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Narcoterrorism

The word narcoterrorism was coined in 1983 by Peru's President Belaúnde Terry to describe attacks on the anti-narcotic police in that country. Even as use of the word has spread, experts are arguing about its definition. Some claim that narcoterrorism designates too broad a range of activities to be definitive for a particular form of terrorism. This article will consider narcoterrorism to mean forms of terrorism that are linked to the production of illegal drugs, either through the use of drug profits to fund political violence or the use of violence and terror to protect and preserve illegal drug production.

These two purposes may, of course, overlap. A group using illegal drug profits to fund an armed political campaign will need to preserve the lawlessness and atmosphere of fear necessary for large-scale illegal drug production. Any large drug-trafficking group will also need to influence the political climate of the country where it operates so that the general population fears the traffickers. Terrorism is effective in accomplishing these goals.

Origins of Narcoterrorism

During the tumultuous 1960s, the United States and many other Western countries saw attitudes toward recreational drugs change significantly, and use of illegal drugs increased steadily in the industrialized world. Drug sales are believed to generate $40 billion dollars or more in revenue per year in the United States alone, and this figure does not include profits from money laundering and other services necessary for drug trafficking. Countries that are the source of most illegal drugs are often extremely poor, their governments are often weak, and their civil and social structures are often chaotic. In such conditions, drug traffickers have been able to attain tremendous power and influence.

Political activism and rebellions also increased during the 1960s, with some student and revolutionary movements giving rise to terrorist groups, many of which are still operating today. During the Cold War (1948–1991), terrorist groups, particularly those that advocated communism, often received funds in secret from various state sponsors. During the 1980s, however, state sponsorship of terrorism began to decline, and with the collapse of the Soviet Union and other Communist states in eastern Europe during the early 1990s, this source of funds for terrorists dried up almost completely. In a world dominated by a sole superpower and becoming ever more interconnected via globalization, the international community found cooperation (e.g., passing economic sanctions) against terrorist-sponsoring states easier. In response, terrorist groups turned to other sources of revenue, such as kidnappings, hostage taking, bank robbery, and drug trafficking. Drug trafficking is quite possibly the most profitable and reliable of these revenue sources, and terrorist groups throughout the world engage in it.

The Narcoguerrilla

Narcoterrorism was first recognized in Latin America, and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (known by its Spanish acronym, FARC) provides a typical example. Coca, the main ingredient of cocaine, is indigenous to Colombia. As cocaine consumption increased worldwide during the 1970s, coca became a major cash crop for many Colombian peasants, one whose profit margin was vastly superior to every other. This decade also saw the rise of the FARC. The group's goal—to inspire a Marxist revolt among the Colombian peasantry—is political and originated independent of drug trafficking. As with any guerrilla army or rebel group, however, one of the FARC's goals was to drive government armed forces from its areas of operation, and the group had some success in this regard in the remote Colombian countryside.

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