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Colombia: Tackling the Drug Menace
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18290 |
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CURRENT ISSUES
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| Issue
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10 / 1990 |
1,825 Words |
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Victor Mosquera Chaux
Victor Mosquera Chaux is Colombia's ambassador to the United
States and former president of Colombia. |
The American media and public opinion have long associated Colombia's name inextricably and not always justly with drugs. Forgotten or simply brushed aside are our accomplishments in the economic, social, political, scientific, and educational spheres. The positive endeavors of an overwhelming majority of honest, hard-working, and intelligent people have seemed to amount to little against the strident backdrop of criminal activity conducted by a handful of individuals we regrettably have to call our citizens.
Much too frequently, we have heard references to Colombia as “the largest supplier of drugs consumed in the United States” or read about death and violence in Medellin, “Colombia's cocaine capital” or “the cocaine capital of the world.” These stereotypical comments, as offensive and inexact as they may be, have become absolute truths embedded in American public opinion. Aside from the criticisms cast on them by a few inquisitive Colombian journalists and public officials, these and other similar notions hardly ever receive any challenges or questions and, in time, have come to be taken as uncontestable facts by the man and woman on the street.
Furthermore, this erosion of our image was taking place at a time when our society and institutions were faced with tremendous challenges from within, and we found ourselves in need of both internal strength and full-fledged international confidence.
Granted, the tainting of our international image was not totally unjustified. Academics, politicians, public officials, and community leaders who were surprised, angered, or dismayed by a growing drug problem they could neither comprehend nor explain, let alone solve, understandably began to grasp for answers by looking at the supply side. This happened while increasing numbers of Colombians, Peruvians, Bolivians, and others were being attracted into cocaine production by the fabulous profits to be made.
Charges and countercharges began to fly, followed by angry denunciations and, eventually, calls for action. Members of the U.S. Congress made a common practice of delivering inflammatory speeches condemning Colombia and calling for economic and trade sanctions. Academics from the most conservative quarters prescribed heavy-handed diplomacy. Two popular mayors and at least one prominent administration official advocated nothing short of an invasion of Colombia by U.S. troops to burn the coca fields and bomb the labs.
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