Thursday, August 08, 2013

Blacklisting Bolivia

In September 2012 the Obama administration kept Bolivia on its "black list" of countries that had "failed demonstrably" to fight drugs. That was the fourth year in a row it had done so.

Fast forward to now, as the United Nations announced that for the second year in a row, coca cultivation had dropped (down 7% from a year ago). In other words, the Obama administration is clueless, trapped in the mindset that countries must be failing if their efforts are not being directed from Washington.

In a sense, there is too much focus on the legalization controversy. Instead, we all should be talking more about exactly how existing strategies work. Evo Morales employed a combination of dialogue with the rural population and eradication. The U.S. strategy, meanwhile, is much more militarized and generates a lot of local resentment.

Regardless, right now the Obama administration could do a lot for its image by admitting that the Bolivian strategy is working even though its support comes from Brazil, not the United States. Thank Evo Morales for his successes, and acknowledge that solutions come in many different forms, tailored to national and local contexts.

That, we can all agree, is not what you'd call likely, though if I go outside and see any pigs flying I will let you know.



3 comments:

Justin Delacour 10:55 PM  

the Obama administration is clueless, trapped in the mindset that countries must be failing if their efforts are not being directed from Washington.

On foreign policy questions, there's essentially a permanent government in the State Department that really transcends administrations, I think. The issue isn't really drugs. The issue is power. If you defy the United States, it doesn't really matter whether you've had any successes. The State Department will invariably portray its rivals as failures because it intends to penalize those who defy its orders. To say that this is just a matter of someone being "clueless" implies that it's just an honest mistake on the part of the American state. I don't think it's an honest mistake. I see it as run-of-the-mill power politics in modern guise.

Anonymous,  7:52 AM  

And Colombia cut production of cocaine by 25%!

http://www.unodc.org

Anonymous,  8:02 AM  

Oops... I should be more specific. Colombia cut the area under cultivation by 25%, production by 10%.

http://internacional.elpais.com/
internacional/2013/08/09/actualidad/
1376010813_593446.html

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