At the root of the cocaine epidemic

romy says on Apr 10, 2008, 17:50:

The war on drugs. I'd be pretty pissed as an American taxpayer seeing my money go to waste like this. But I guess there's still belief in this strategy.

romy says on Apr 10, 2008, 17:52:

Colombia to London: the coke trail

It takes approximately two hectares of coca bushes - Ethyroxylum coca - to make one kilogram of coca paste; the exact amount will depend on the variety of coca leaves used. The leaves are crushed in a pozo, a pit or drum that allows four or five men to work the leaves into a thick, light-brown paste. The process also involves chemicals, including sulphuric acid and kerosene.

One kilo of coca paste will earn the farmer around $1,500, more than half the annual income of an average Colombian. Processed at a jungle refinery, the paste is dissolved, filtered and dried. One kilo of paste will make 800 grams of powdered cocaine.

Exported to drug-traffickers in America or Europe, and diluted by street-level dealers, one kilo of cocaine is worth £100,000-plus on the streets of London.

FIRST POSTED APRIL 7, 2008

http://www.thefirstpost.co.uk/27010,features,the-coke-trail

Ryan619 says on Apr 10, 2008, 19:15:

Hey, I have to tell you that your avitar looks like it was doing lines through the left nostrle.

Dreaming of better days

Lcacique says on Apr 10, 2008, 19:46:

Eradication is the greatest way to create more coca production. Simple economics...It creates scarcity which raises the price of coca. As a result, more campesinos (anywhere in the Andes) are willing to cultivate the crop because little else is as profitable (not to mention you can harvest it several times a year, someone comes to pick it up so that you don't have to try to find a market that does not exist to sell your licit crops in, etc.). And by raising the price, you barely effect the bottom line for the traffikers. It is a complete waste of money and time.

Hoy se nota en la floresta un ambiente de alegría. ¡Y el rumor de ranchería es mas dulce y sabe a fiesta!

nine inch nails says on Apr 10, 2008, 19:52:

and people think coca will be eventually eradicated...

Like Afghanistan will never cultivate poppy again.

"Bank owned" (www.foreclosurebyowner.com)

nine inch nails says on Apr 10, 2008, 19:56:

Just legalize it all but make a pre-requirement for any job requiring drug free to get regular drug tests.

And a drug screen for insurance also. Coca does destroy the circulatory system in time. Look at Maradona. At age 39 think he only had 39% heart capacity from doing so much of it. Yeah if you can control it ok in small doses but I don't think it works that way. Muy adictivo no??

To each his own. Just legalize it all to end all the problems and let each person make their own choice.

"Bank owned" (www.foreclosurebyowner.com)

Sam Salmon says on Apr 10, 2008, 20:37:

"Exported to drug-traffickers in America or Europe, and diluted by street-level dealers, one kilo of cocaine is worth £100,000-plus on the streets of London."

Somebody is paying far too much for their 'yaiyo'.

' a la orden!'

Robert Jorge says on Apr 11, 2008, 00:11:

The first sentence of the article is even inaccurate - though dramatic. "Submachine guns". A submachine gun is a weapon that is the size of a rifle or smaller, but shoots pistol caliber ammunition automatically. Colombian soldiers going through the jungle would carry Galil or Colt assault rifles. Those shoot rifle ammunition (5.56mm)

What do they cut cocaine with? Not being "in the loop", I have a lack of knowledge of what are common cutting agents in cocaine. The one person who I met years ago that was into that stuff, mixed his stuff with crushed vitamin B12? At least that is what he told me. Just curious.

kalder says on Apr 11, 2008, 02:55:

So would I Robert. I know next to nothing about drugs. I'm not even sure I know what the effects of cocaine are on the user.

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon

romy says on Apr 11, 2008, 09:50:

With the latest interest in art in this forum the following article seems fitting.

http://www.hcnonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=19475860&BRD=1574&PAG=46...
Exhibit highlights victims of drug trade
By Virginia Billeaud Anderson
Contributing writer
04/11/2008

Colombia’s narcotics industry generates between $2 to $5 billion dollars annually. Although that country’s cocaine finds markets around the world, the majority of Colombian cocaine ends up in the United States.

Besides murderous cartel bosses there are many other types playing a role in Colombia’s drug trade. Poor agricultural laborers harvest coca leaves. Technicians process cocaine in jungle labs. Highly-skilled traffickers move the drug into Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, from where it enters the United States. The bodies, clothes and luggage of smugglers conceal and transport. So do fishing vessels, commercial cargo ships and speedboats. One entrepreneurial gang commissioned American and Russian engineers to design a high-tech smuggling submarine to avoid detection.

Others are involved peripherally. Marxist guerillas, having lost Soviet funding for their arms and doctrine, extort payments from cartels, which in turn employ paramilitary forces to protect coca fields, labs and smuggling routes. Arms dealing jackals sell to both groups. Columbia’s military violently confronts both groups. Simultaneously its law enforcement agencies battle drug-related extortion, kidnapping and murder. Particularly challenging to authorities are the modern drug lord practices of laundering money internationally and channeling profits into legitimate businesses. Drug rich fat-cats astutely retain lawyers, tax advisors and investment consultants. Then there is Columbia’s political and judicial corruption.


So when Bogota-born Miguel Angel Rojas decided to deal artistically with this reality, he offered in-your-face articulation of its societal impact. “Caqueta,� his video of a young soldier who lost his hands fighting guerillas, is a wrenching example.

Perhaps the most important Colombian artist working today, with art works residing in major American, South American and European museums, the video, photography and installation art of Miguel Angel Rojas can be seen at Houston’s Sicardi Gallery through May 15.

With his series “David� Rojas continues the theme of limbs lost to violence. Here he presents six larger than life jaw-dropping photographs of a nude soldier standing in the position of Michelangelo’s famous sculpture. The soldier’s missing leg cruelly shatters the contrapposto style symmetry that Michelangelo borrowed from classical statuary.

While conceptualizing this piece Rojas discovered that the soldier had never heard of the Renaissance masterpiece or of Michelangelo. This artwork serves as metaphor for Colombian educational deficiency, which unravels opportunity and propels youth to military service or drug trade involvement. Profits earned by Rojas from his magnificent photographic series will help to support his model and other amputees.

In proximity to “David� is the installation “Quiebramales� which, according to Rojas, translates to “Evil Breaker.� “Quiebramales� derives from the word “quiebrapatas,� meaning “landmine� (leg-breaker) in Colombia. The work’s 2,700 pencils represent education.

“In Latin America, governments assign a pittance to education,� said Rojas. “The solution to the drug problem does not lie in repression, such as the flawed policy of destroying crops, but in education and rural development.�

Like the pencils in “Quiebramales,� Rojas uses other materials for their potent symbolism. The text in “Houston/Curillo,� for instance, is made of coca leaves and dollar bills punched into tiny dots. Its coca leaf text refers to a major US drug trade destination and its dollar bill text refers to one of Columbia’s cocaine manufacturing locations.

“Nowadays,� also made of coca leaves, draws from the hallowed history of art. Rojas appropriated the work’s text which reads “Just What Is It That Makes Today’s Homes So Different, So Appealing?� from the title of Richard Hamilton’s iconic Pop Art collage, a pivotal piece created in 1956 that seems to question the unsparing assault of advertising and profit driven consumerism.

Here Rojas is alluding to the international community’s double standard with respect to illegal drugs. Colombia is stigmatized for cocaine production but production is driven by demand. While Colombia produces and suffers, others capitalize.

Colombia’s drug trade and its societal consequences is not the only issue dealt with in the exhibition. Rojas penetrates homosexuality, prejudice and alienation, with photographic art focusing on the human figure. And you can see more of Rojas’ art in “Apertura Colombia,� a group exhibition of Colombian photography and video currently on view at Houston’s Station Museum of Contemporary Art.

Lcacique says on Apr 11, 2008, 10:11:

rj and kalder:

cocaine is cut with any number of powdered substances. Some of the common agents used to cut cocaine include: lactose, lidocaine (which adds to the numbing properties of cocaine allowing the user to believe that it's good shit), sodium bicarbonate (i.e. baking soda), dextrose, mannitol, talcum powder, a variety of sugars and even powdered vitamins (because even coke addicts like to be healthy).

kalder: you really don't think you know what the effects of cocaine are? That is surprising for someone that used to go to Iggy Pop shows, jajaja.

Hoy se nota en la floresta un ambiente de alegría. ¡Y el rumor de ranchería es mas dulce y sabe a fiesta!

Lcacique says on Apr 11, 2008, 15:35:

Leading Causes of Death in the US in 2000:

tobacco (435,000 deaths, 18.1% of the total)
poor diet/inactivity (400,000, 16.6% of the total)
alcohol (85,000, 3.5% of the total)
illicit use of drugs (17,000, 0.7% of the total)

Another reason why the drug war is a joke.

Hoy se nota en la floresta un ambiente de alegría. ¡Y el rumor de ranchería es mas dulce y sabe a fiesta!

durito says on Apr 11, 2008, 15:38:

The root of the "cocaine epidemic" is US policy and law.

Lcacique says on Apr 11, 2008, 16:41:

Don't forget the US habit, durito.

Hoy se nota en la floresta un ambiente de alegría. ¡Y el rumor de ranchería es mas dulce y sabe a fiesta!

romy says on Apr 11, 2008, 17:54:

Lcacique while I agree the drug war is a joke, those stats are misleading. I don't think any deaths are actually 'caused' by tobacco. Correlations are different than causality. Not even cancer has been shown to be caused by tobacco.

Man Tequila says on Apr 11, 2008, 19:19:

That's simply not true. Randomized controlled trials do show causation. Leave the health stuff to someone with an understanding of epidemiology, mmmkay?

pues se me antoja que sus cantares son de una tierra desconocida, y yo le dije si a usted le inspira, saber la tierra de donde soy... con mucho gusto y a mucho honor...

romy says on Apr 11, 2008, 19:25:

causation of what?
not cancer
besides, you don't know what I do what are you even talking about

billyb says on Apr 11, 2008, 19:37:

Oh oh, I see a medical professional pissing contest a brewing. I have my money on MT.

Lcacique says on Apr 11, 2008, 19:42:

romy: while I admire your skepticism, I think I'll trust Ali H. Mokdad PhD, James S. Marks MD/MPH, Donna F Stroup, PhD/MSc, Julie L. Gerberding MD/MPH and their artcle "Actual
Causes of Death in the United States, 2000," that was published in the peer reviewed Journal of the American Medical Association, vol 291, no. 10, 2004.

Hoy se nota en la floresta un ambiente de alegría. ¡Y el rumor de ranchería es mas dulce y sabe a fiesta!

poco says on Apr 11, 2008, 19:45:

Quote: Eradication is the greatest way to create more coca production

Somewhere other than Colombia.

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

romy says on Apr 11, 2008, 20:19:

Lcacique- sorry, but either you didn't read that literature review you reference beyond the abstract or you don't understand the concepts. They talk about relative risk (RR) because no cause-effect relationships have been established. And I'll quote the review "We estimate that approximately 435000 deaths were attributable to smoking in 2000" so though it's educated, it's still a guess.
The moment it's found that smoking kills, it will show up on cigarette packs "Smoking kills" until then the advisory signs have to be more permissive.

Aaron21 says on Apr 11, 2008, 20:22:

Romy, I think they were guessing/estimating the number - not the cause.

Lcacique says on Apr 11, 2008, 20:28:

Sure some moves out of Colombia, it also moves into virgin areas within Colombia.

The Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) recently reported a spike in coca production from 2004 to 2005 of roughly 29,000 hectares. They downplayed the growth claiming that they were now surveying a wider area of Colombia (really? We've been in a drug war for how many years in Colombia, and they just now thought to look in other parts of the country. Frankly, that is a pathetic excuse). For 2006, they reported an increase of 13,200 hectares. Again, downplaying it due to a wider area surveyed.

There inability to correctly measure the amount of coca cultivation is further demonstrated by the fact that they now present a "range estimate" instead of a "point estimate" in their reports. Not only that, the data they release is subject to a 90% confidence interval. Therefore, looking at the 2006 range they presented in their report, they are only 90% certain that the actual amount of coca being cultivated in Colombia is between 125,800 hectares and 179,500 hectares. That's a pretty big range.

If we assume that the actual amount is somewhere in the middle (i.e. 155,000 hectares) that is twice as much as the UN's amount for the same period (78,000 hectares). Which is right? Or does this suggest that such surveys are extremely unreliable (lack of satellite coverage, cloud cover, the fact that they only include large plots and we know that Colombians have taken to planting smaller plots to avoid detection, etc.).


poco: you are right, coca production has predictably increased in Peru and Bolivia; however, I would argue that it has simply moved around Colombia as well. While there might be a slight decrease, I seriously doubt that it is sustainable.

Much of this info can be found in a Washington Office on Latin America study titled "Chemical Reactions," available as a PDF through their website.

Hoy se nota en la floresta un ambiente de alegría. ¡Y el rumor de ranchería es mas dulce y sabe a fiesta!

romy says on Apr 11, 2008, 20:50:

ok, I gave that reference a better read to be sure of what I said. It's not a literature review like I had stated before. However, their methods cannot determine causation. Basically they looked at CDC death stats and pro-rated them according to RRs (from other studies) of certain behaviours and further factored in statistics of certain behaviours (such as, what % of people smoke, how much they smoke, etc.). So it's all a big formula [(P0
Pi (RRi)) − 1]/[P0
Pi(RRi)] that supposedly tells you what behaviours are killing people. Still no evidence of causation.

Lcacique says on Apr 11, 2008, 20:51:

You have a point romy, I just read the report. I originally read it in a book; nevertheless, I think it is pretty well-established that tobacco products kill far more people than illicit drugs. This, however, also has to do with the fact that there are more people that use them.

Hoy se nota en la floresta un ambiente de alegría. ¡Y el rumor de ranchería es mas dulce y sabe a fiesta!

Cerealkiller says on Apr 12, 2008, 12:24:

Romy, I am not a smoker but last time i checked cigarette packs did read 'smoking kills'...
http://www.ski-epic.com/london_amsterdam_2005/p26b_amst_smoking_kills....

Conservatives are not necessarily stupid, but most stupid people are conservatives -John Stuart Mill

poco says on Apr 12, 2008, 12:29:

Quote: poco: you are right,

I quit reading after seeing that,, thanks.

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

romy says on Apr 12, 2008, 12:37:

CK- I don't know where that is and frankly I'm only familiar with Canadian legislation in this matter. But here they can't do that because it has not been proven. They still get the message out though http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/ahc-asc/media/photogal/label-etiquette/index_e....

romy says on Apr 12, 2008, 12:51:

Though a terrible analysis of the conflict in Colombia this article is good in reporting from the grassroots level. And a good critique of the war on drugs.

http://www.sundayherald.com/international/shinternational/display.var....
Cocaine Knights
By Mike Power in Cartagena, Colombia

THE PERIMETER fence of the cocaine eradicators' makeshift camp in Pueblo Lindo, central Colombia, is ringed with watchful soldiers. The dawn air crackles with radio chatter and static from the lookout points and snipers.

At this end of the Rio Magdalena, Colombia's main river, the lagoons are tranquil. Flocks of herons and storks glide inches from the mirrored surface as the sun rises over the sierra, saturating the senses with light and sound as the jungle awakes. It's an idyllic spot - or it should be.

It's a three-hour ride in a dubious speedboat to Pueblo Lindo from Magangue, a transport hub where thousands of locals haggle over the price of cockerels, rum, illicit iguana eggs and nameless fruits as boatmen tout for trade. Along the river banks, mango vendors swarm to the dock as new customers arrive; it's a scene of benign tropical mayhem.

Floating midriver a human corpse drifts slowly past, a turkey buzzard pecking at the bloated stomach, and the mood shifts.

We're heading deeper into the backwaters, to Montecristo, a lawless place where narcotraffickers and cocaleros (coca farmers) once openly traded the gooey white pasta basica (basic paste) that is refined from coca leaves and sold as powder or crack cocaine on the streets of Europe and the USA. The town used to produce 10 tonnes of cocaine paste a year, which when refined yields around eight tonnes of pure cocaine hydrochloride, the sparkling powder that sells at around £50 a gramme in the UK.

The Colombian army is protecting 300 cocaine eradicators who are digging up the innocent-looking green bushes whose roots are tangled in the country's 40-year civil war. Guerillas and paramilitaries alike trade the drug for weapons or sell it to fund their campaigns.

The atmosphere is workmanlike and tense, as today the workers will head deeper and higher into the jungle slopes of the Sierra de San Lucas than before.

It's a four-hour slog to reach today's clandestine coca plantation. As we round a corner, a cry goes up. Anti-explosive dog handlers carry out a reconnaissance check of the field, checking for mines placed by guerillas or cocaleros protecting their crop, and once the all-clear is given, workers swarm across the two-hectare field, working in three-man teams.

It's risky work, as farmers have planted bombs alongside some crops - six workers were killed last year by one such device and the FARC gunned down 13 soldiers guarding the workers. In March, FARC guerrillas fired bombs made of domestic gas tanks from across the Ecuadorian border at the eradicators.

One digs out the roots, another wrenches the metre-high bush free and a third sprays herbicide around the area. In under two hours the field is stripped bare of coca. But down in Pueblo Lindo, Jorge Sanchez undoes all their work with a smile and a gentle shrug.

"As soon as they are gone, I'll be planting more coca. I'd like to grow coffee, sure, but that takes seven years. This bush grows back in nine months, and produces leaves every 60 days," he says. "Rice sells at $25 a hundredweight, takes five months of hard work, and I need to transport it by river. That costs a lot. Coca paste goes for $1500 a kilo and the plant needs no attention. What would you do?"

Many rural communities are penned in between entrenched poverty, the US-funded anti-drugs programme Plan Colombia which wipes out their illegal crops and leftist guerillas and right-wing armed groups and narcotraffickers who sometimes force them to grow coca. With poor infrastructure, few roads and no external market for their goods, the farmers often have no practical or economic choice other than coca cultivation to survive.

"We're not bad people, we'd like to live legally. But we need support. We've been living off this bush for years," says Sanchez.

The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC as they are known in Spanish, were originally a peasant army formed in the 1960s dedicated to a Marxist overthrow of the Colombian state. Colombia sees a massive gap between rich and poor, and social mobility has been virtually non-existent for much of the last century. The guerrillas took control in the 1970s and 1980s, and waged war on the Colombian government for much of the last 40 years.

However, the guerrillas' leftist philosophy has been compromised and almost abandoned in the last two decades, as it swapped drugs for arms and forced peasants to grow coca. It has also lost the support of many thanks to its policy of kidnapping, murder and extortion.

Some say they are losing influence. One FARC leader, Raul Reyes, was killed in a cross-border raid into Ecuador by Colombia last month, leading to a brief regional crisis that threatened war. Ecuador says Colombia must do more to contain its civil war; Colombia says Ecuador must stop sheltering the guerilla.

In March, a leading FARC commander, Ivan Rios, was murdered by one of his own soldiers, who cut off his commander's hand and delivered it to the Colombian police in order to prove the identity of the dead man. He is to receive a six-figure reward from the government for his treachery.

While many have presented FARC as a diminishing force in the conflict, it is wrong to underestimate their reach. Figures vary, but some reports suggest FARC rebels number 18-24,000, and many Colombians are still joining their ranks as an escape route from poverty.

In response to the Marxist guerilla through the 1980s and 1990s, many wealthy landowners contracted brutal private armies to defend their land. These paramilitaries are heavily involved in the cocaine trade. Many thousands of their number have demobilised in recent years under controversial legislation that many observers say has been too lenient, with short jail terms offered for confessions of massacres. But they are active in the drug trafficking and many formed gangs.

Colombia's civil conflict has little political basis, and is better seen as a narco-war, says Professor Rodrigo Losada, a security analyst at Bogota's Javeriana University.

"The armed actors in the Colombian civil conflict have systematically used the cocaine industry to further their warlike aims," he said. "If it wasn't for cocaine, the FARC could never have formed a 24,000-man strong army, all perfectly armed and equipped. The paramilitaries, for their part, have also been able to amass a force equal to the FARC through the coca trade, whether through planting, protection rackets or by taxing the flow of cocaine through Colombia's rivers and airspace. The impact of cocaine profits on the power of the armed groups' ability to act has been overwhelming. This has also had serious implications for the political life of the country too, with congressmen bought or threatened by narcotraffickers."

President Alvaro Uribe is a staunch proponent of military force against the FARC, a stance partially explained by the murder of his father by the guerilla in a botched kidnapping attempt. Domestically, Uribe is popular for his hardline anti-FARC policies in Colombia, with an 83% approval rating in a Gallup poll last month. He has beaten the guerilla back into the jungle, freeing up Colombia's main cities from the threat of violence.

While the US has paid billions in military aid and anti-drug spraying planes - Colombia is the third-biggest recipient of US military aid in the world - the task is Sisyphean. New coca bushes are planted before the leaves of the sprayed crops wither, experts say. In Europe and the US, demand has risen, use is up and purity has improved.

Colombia, a key US ally in an increasingly leftist Latin America, is the world's biggest producer of cocaine, weighing in with 600 tonnes a year, 62% of global supply. The US has advocated the aerial fumigation of coca crops with herbicides, from small planes flying low. But this method of eradication is scattergun at best, and inefficient, dangerous - and possibly illegal - at worst.

On March 31, Ecuador launched a criminal case against Colombia in the international court at the Hague over anti-drug fumigation, alleging that herbicide clouds drifting from the planes is damaging food crops in Ecuador.

Last year President Alvaro Uribe admitted fumigation was flawed after farmers said legal crops were wiped out by the spray, and proposed manual eradication as a more permanent solution. In tandem with the groundwork, technical and financial assistance would be offered to cocaleros to help them replant their fields with lucrative crops. It would also create jobs and boost state control of rebel-held areas, it was claimed.

Uribe, a right-wing hardliner, has shifted strategy towards a manual cocaine eradication programme in favour of the aerial attacks, although 320,000 acres of land is still sprayed. Colombia says it will eradicate almost 250,000 acres of coca by hand this year.

But the real drivers in the shift to manual eradication are US Democrats, who have been critical of aerial spraying, citing environmental concerns. They demanded a cut in favor of alternative crop schemes to help the cocaleros make the transition to legal work.

But the programme has met with massive protests by peasants in coca strongholds such as Taraza in the Antioquia province. In February, 2000 farmers clashed with police, blocking roads into the province's main city, Medellin, throwing stones and burning down a toll booth. They returned to their fields after the government paid them $80 to go home, and offered alternative crop development programmes.

Here in listless Pueblo Lindo, though, there is no such help on offer, and the entire town looks hungry.

Acting in isolation in its attempts to control a supply chain that runs from the Andes to the nightclubs and bars of Glasgow and London, it seems that the best the Colombian government, acting can hope only for partial success.

"To resolve this problem means that the cocaine-consuming countries, the EU and Europe, need to renounce their repressive anti-drug policies which allow drug trade to be legalised in some controlled way," says Professor Losada.

Rodolfo Llinas, of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime in Bogota, agrees. "We think that maybe we can have a solution in the short term, but the coca crops will move to another country - if demand exists, supply will exist. The countries that consume the cocaine need to propose solutions too," he says.

"To convince the cocaleros to abandon the crop is not only a matter of alternative developments. Its also a matter of building market and giving safety as many of them are forced to grow coca. It's a complex matter that cannot be fixed with just one approach," he says.

"I'd do anything rather than grow coca," says one farmer in Montecristo who preferred not to be named. "I could go to jail for it now. But my wife is sick and pregnant, and there is no other industry here, and we haven't planted regular crops for years."

It seems that neither the Colombian government, the army, the eradicators nor any one of the cocaine users in Europe or the US has an answer for him.

Lcacique says on Apr 12, 2008, 13:23:

poco: For some reason I am not surprised.

Hoy se nota en la floresta un ambiente de alegría. ¡Y el rumor de ranchería es mas dulce y sabe a fiesta!

poco says on Apr 12, 2008, 14:38:

===========
* THE PERIMETER fence of the cocaine eradicators' makeshift camp in Pueblo Lindo,

An eradicator,, that’s a person hired to burn, cut down plants. Good pay, about 5 local men were hired for this job earlier in the year. Pays OK but less than in the past. I’m looking forward to finding out how they view the job. It is dangerous,, but,, I guess less spraying = more lives lost.
===================
* In March, FARC guerrillas fired bombs made of domestic gas tanks from across the Ecuadorian border at the eradicators.

That’s funny because I understand what they are talking about,, looks like the guy writing the article needs some help. The FARC must be using the worlds LARGEST SPUD LAUNCHER.. makes me skeptical about the rest,, but I know some of it is true.
============
* However, the guerrillas' leftist philosophy has been compromised and almost abandoned in the last two decades,

I’d say this number is more like 6 years. I remember the supporters on PBH 6 years ago. My, my, my,, what ever happened to the supporters of Chavez? The darling of the socialists. Guess they couldn’t stomach his clown like antics.
============
* He is to receive a six-figure reward from the government for his treachery.
Right,, sets the tone,, treachery,, no wait,, that's Left,,, sets the tone. He gave the other hand up,, I'll give him a hand for his efforts.
The U.S. is paying,, the Colombian government agreed to the acceptance.
============
* Colombians are still joining their ranks as an escape route from poverty.

I’d like to think they are trying to get rich by biting (removing) the hand that feeds them.
===========
* In response to the Marxist guerilla through the 1980s and 1990s, many wealthy landowners contracted brutal private armies to defend their land.

Probably earlier. Defend their land,, well,, that’s one way of putting it. However,, they were being murdered, kidnapped and anything of value on their land was stolen, like equipment and livestock. This goes on TODAY in farming areas near cities, no jungle, nice farms and ranches. I know of one large farm that employees 60 to 80 full time guards. 20 during the day and 60 at night.

These people are thieves,, they were 100 years ago and that's what they are today, thieves.

Many farmers/ranchers left and guess who had a job on their property,, no one.

The U.S. hung rustlers.
================================
* Colombia's civil conflict has little political basis, and is better seen as a narco-war, says Professor Rodrigo Losada, a security analyst at Bogota's Javeriana University.

Nice try,, but this is a political conflict. Drugs are but an aspect. Liberals = FARC Conservatives = Paramilitary.
===============
* This has also had serious implications for the political life of the country too, with congressmen bought or threatened by narcotraffickers."

Many political members are purchased (political contributions). FARC contributes and is politically active. Ingrid Betancourt’s socialist green party was successful in getting a mayor elected in the middle of a FARC safe zone,, Ha,,, the FARC were safe and I believe Ingrid miscalculated by returning against all advise. OH,, gosh,, when was that? 6 years ago?
This is ongoing, Why do you suppose the political establishment rejected Pablo Escobar? bad breath?
===============
* but the coca crops will move to another country - if demand exists,
Yes,, this is working. I’ll ask several of one of those eradicators about their trip next time. I'd bet it will be entertaining.
===============

"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

Man Tequila says on Apr 12, 2008, 14:43:

No pissing contest. Not worth my time or effort to debate whether smoking causes cancer when this has been shown conclusively true for decades. Both denial and ignorance are powerful forces. Won't mention it again.

pues se me antoja que sus cantares son de una tierra desconocida, y yo le dije si a usted le inspira, saber la tierra de donde soy... con mucho gusto y a mucho honor...

poco says on Apr 12, 2008, 14:51:

Quote: Won't mention it again.

I will.

===========
* THE PERIMETER fence of the cocaine eradicators' makeshift camp in Pueblo Lindo,

An eradicator,, that’s a person hired to burn, cut down plants. Good pay, about 5 local men were hired for this job earlier in the year. Pays OK but less than in the past. I’m looking forward to finding out how they view the job. It is dangerous,, but,, I guess less spraying = more lives lost.
===================
* In March, FARC guerrillas fired bombs made of domestic gas tanks from across the Ecuadorian border at the eradicators.

That’s funny because I understand what they are talking about,, looks like the guy writing the article needs some help. The FARC must be using the worlds LARGEST SPUD LAUNCHER.. makes me skeptical about the rest,, but I know some of it is true.
============
* However, the guerrillas' leftist philosophy has been compromised and almost abandoned in the last two decades,

I’d say this number is more like 6 years. I remember the supporters on PBH 6 years ago. My, my, my,, what ever happened to the supporters of Chavez? The darling of the socialists. Guess they couldn’t stomach his clown like antics.
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* He is to receive a six-figure reward from the government for his treachery.
Right,, sets the tone,, treachery,, no wait,, that's Left,,, sets the tone. He gave the other hand up,, I'll give him a hand for his efforts.
The U.S. is paying,, the Colombian government agreed to the acceptance.
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* Colombians are still joining their ranks as an escape route from poverty.

I’d like to think they are trying to get rich by biting (removing) the hand that feeds them.
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* In response to the Marxist guerilla through the 1980s and 1990s, many wealthy landowners contracted brutal private armies to defend their land.

Probably earlier. Defend their land,, well,, that’s one way of putting it. However,, they were being murdered, kidnapped and anything of value on their land was stolen, like equipment and livestock. This goes on TODAY in farming areas near cities, no jungle, nice farms and ranches. I know of one large farm that employees 60 to 80 full time guards. 20 during the day and 60 at night.

These people are thieves,, they were 100 years ago and that's what they are today, thieves.

Many farmers/ranchers left and guess who had a job on their property,, no one.

The U.S. hung rustlers.
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* Colombia's civil conflict has little political basis, and is better seen as a narco-war, says Professor Rodrigo Losada, a security analyst at Bogota's Javeriana University.

Nice try,, but this is a political conflict. Drugs are but an aspect. Liberals = FARC Conservatives = Paramilitary.
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* This has also had serious implications for the political life of the country too, with congressmen bought or threatened by narcotraffickers."

Many political members are purchased (political contributions). FARC contributes and is politically active. Ingrid Betancourt’s socialist green party was successful in getting a mayor elected in the middle of a FARC safe zone,, Ha,,, the FARC were safe and I believe Ingrid miscalculated by returning against all advise. OH,, gosh,, when was that? 6 years ago?
This is ongoing, Why do you suppose the political establishment rejected Pablo Escobar? bad breath?
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* but the coca crops will move to another country - if demand exists,
Yes,, this is working. I’ll ask several of one of those eradicators about their trip next time. I'd bet it will be entertaining.
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"Violence is the first refuge of the incompetent" - Isaac Asimov

kalder says on Apr 16, 2008, 08:35:

:) Lcacique

The quarter century ago I went to Iggy Pop concerts, cocaine really was the drug of the wealthy over here. We knew as much about it as Piedmontese truffles...

"kalder- have you ever had a woman?"--Sam Salmon