The Culture Of War And Drugs In Colombia

A Colombian anti-narcotic soldier patrols the Putumayo river in a Black-Hawk helicopter donated by the US government. The United States has given weapons and provided training for a new Colombian anti-narcotic battalion which has the task of deterring leftist guerrillas of FARC who produce and trade cocaine in the region.

Outside Colombia's Peaceful Cities, A Country At War
-- International Herald Tribune

BOGOTÁ: A much-heralded renaissance is under way in Colombia's largest cities, and few places capture it better than the Parque de la 93, a verdant, tranquil island of sidewalk cafés where Bogotanos listen to jazz, sample microbrewed beer or dine on Cantabrian prawns. So you can imagine the surprise a few weeks ago when 300 people displaced by fighting in the countryside tried to occupy the park, demanding greater benefits.

The protesting refugees, including about 30 children, served as a reminder that if Colombia's capital city is looking to a bright future, much of the countryside surrounding it is not. There, in the hamlets and jungles, Colombia remains at war, as it has been for generations.

The placid ambience underscores not so much a bright future for Colombia but rather the disconnect between the nation's ascendant cities - Bogotá and Medellín in particular - and its rural areas, mired in horrors.

Perhaps only in a country like this, where rural guerrilla warfare and brutal counterinsurgencies have ground on for decades, can such extreme dysfunction seem ordinary.

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My Comment: To change the culture of war that is now endemic in The Colombian countryside .... this will realistically take decades to accomplish. If the drug trade controlled by the narco and terror gangs was eradicated, this change would occur much quicker .... but this is not going to happen with the present U.S. policy towards the war on drugs.