Drug War
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Colombia has experienced one of the longest periods of political conflict of any country in the modern era. The main source of tension has been the decades-long struggle of the Marxist paramilitary group calling themselves the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) against the Colombian government. The rebel group’s demands have largely centered around agrarian…
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Last month, the Mexican government announced an initiative to “legalize” vigilante self-defense groups that have sprung up in response to drug-war related violence. The groups, known as “autodefensas” or “Rural Defense Units” have actually had some success in battling the cartels and the government has been moving from leniency to outright cooperation with them over the…
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I wrote a few months ago that legalizing marijuana in Uruguay could be a bad idea because gangs and drug traffickers might export cheap, price-controlled government pot for sale in foreign countries where it is illegal. Recently, Quartz had an interesting article that made me rethink the issue. Citing Paraguayan officials who say illegal pot from Paraguay will be…
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Today marks the one-year anniversary of the inception of peace talks with the FARC. Last week, the Colombian government and the FARC signed a deal to allow for the FARC’s participation in the country’s political system should a final agreement be reached in the peace negotiations. As President Santos put it, “Never before have we…
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Forget the nanny state. Get ready for the conservative freak-out about the drug-dealing nanny state. Uruguay has been moving toward full-on legalization of marijuana recently. Not just legalization, but state-controlled distribution of the drug. According to a recent article by AFP, the bill is expected to become law within the next few weeks and will take effect…
Mike LaSusa 