The balloon goes up
'Over the past three decades, rich-country demand for cocaine
has created a monster in the Andean countries. The illegal-drug industry
has corrupted institutions, distorted economies, wrecked forests, and
financed armed groups such as
Colombia's
FARC guerrillas and right-wing
paramilitaries. But the "drug war" has imposed its own costs.
One is known as the "balloon effect": local squeezes simply
move the industry elsewhere, spreading violence and corruption with it.
Thus, in a reversal of a trend begun a decade ago, drug production is
rising in Bolivia and
Peru, and this year coca farmers
there have mounted new challenges to governments ... This shift comes at
a delicate juncture: weak economies, weak governments in several
countries, political conflict in
Venezuela and Bolivia, and Colombia's
intensifying wars have all aroused fears about the Andean region's
stability' ( Economist )
»
See also this Guardian article from
last week, and the Narco News website
for ongoing coverage
