Tag Archives: drug war

The Role of the State and the Black Markets of La Guajira

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: January 14, 2009
Riding in an old Renault at night in La Guajira, Colombia’s northernmost state, our driver, Edison, recognizes an opportunity to fill up his tank not by Chevron, Shell, or Texaco signs over a gas station, but by the sight of a large red plastic container under the only lit lightbulb in sight on the side [...]
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Mexico’s Drug War?

By Eliot Brockner | Published: January 11, 2009
On 12 January, US President-Elect Barack Obama will meet with Mexican President Felipe Calderón to discuss the future of US-Mexican relations. The two have a lot to talk about. Mexico is limping out of one of its most violent years in history, in which 5,630 people were killed in drug and gang-related [...]
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Argentina and the Drug Trade

By Eliot Brockner | Published: December 14, 2008
The nation most known for its meat and tango is facing the possibility of adding something more to the notoriety list: a haven for drug smuggling. Within the last two weeks, Argentine customs officials and police have seized over 1000 kilos of cocaine in the port of Buenos Aires, destined for Spain for distribution [...]
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Bolivia and Colombia now have something in common: frustration with U.S. trade policy

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: November 2, 2008
Starting this weekend, and for the first time since 1991, Bolivia’s products no longer enjoy preferential access when entering the United States, unlike those from Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. All four countries had received tariff-free access for certain products under the Andean Trade Promotion and Drug Eradication Act (ATPDEA), a program designed during the George [...]
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The Next President’s Policies Toward Latin America

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: October 20, 2008
Back in 2000 then-candidate George W. Bush pledged to make this a “Century of the Americas.” ”Our future cannot be separated from the future of Latin America,” then-candidate George W. Bush told a Miami audience in 2000. ”Should I become the president, I will look south not as an afterthought, but as a fundamental [...]
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The Growing Balloon

By Sebastian Chaskel | Published: March 26, 2008
The balloon effect is considered to be one of the greatest failings or challenges of supply-side counternarcotics policies. As authorities attempt to diminish cocaine production in a region, cocaine prices go up and people in other regions experience strong incentives to fill the market gap. Stopping cocaine production is therefore like trying to [...]
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