Today is the first Sunday since I left to Costa Rica that I have the chance to stay at home and enjoy the evening shows.
I was watching BBC and saw a documentary that mentioned the issues that have emerged in some Amazonian areas due to the industry of cocaine.
In the height lands of the Andean Region of South America, the Coca Plant has been grown for centuries. It is recognized as a medicinal plant and it is embedded in many traditional activities of the local communities.
When the global consume of cocaine grew in the early 70´s some Andean farmers started to have a new set of clients for their coca leaves.
The new clients paid more than the traditional market and this encouraged the farmers to commit more land to the coca production.
Nowadays, after decades of guerrilla, corruption and violence many families remain dependant of the income of the cocaine industry.
Governments set regional quotas on how much land can be dedicated to the production of coca for the local consumption but leaks to the drug industry remain systematic.
The drug industry is driven by a worldwide consuming market and its power has crashed against the different policies that governments have tried to enforce along the supply chain.
In my opinion, these policies haven't being successful since they are generating a ¨mirage" effect. To give you an example, the enforcement of law and well implementation of policies in Colombia cause the migration of the business to Mexico. Furthermore, as the Mexican government puts more pressure on the markets, the industry will keep moving south to Central America: first to Guatemala and then to El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua to finally hit Costa Rica and Panama.
The complexity of the problem doesn't encourage me to propose concrete actions except to extend you an invitation to avoid at all consequences the consumption of any type of illicit drug to stop the supply of money in the market and to reduce the power of the industry.
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Photo: http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/spanish/latin_america/newsid_2708000/2708125.stm
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