is also associated with the bloc, anticipated.

He says the hypothesis on conflict advanced by the military institutions of those countries points to "the armies of other regional trade blocs (like the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Andean Community) as well as those of other areas of the world (like the European Union and Japan)", as a result of "conflicting economic interests".

For "military Mercosur", he adds, other possible conflicts are with the United States and "with the countries that support its initiatives in the context of a military offensive against the drug trade, where borders and sovereignties could be transgressed".

Release of "Democracies under Fire" in the United States was planned to coincide with an extraordinary session of the United Nations on the drug issue, June 9.