Cocaine, Death Squads, and the War on Terror: U.S. Imperialism and Class Struggle in ColombiaNYU Press, 2014 M05 14 - 273 pages Since the late 1990s, the United States has funneled billions of dollars in aid to Colombia, ostensibly to combat the illicit drug trade and State Department-designated terrorist groups. The result has been a spiral of violence that continues to take lives and destabilize Colombian society. This book asks an obvious question: are the official reasons given for the wars on drugs and terror in Colombia plausible, or are there other, deeper factors at work? Scholars Villar and Cottle suggest that the answers lie in a close examination of the cocaine trade, particularly its class dimensions. Their analysis reveals that this trade has fueled extensive economic growth and led to the development of a "narco-state" under the control of a "narco-bourgeoisie" which is not interested in eradicating cocaine but in gaining a monopoly over its production. The principal target of this effort is the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), who challenge that monopoly as well as the very existence of the Colombian state. Meanwhile, U.S. business interests likewise gain from the cocaine trade and seek to maintain a dominant, imperialist relationship with their most important client state in Latin America. Suffering the brutal consequences, as always, are the peasants and workers of Colombia. This revelatory book punctures the official propaganda and shows the class war underpinning the politics of the Colombian cocaine trade. |
Contents
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 7 |
FOREWORD | 9 |
A War of Many Wars | 17 |
1 From Coca to Cocaine | 21 |
2 From the Golden Triangle to the Crystal Triangle | 35 |
3 A NarcoState and a NarcoEconomy | 55 |
4 The NarcoCartel System 19801993 | 65 |
5 The PostCartel System | 81 |
6 The United States and Plan Colombia | 107 |