The ‘forgotten’ war we must win

“Win the war against drugs and you will win the war against terror—they are two sides of the same coin" that was the view of the Colombian Vice Minister of Defence as a small British parliamentary delegation toured the former coca plantations of La Macarena on the frontline of the battle against FARC guerrillas.

Seven years ago Colombia was the most violent country on the planet: Its murder rate was 32 times that of the UK and today it is still 50% higher than Iraq. Decades of appeasement by government ministers of the terrorists/drug-traffickers had created a lawless country, a collapsed economy and grinding poverty.

Then Alvaro Uribe was elected as president, who, with US support took on the FARC attacking them at source—the coca plantations which the terrorists had operated with impunity through fear and corruption.

These coca plantations were not a ‘Colombian’ problem they were a ‘global’ problem as they spewed their produce onto the streets of affluent countries chiefly in the United States and Europe (the UK being the largest market in Europe accounting for 40% consumption).

Carrying its twin diseases of violence and anarchy through illicit drug routes in West Africa and Mexico, cocaine is directly responsible for the deaths of hundreds of thousands and many times more through the networks of crime and gangs which live off its proceeds. This compares to total deaths from terrorist attacks around the world of 15,765 (2008).

This fight was carried with immense personal risk to the politicians, judges, police and military who sought to cut off this multi-billion dollar income stream to the terrorists. Uribe in particular has survived at least 18 assassination attempts as president, his father was murdered by the FARC, but he is totally committed to freeing his country from the grip of the drug barons and he is winning:

• Cocaine production has been cut by 61% and is falling sharply;
• Murders have reduced by 44%;
• Kidnappings have fallen by 77%;
• Seizures of cocaine have increased by 85%.

As a result of winning the battle in the coca plantations the FARC has no longer been able to fund its great army of recruits and has reduced in strength from 18,000 to 8,000. Guerrillas turning their back on the FARC have yielded vast amounts of intelligence which has lead to the arrest and prosecution, or, deaths of key drug cartel figures.

One point which Uribe’s government in Colombia have exposed to full view is that the FARC are not some romantic, Marxist, latter-day Che Guevara figures fighting for the poor and political justice, they are a group of ruthless organised criminals who are fighting only because they can make vast quantities of cash by oppressing the poor and fooling the gullible into believing otherwise.

Of course, taking on the drug cartels is not pretty but it is essential. Yet again it is the US who are prepared to help out with the heavy-lifting whilst the Europeans prefer to run media/NGO friendly programmes of organic farming, human rights and equal opportunities. The message is clear—if you want real sustainable development then you need to defeat drugs and establish the rule of law.

As law now returns to the streets of Bogota so are foreign investors and the economy has been growing strongly through the legitimate exploitation of Colombia’s immense natural resources of minerals, agriculture and outstandingly beautiful countryside. Anyone who believes that politics can’t make a difference and that ‘all politicians are just in it for themselves’ should visit Colombia.

This remarkable success story has occurred largely away from the public gaze in the UK, but it holds important lessons for the Afghanistan:

• That the key to winning the war against the Taliban lies in destroying the poppy fields in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, the largest opium-poppy-growing region in the world accounting for over 80% of global production---with at least 50% of revenues go straight to the Taliban and al Qaeda.
• That we are not fighting a global war against idealistic terrorists but against ruthless organised criminal gangs who get rich by oppressing the poor and fooling the gullible.
• Reminding the media, NGO and academic community that 90% of the heroin entering comes from these regions of Afghanistan and that heroin is directly responsible for over seven hundred deaths of our citizens each year—greater than the total number of murders in the UK.
• Accepting that whatever the external support the battle can only truly be won when a courageous national leadership supported by an uncorrupted criminal justice system resolves to take on the terrorists by hitting them where it matters most to them—drug production and revenue generation.
• That you cannot bring about democracy, development and social advancement without first establishing security and the rule of law.
• That the battle can be won and it is worth the fighting.