Narcos - a serial deception in the name of the War on Drugs

I have watched the twenty episodes of the Netflix serial " Narcos " and enjoyed it thoroughly. I found it absorbing and hmm.. addictive too. The story of Pablo Escobar is colorful and has all the ingredients for entertainment. I liked the dialogues in Colombian Spanish, the best in Latin America. 

The story of Escobar is part of the larger story involving the politics of Colombia; the social divide between the oligarchic ruling establishment in Bogota and the poor people in the interior; the leftist guerrilla wars; corruption and violence in the Colombian society; the interference in the internal affairs of Colombia by US in the name of the war on drugs and the war on communism; and the US military-industry-intelligence complex which plunged into Colombia, looking for a new playing field after the end of the 'cold war'. 

Interestingly, there are some Brazilian elements in this Colombian serial. Brazilian actor Wagnor Mora has done justice to Escobar's character by his superb acting. He had learnt Spanish specially for acting in the serial. Jose Padilha, the Brazilian who was famous for his film 'Elite Squad" directed the Narcos serial in the beginning. The title song of the serial is composed and sung by Rodrigo Amarante, another Brazilian.

Narcos is based on the real life story of Pablo Escobar, the Medellin drug king and the hunt for him by Colombian and American forces.  Escobar, who starts life as a small time smuggler of cigarettes and electronics, discovers the Big Business of cocaine supply to US and goes up in the value chain. With the power of money, he starts buying, fighting and bullying politicians, media,security forces and rivals with his 'plata o plomo' (money or bullets) approach. The Colombian politicians did not care much initially about the drug business which they considered  an easy way for some enterprising Colombians to make quick dollars from the decadent Yankee drug addicts. But the Colombian government is forced by the heavy hand of American administration to act against drug production and trafficking. Caught between the Devils of the Empires of Consumption and Supply, the Colombian administration and security forces get into enforcement reluctantly. Escobar retaliates with bombings, assassinations and kidnappings. When the public opinion and government pressure become overwhelming, Escobar makes an incredible deal with the government under which he self-imprisons himself in his custom made jail cum resort 'La catedral'. Unable to tolerate his continuation of business of drugs and killings from the jail, the government sends special forces to transfer him to another jail. But Escobar escapes and is on the run. Realizing that the security forces are not a match to Escobar, the American and the Colombian security agencies conspire and create Los Pepes, a right wing militia which kills Escobar's associates and destroys his businesses one after another, in collusion with the rival Cali cartel. Escobar tries to send his family abroad to a safe place but the government stops it and makes his family a hostage. Escobar's phone conversations with his captive family provides the opportunity for the security forces to trace his calls and kill him.

After watching Narcos, I read the book " Killing Pablo- the true story behind the hit series Narcos" written by Mark Bowden.  The author has interviewed  the main American and Colombian officials and political leaders involved in the hunt for Escobar and has had access to a number of US documents. He has given a detailed account of the 'turf war' between the US spying and enforcement agencies who compete with each other for one upmanship, resources and credit.

According to Bowden, Escobar became an ideal trophy target for the CIA, NSA, FBI, Army, Navy, Airforce, Marines, and special forces, who were looking for a new role in the world after the end of the cold war. They  jumped joyfully into the 'war on drugs' with their spy equipments, budget and Rambo confidence. At one time there were about 17 spy planes flying over Medellin to track Escobar and they had to assign an AWACS (airborne warning and control centre), to keep track of the planes.  

While I enjoyed watching the serial and reading the book, I ended up feeling sad and angry, like my Colombian and Latin American friends. The Narcos story has been narrated narrowly from an American point of view distorting the facts with false and misleading propaganda.  Colombians are portrayed as the bad guys while the DEA agents come out as 'good guys'. But the truth is that the real villains are the American consumers of drugs. Colombia had to bear the extreme pain and shed blood for the sake of those Americans who enjoy the pleasure of illegal drugs. The drug business is basically demand-driven and consumer-driven from US. The drugs are continuing to be consumed even now by Hollywood actors, politicians and pop stars besides the students and other sections of the American society. So long as this continues and the US consumers are willing to pay top dollars, there will always be suppliers. Even President Nixon, who declared the war on drugs, admitted in his June 1971 address to the Congress, “as long as there is a demand, there will be those willing to take the risks of meeting the demand.”  In this statement, he publicly proclaimed that all efforts of interdiction and eradication are destined to fail. But the Narcos serial as well as the American media and administration have succeeded in demonizing Pablo Escobar as 'the most powerful criminal in history' and giving a bad name to Colombia while covering up the real consumer culprits in US and and misleading and distorting the global discourse on drugs. The killing of Escobar has not stopped or reduced drug consumption in US. The Cali cartel took over where it was left by the Medellin gangs and is now run by Mexican cartels. 

The US market for illegal drugs was over 100 billion dollars in 2012 , according to a Rand Corporation report (file://localhost/Users/rengaraj-viswanathan/Documents/RAND_RB9770.pdf)  which included 40 billion dollars of Marijuana, 28 billion of Cocaine, 27 billion of Heroine and 13 bn of Meth. According to a 2012 study by the Organisation of American States ( http://www.cicad.oas.org/drogas/elinforme/informeDrogas2013/laEconomicaNarcotrafico_ENG.pdf ) the Andean cocoa leaf producers get only 1% of the retail value of cocaine in US, while the traffickers get 20-25% and the remaining stays within the US retail business. So, the illegal drugs are just a business in which the US "Customer is the King". The Colombians and Mexicans simply serve the King and receive just the crumb. 

The business of 'war on drugs' is also equally huge. It is said that US spends around 50 billion dollars a year. DEA has its own fleet of planes, boats and secret cash. No wonder that the DEA chief is called as the Drug Czar. The corporations, contractors and equipment suppliers to DEA want the continuation of this profitable war and successfully lobby the Congress and administration for its perpetuation.

In the name of the 'war on drugs', the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and other intelligence agencies of the US have infiltrated the security forces of many countries of Latin America. The US forces these countries to militarize their anti drug operations as a priority and devote more of their resources to the drug war at the expense of all other law and order issues. Through such interference the US creates and cultivates future military dictators. The classic case was Manuel Noriega who became the Panamanian president. CIA had used him for their covert operations and helped him with drug trafficking and money laundering.  But when he became too hot to handle, the US invaded Panama and took him away as prisoner.  There is evidence that CIA itself had got into the drug business to generate money to aid the 'contras' against the Sandinistas of Nicaragua. This has been brought out in the Hollywood fim "Kill the messenger", based on the true story of an American journalist who uncovered the scam.

The US had tried very hard to prevent the election of Evo Morales as President of Bolivia by branding him as a coca-leaf producer. US has airsprayed harmful chemicals in Colombia, Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia to destroy coca fields, damaging agricultural land and the ecosystem. The US needs to respect the Andean tradition of using coca leaves for religious, food and medicinal purposes and separate the sacred leaf issue from the profane cocaine snorting in US for recreation.

Drug trafficking is not just one way business. Drug goes into US for which the American dollars and illegal guns are smuggled to Latin America. This reverse trafficking is even more dangerous than the drug flow  since guns kill instantly and takes many victims at one go unlike the drugs which kill only the consumer and that too slowly . According to a US report (The Way of the Gun: Estimating Firearms Traffic Across the U.S.-Mexico Border.” study by University of San Diego’s Trans-Border Institute http://catcher.sandiego.edu/items/peacestudies/way_of_the_gun.pdf ), over 200,000 guns are smuggled from US to Mexico every year. On average, there are more than three US gun dealers for every mile of the 1,970-mile border between the countries. Mexico has just one gun shop for the whole country while there are 51300 retail gun sellers in US. A significant proportion of the US gun sellers depend on the illegal demand from Mexico. It has been reported that over three fourth of the guns used in the fights between the gangs in El Salvador are of US origin. Thousands of people die in Mexico, Central America and Colombia from the illegal guns smuggled from US, the largest manufacturer and supplier of fire arms in the world. If we use the American logic that eradication of production is the solution for drug problem, isn't it logical to extend this argument and say that the gun production in US needs to be eradicated to prevent the killings in Mexico and Central America? Probably more people in Latin America have been killed with American guns than the number of Americans killed by Latin American drugs.

According to a 2010 Homeland Security study ( https://www.dhs.gov/xlibrary/assets/cne-criminalproceedsstudy.pdf), between $19 billion and $29 billion dollars of cash had been smuggled from the United States to drug trafficking organizations and other organized criminal groups in Mexico each year. Western Banks like HSBC have been caught for drug money laundering in Mexico. But HSBC got away with payment of simple fine to US justice Department. 

Many even in the US admit the failure of the American drug war. Clearly, illegal drug consumption is a social problem within the US which needs domestic solutions such as legalization. The drug wars in Latin America is just a ploy to blame others and mislead the world  to cover up a purely domestic problem. US could learn from Uruguay which has shown the way to legalize production, distribution and consumption of marijuana. The US states of Washington and Colorado have already taken the lead to liberalize sale and consumption in a limited way. Many Latin American presidents have called for drug legalization but the US would not let them.  

Like the Netflix serials, the military-industrial-intelligence complex of US has been inventing its own versions of real life serial wars for profit as well as to destabilize and interfere in the affairs of Latin American countries. They started off with the "war on communism"during which they overthrew many democracies and propped up military dictatorships. Then they moved on to "War on Drugs" and messed up Colombia. The US sent hundreds of agents, soldiers and contractors to Colombia with diplomatic passports and made the embassy in Bogota as the largest in the world. The Americans were interfering freely in the Colombian police, armed forces, judiciary, Congress and administration ordering them what to do and what not to do.  They corrupted the Colombians with 'visa and asylum for collusion and collaboration'. The Americans are now vitiating Mexico and Central America with the same drug wars. The third serial was the "War on Terrorism" since 9/11. But this did not find much traction in the region, although 'terrorists' were invented before the Rio Olympics and spotted earlier in Paragauay and Mexico in the same way as nuclear weapons were 'found' in Iraq. Fortunately Latin America did not suffer in the terrorism war since the neocons have had their hands full in the Middle East. 

The fourth and the latest serial is the "war on corruption". The US intelligence has spied on Petrobras, the Brazilian firm which is now at the centre of the ongoing corruption investigation in Brazil as well as President Dilma Rouseff, among others, as revealed by the papers leaked by Snowden. The Brazilians suspect that the US had passed on information against selected targets to a Brazilian judge who had been to Harvard and participated in exchange programmes with US agencies. The judge, according to some Brazilians, started a selective crusade against the Workers Party, President Dilma and ex-President Lula who had stood against the hemispheric hegemony of US and successfully killed the US initiative to sign a Free Trade Area of the Americas. Outraged by the US espionage, President Dilma cancelled her state visit to Washington DC in 2013. President Lula had directly challenged US by his audacious rescue of President Chavez when he was briefly overthrown in a coup in 2002 and his attempt (unsuccessful) to undo the US-supported coup in Honduras in 2009. So the US wants to teach a lesson to Lula. The corruption war has already yielded commercial dividends to US. The unelected right wing Brazilian President Michel Temer has put an end to the "Resource Nationalism policy" by cutting down the monopoly of Petrobras in the pre-salt oil production and breaking the company into pieces which are being picked up by US corporations at rock bottom prices. 

Another Latin American victim of the 'war on corruption' is the Guatemalan President Otto Perez Molina, who seemed to have got on the wrong side of the Big Brother, like Noriega. The Latin Americans believe that the leakage of Panama Papers with information on selected targets and the aggressive investigation into Latin American FIFA officials  are also part of the destabilization of the region in the name of the 'war on corruption'. It is no surprise to find from recent US media reports that many Venezuelans have been named as corrupt or alleged to be involved in narco trafficking. This is just preparation for the 'regime change' in Venezuela. The war on corruption could claim more Latin American leaders who dare to disobey the Washington Consensus. 

While I am looking forward to see more episodes of 'Narcos' in the forthcoming third and fourth seasons, the Latin Americans fear that the Warlords of Washington DC might also be planning their own next real war serials in the name of something or other. 

Latin America, a victim of the supply-driven debt business and demand-driven drug business of US

The Latin American debt crisis caused by the supply-side debt business of US is the theme of the book “Debt and Crisis in Latin America: The Supply Side of the Story” by  Robert Devlin.

The author blames the predatory US bankers as equally responsible for the Latin American debt crisis as much as the reckless and corrupt Latin American governments which were willing victims and had mismanaged their economies. Devlin, an American economist, who works in the Economic Commission for Latin America and Caribbean, has extensive knowledge of both the creditors and debtors. He has done in depth case studies of Peru and Bolivia. His study is focused on the decades of seventies and eighties when large debts had accumulated and lead to crises. The debt crisis combined with the impact of neoliberalistic policies forced on Latin America by the US had made eighties as a “Lost decade” with increase in poverty and inequality.  The governments of the region had to cut down the budget for education, health and poverty alleviation and they were forced to use the export earnings for repayment of external debt. 

According to Devlin, the US bankers had taken the initiative in most cases to lend indiscriminately to some Latin American countries even when there was no clear need for borrowing. The banks went on a spree of loan marketing after they received large petrodollar deposits from OPEC countries in the seventies. The banks sought the markets of developing countries since the profitability in the  domestic US market was generally flat and the depressed  OECD economies had little demand for credit after the oil shock. Also the banks found that they had more freedom in the financing of foreign governments and corporations than in the domestic market which had tight regulations. The bankers proactively encouraged the Latin American countries to issue bonds and marketed them enthusiastically to gullible investors.

The banks chose their victims carefully. They went after those Latin American countries (Brazil, Argentina, Peru, Bolivia, Venezuela, Nicaragua, Chile and Mexico) which were misgoverned by illegitimate military dictators and corrupt caudillo presidents. These characters knew that they were in power only for a short time till the next coup or election and wanted to make the most money in the least time. They borrowed huge amounts knowing that they would not be there when the time for repayment would be due.

One country where the bankers did not succeed until 1980, was Colombia, which had a responsible policy of resisting the  bankers' overtures. The country had gained a reputation in financial circles as the "prickliest" borrower  in the developing world. The frustration of the banks to break into the Colombian market was so much that  the banks made the rare concession of not insisting on the waiver of sovereign immunity  by the government.

Bankers, by profession, are expected to be conservative, risk-conscious and prudent. They are supposed to do rigorous due diligence about the capacity of the borrower to repay. But the big brash US bankers did not care for such professional and traditional norms. They lent money freely for non-productive purposes. For example, in the case of Peru, 49 percent of the lending was to refinance old loans, 28 percent was of free disposition (totally untied), and  only 15 percent was directly linked to projects or capital goods imports.  In Bolivia, 18 percent of the lending went to refinance loans, 43 percent  were of free disposition, and 33 percent were linked to projects or capital goods imports.  The free-disposition loans  gave the freedom for the corrupt rulers to fill their Swiss Bank accounts or use it for personal and family business. 

Questioned on the environment in Lima during the development of the credit cycle in the early 1970s, one local banker remarked, "Foreign bankers wanted to give us the money  before we asked for it." An official from COFIDE, the Peruvian state development bank mandated to contract foreign loans for the public sector, has commented that during the 1970s, "the banks were  eager to lend and would lend for anything." 

Foreign borrowing was the way the Peruvian dictator Velasco maintained his position.  Ministries were the fiefdoms of the generals who headed them. Each  general did whatever he wanted. There was a lot of borrowing for corruption's sake: the generals wanted their kickbacks. They received their percentage from the contract regardless of the merits of  the project, so they borrowed for anything. Generals got rich from  the projects and banks wanted to lend; the merits of the project were  unimportant.

Some banks trapped the debtor countries in ponzi schemes. They made the countries dependent desperately on new loans to pay interest on the old ones and repay the instalment of the principal. 

The big bankers were careful not to take the risk by putting up their own money. They preferred to raise syndicated loans with contributions from dozens of other banks including a number of smaller banks from Europe and Japan. Big banks such as Citibank and Bank of America, who had presence and networking in the debtor countries, took the lead in raising syndicated loans. Typically they would put up ten percent or even less and raise the rest from other banks. The smaller banks in the consortium had less knowledge of the debtor countries and relied on the expertise and contacts of the lead banks. True to the herd mentality, banks did not want to be left out and rushed to join the big syndicated loans.

One immediate advantage for the lead bank was that one-fifth of its own return on the loan came from fees that were paid up front and risk free.  This provided an incentive to churn large loan volumes. Bigger the loan, larger was the fees. In 1973 to 1974 Peru's loan syndications were frequently oversubscribed, meaning that more money was generated and pumped into the country than the government needed.

Secondly, syndication spread the risk among so many other banks. If the client did not behave, the banks would gang up and use their collective strength to bully and bargain. It was also a clever way of political insurance. If the debtor country were to default, the governments of Europe and Japan whose banks were part of the consortium, could be counted on to put political pressure on the debtors. The lenders could also count on the clout of these countries in IMF and World Bank to turn the screws on the debtor country. So, the debtor is trapped and faces punishment and isolation from the entire western capital market. This actually happened in the case of Argentina after the country restructured its debt in 2002 on its own terms defying IMF and the governments of US and Europe. Argentina was thereafter shut from access to all bilateral, multilateral and private finances in the western world.

After the Wall Street bankers killed and took the best part of the meat of the hunt, the vulture funds from US descended on the left over corpses to feast on the left overs. They bought the Latin American bonds for pennies and forced the governments to pay the full value plus interest and made obscenely enormous profits. They did this with help from the US Congress, government and judiciary. For example, NML capital of New York paid 49 million dollars for Argentine bonds worth 832 million dollars. They harassed and blackmailed Argentine government and forced them to pay over a billion dollars as settlement. More on this https://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/search?q=vulture+funds

Many Latin American governments had learnt lessons from the past debt experience and have now become more prudent in taking external debts. But a few continue to repeat the past mistakes. Argentina has been trapped yet again in a debt crisis now, after having come out victorious in the fight against the greedy bank creditors and vulture funds in 2002. 

Drug business

In contrast to the supply-driven debt business, the drug business is demand-driven by the US consumers. Millions of Americans pay billions of dollars for the Latin American supply of cocaine. According to a study by Rand Corporation the business of Cocaine was valued at 28 billion dollars in 2012. This is part of the total US business of over 100 billion dollars Including heroine and other drugs. Here is the share of the stake holders in the drug business according to the Netflix documentary “The business of Drugs”: 

The Colombian coca leaf producer gets 500 dollars for a ton of leaves from which 1 kg of cocaine is made. The Cartels which process them into cocaine get 5000 dollars for a kilo. When it reaches Mexico its value increases to 12,000 dollars. And finally, the American consumer pays 100,000 dollars for a kilo or 100 dollars per gram. This means out of every 100 dollars of cocaine business, the Colombian farmers get just 50 cents while the Colombian cartels get 5 dollars and their Mexican counterparts 7 dollars. This means that 88 dollars out of 100 dollars in cocaine business is within the US itself. So, if the US wants to stop the use of cocaine it has to cut off the 88 dollar link. But the US government covers up this reality and maligns the Colombians and Mexicans. This is not just unfair but egregiously wicked. The US has changed the narrative and mislead the world with its so-called drug war in which Latin America is portrayed as villain, as in the Netflix serial “Narcos”. My blog post on this https://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/search?q=narcos

In any case, if Latin America stops supply, it is not such a big deal for the US consumers. They have other options: heroine, synthetic drugs and opioids from other external as well as internal sources.  

The drug war spawns yet another business for US. The counterdrug funding is $35.7 billion in the US 2021 budget. The US Drug Enforcement Authority (DEA) gives billions of dollars of contracts for supply of surveillance helicopters, aircrafts, patrol boats, x-ray and other equipments to detect cocaine shipments in airports and ports. Besides selling to US ports, airports and DEA, the US government forces these items down the throat of the Latin American governments in the name of drug war cooperation. There is a huge US business lobby with a vested interest in the continuation of the multibillion dollar drug war.

While the drugs come into US from Latin America, there is a reverse trafficking of guns worth millions of dollars into Latin America from US. According to a study of University of San Diego, over 200,000 guns are smuggled from US to Mexico every year. On average, there are more than three US gun dealers for every mile of the 1,970-mile border between the countries. A significant proportion of the US gun sellers depend on the illegal demand from Mexico. It has been reported that over three fourth of the guns used in the fights between the gangs in El Salvador are of US origin. The illegal American guns kill more Latin Americans than the number of Americans killed by cocaine. 

Also there is illegal transfer of billions of cash dollars from US to Latin America in exchange for the drugs. American banks have been caught in the drug money laundering of the Latin Americans

The US government does nothing much about the trafficking of guns and dollars and makes noise only about the drug trafficking. 

Addiction to drugs and debt

Both the drug and debt businesses have resulted in addiction. The Americans have got addicted to Latin American drugs and the US bankers have made the Latin Americans get addicted to debt. 

While there are prospects for the Latin Americans to come out of the debt addiction, there does not seem to be any hope for end of the US addiction to drugs in the near future.



“El Narco, the bloody rise of Mexican drug cartels” – book by Ioan Grillo

 “El Narco, the bloody rise of Mexican drug cartels” – book by Ioan Grillo

In Mexico, drug traffickers are described collectively by the Spanish word El Narco. In this book “El Narco” Ioan Grillo has traced the origin of the Mexican drug trafficking, evolution of cartels and their violent criminal activities in great detail. He has met  and talked to cartel leaders, their foot soldiers, informers, assassins, prisoners, security forces, politicians and US DEA agents. He has taken the risk of visiting cartel strongholds and crime scenes. 

Ioan Grillo, a British journalist, based in Mexico since 2001, has written extensively on drug traffickers and criminal gangs of Latin America for the last two decades. I have read his book “Blood, Gun and Money: How America arms gangs and cartels” . My blog https://latinamericanaffairs.blogspot.com/2021/03/blood-gun-money-how-america-arms-gangs.html

 

According to Grillo, Sinaloa is the cradle of Mexican drug business and the birthplace ( like Sicily) of the nation’s oldest and most powerful network of traffickers, known as the Sinaloa Cartel. This had inspired the formation of the others such as Tijuana cartel, Guadalajara Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Juarez Cartel and Los Zetas. Sinaloa cartel itself has split into factions. Even after the arrest of the top leaders, the cartels continue with new leaders and new cartels are formed.

 

 During the one-party dictatorship of PRI for seventy years till 2000, the Mexican governments let the cartels do business quietly and some politicians took money from them. They did not see any reason to fight seriously against the traffickers, since the American consumers were paying top dollars happily and eagerly. But the Mexican traffickers earned in millions and not billions as the Colombian drug lords such as Pablo Escobar. After the crack down on Colombian cartels and the killing of Pablo Escobar in 1993, the Mexican cartels gained more power and took control and domination of the drug supply to the US. There was another driver for the Mexican supplies. The Colombians had used the sea route to Florida for drug supply. When the US administration tightened the controls in Florida, the Colombians took the help of Mexicans for supply through the land border. 

 

When they saw the direct opportunities for the multibillion dollar business, more Mexican gangs got into the business. The cartels became bigger and there were more turf wars. President Calderon (2006-12) unleashed  the army to attack the cartels but it had only added fuel to the fire. The security forces themselves  became part of the problem. In the first decade until 2010, around a hundred thousand members of the military and police had deserted from their jobs  to join the cartels. After getting the training and insider knowledge, they have made career moves to the other side to make real money. The most-feared Zetas were formed by the former members of the special forces of the army. They have brought into play their toughness, tactics and use of sophisticated weapons in the fight against their former colleagues as well as rival gangs. Some of the municipal and state police forces work for the cartels and undermine the work of the army and federal police. Even the military and federal police officers take sides and make arrests or bust gangs on behalf of the Cartels who pay them. 

 

The cartels have diversified from drug trafficking into robbery of cargo, stealing of petrol from pipelines, kidnappings, extortion, human trafficking and assassinations. They do not even hide their gruesome murders.  They seek publicity openly as a way of showing off their capabilities and to send message to the rivals and frighten the public.

 

There is a whole new narco culture which has evolved around the drug lords, some of whom have become folk heroes in their communities. Narcos are revered as rebels who have the balls to beat the system. On the streets of Sinaloa, people traditionally refer to gangsters as “los Valientes”-  the brave ones. There is a new genre of music, “narcocorridos” (drug ballads).  Composers sing in praise of the drug lords and bands play in public as well as private parties of the gangs. There are even religious sects founded by cartel leaders who have built churches and used their new interpretations of Bible to indoctrinate their foot soldiers as faithful and loyal. There are thousands of Narco movies and serials with drug lords as heroes and Americans as villains.  The drug barons even pay for the production of songs and movies.

 

Some Mexicans see the illegal migration to US as a historical revenge. The US had taken over nine hundred thousand square miles of  Mexican territory after the war in 1846-48.  These include the present-day states of California, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, most of Arizona and Colorado, and parts of Oklahoma, Kansas, and Wyoming. Mexico annually commemorates a squad of young cadets shot dead by American troops (los ninos héroes) during the war. So the Mexicans call their migration to the United States as “la Reconquista”—the reconquest. 

 

Of course, the primary responsibility for the drug issue lies with the American consumers who have created the demand themselves. Drug is a demand driven business originating from the American consumers who wants to get high and pays for it happily. The killing of Escobar or the jailing of Guzman have not caused any dent in the consumption of drugs in the US. As long as this continues, there will always be suppliers both internal and external. The Colombians, Mexicans, Chinese and American opioid manufacturers took turns to supply the  consumers. While the American companies got away with paying fines, the Colombians and the Mexicans were on the receiving end of the “war on drugs” started by the American politicians and the military-industrial complex. Drug war was good politics for Nixon to divert attention away from the Vietnam war. With no communists to hunt after the Cold War, American spooks, soldiers and the arms makers were looking for new opportunities. The American politicians obliged them with the War on Drugs. The American, Colombian and Mexican administrations also used the “war on drugs” as a cover to fight the leftist guerilla groups. DEA, created in 1973 has become another empire like CIA with multibillion dollar budget. DEA’s way of cultivating informers had opened new avenues for corruption on both sides. CIA itself got into the drug business to raise money for financing the Contra war against Nicaragua during the Reagan era. The American manufacturers of helicopters, planes and guns made money from supplies to Latin Americans for the war on drugs. The Mexican and Colombian security forces enjoyed the new American toys such as helicopters, aircrafts and guns as well as the training opportunities in USA. Even the drug cartels are happy by getting their guns from the illegal trafficking from USA. While the Mexican supplied cocaine is consumed by the Americans, the American-trafficked guns into Mexico stay and kill more and more people.

 

Now the American right wing  politicians call for invasion of Mexico to fight the drug traffickers. After the serial wars in Vietnam, Iraq, Syria, Afghanistan and the proxy war in Ukraine, the next show might be in Mexico. 

 

 

 

 

“Second chance for Colombia” under President Petro

Gustavo Petro, the first leftist president of Colombia, who took over on 7 August, started off his inaugural address with a quote from the ending lines of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez, "Everything written there was, and has and always will be, unrepeatable because the lineages condemned to one hundred years of solitude did not have a second chance on earth".  Petro said, “our second chance begins today”

How does he propose to go about it? He said. “ I will dialogue with everyone, without exceptions or exclusions.  Whatever their name is, wherever they come from. The important thing is not where we come from, but where we are going. Dialogue will be my method, agreements my goal”. This is in contrast to his oligarchic predecessors who polarized the country with ideology and privilege. The conservative rulers of the country had systematically persecuted and stigmatized the left which had reacted by unleashing violence. Of course, the leftist guerrillas also contributed their share of excessive violence and bloodshed. Colombia has shed too much blood in the past in ideological and narcotics civil wars. It was the only Latin American country which had the largest war by guerrillas who controlled almost half the territory at one time.  The country is crying out for peace and reconciliation.

 
The Gringos have spoiled the image of Colombia in the name of their so-called war on drugs and portrayed Colombians as villains in the Netflix serial “ Narcos”. This is pure bullshit. The villains are the millions of Gringo consumers who spend billions of dollars to consume the narcotics. Drug is simply and clearly a demand-driven and consumer- driven business originating from the US. It is also a multi- billion dollar business for DEA and the US corporations which have a vested interest in “one hundred years of drug war business”. 
 
Under Petro, Colombia will no longer be a sucker for the American drug war business. He has made it clear that the ending the drug war will be an administrative priority. He said, “ It is time for a new international convention that accepts that the war on drugs has failed—and failed resoundingly. The war on drugs has led states to commit crimes”. 
 
Petro will legalise cannabis by allowing cultivation. He wants Colombia to become a competitive cannabis market, like Canada’s legal industry. He is also interested in exploring the idea of exporting cannabis to other countries where the plant is legal.
 
Petro has proposed reforms in taxation, health, education, pension, labour laws and land distribution. He has prioritised investment in education, health, drinking water, irrigation districts and local road infrastructure. He has clarified that taxes will not be confiscatory but be fair taking into account the enormous social inequality of the country. 
 
Petro is creating a Ministry of Equality under  Vice President Francia Márquez, the first black woman to reach such a high position in Colombian government, for the first time. 

There is concern about Petro's plan to stop new concessions for oil drilling, given the fact that oil is a major export earning foreign exchange. But Petro is pragmatic and will allow ongoing oil production and exports. He is, of course, committed to climate change mitigation and reduction of fossil fuels.

Some conservative critics have called him as a dogmatic radical and Colombian Chavez. But the Colombian conservatives are too strong to let Petro run away with any radical disruptions. So Petro knows that he has to be moderate and realistic to survive his term and achieve some of his goals.
 
Petro has normalised bilateral relations with Venezuela by appointing an ambassador to the government of President Maduro. This is a huge set back for US which was using Colombia as the frontline for its regime change operation in Venezuela
 
Petro has called for Latin American integration, moving away from the pro-US policies of his predecessors. This will certainly give a second chance to the process of integration of Latin America which was started in the first decade of this century. This process got derailed by the pro-US centre-right presidents of Colombia, Mexico and Brazil in the last four years. With the expected victory of Lula in the elections to be held in October in Brazil, the region is set to restart its integration efforts and assert it s autonomy in international affairs, free from the hegemony of US.

I agree with President Petro… Colombia has certainly got a second chance... to become politically more stable and economically more prosperous in the coming years. 
 
 

“A history of Violence: Living and dying in Central America” – book by Oscar Martinez

The author of the book, Oscar Martinez, is a journalist from El Salvador. He runs Sala Negra, a crime investigations unit for El Faro, the investigative Central American online magazine based in El Salvador.

 
He has given a graphic and moving account of the violence in Central America based on his direct interaction with criminal gangs, assassins, security forces, prison authorities, judges, prosecutors, police detectives, informants, government functionaries, political leaders, priests and the victims. He has taken enormous personal risk in visiting the areas controlled by gangs in El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Mexico. He himself has faced several death threats.
 
Martinez traces the roots of the violence to the civil wars in the eighties and the role of US. He says, “The violent gangs weren’t born in Guatemala or Honduras or El Salvador. They came from the United States, Southern California, to be precise. They began with migrants fleeing a US-sponsored civil wars in Central America. The US supported brutal dictatorships, trained security forces and armed right-wing militias and death squads. This had caused hundreds of thousands of Central Americans fleeing from the violence and seeking refuge in US. Some of the young refugees found themselves living in an ecosystem of gangs already established in California. And so they came together to defend themselves and survive by forming their own gangs called as Mara Salvatrucha (Maras) and Barrio 18.  The US government deported about 4,000 of these gang members back to Central America. Those 4,000 have expanded to about  70,000, just in El Salvador. 
 
Besides the two main gangs, there are numerous smaller gangs called as Mara Gauchos Locos 13, the Crazy Cowboys 13, Los Valerios, Mirada Lokotes 13, Los Meli 33, the Twins 33, Los Chancletas (the Sandals) and Los Uvas (the Grapes). These gangs terrorise neighborhoods, extort businessmen, traffic in drugs  and recruit teenagers and train them in crime. They corrupt the political leaders and security forces and issue death threats to judges, prosecutors and police. They control the prisons and continue their criminal operations from inside the jails. The gangs overrun the police stations and outgun the police with more deadly weapons. Martinez narrates a case in which the helpless police officer calls on the families threatened by gangs to join him in prayers, as a last resort.

 
This has caused a second wave of fleeing of the Central Americans to US as illegal emigrants. But their journey from Central America through Mexico into US is perilous. They are abused by the human and drug traffickers. Martinez has written another book "The Beast: Riding the tails and dodging Narcos on the migrant trail". He himself took the freight train in Mexico called as "the beast" in which many migrants hitch a ride. 
 
In this book, Martinez has covered the period from 2011 to 2015.  Since then, the violence has been brought down drastically in El Salvador by President Nayib Bukele with an iron hand in the last five years. He has put in jail around 70,000 gang members and built the largest prison in the Americas. His success has inspired other governments in Latin America to deal with the crime and violence in their countries.
 

The US's Magical Realism show in Venezuela

What has happened in Venezuela is not a surprise to those who have read the Magical Realism stories of Gabriel Garcia Marquez and the other famous Latin American writers. In this signature genre of Latin American literature, the writers blur the line between fantasy and facts, weaving magic into reality.

Machado is Magic…

Rodriguez is Realism..in the ongoing Magical Realism show of Venezuela choreographed by the US.

Maria Corina Machado, the Nobel Prize winner, had the Fantasy of flying in an American magic carpet  and land on the Miraflores Presidential palace in Caracas after the kidnapping of President Maduro by the American forces. Machado has been a relentless democratic activist fighting the Chavista dictatorship in the last two decades. She wanted to wipe out the Chavistas with the military help of US. But the Fact is that Delcy Rodrigues from the ruling Chavista (followers of Hugo Chavez who was President from 1998 till his death in 2013) regime has moved into the Presidential palace. Machado has got a reality check from President Trump who ruled her out "as not having enough support or respect within Venezuela”. He chose to let Delcy Rodriguez, the Vice President under Maduro, to continue as Acting President. Rodriguez is better for Tump to get oil and other benefits. Machado’s take over of power would have resulted in violent clashes between her party cadres and the Chavistas resulting in bloodshed and instability. This would have complicated Trump’s agenda which was focussed on oil and not restoration of democracy, as imagined by Machado.

This was not the first American Magical Realism Show in Venezuela.

In 2019, the US had recognized Juan Guaido, another opposition leader, as the Real President of Venezuela between January 2019 and January 2023. The US refused to recognize Maduro as President accusing that the 2018 election was rigged. Over fifty countries followed the US dictat (some willingly and some under force) and recognized Juan Guaido as the legitimate President.  Guaido assumed the role of President seriously, appointing cabinet ministers and ambassadors. He and his appointees as well as his American lawyers and collaborators swindled and spent hundreds of millions of dollars of Venezuelan government funds seized by the US government. Eventually, Guaido succumbed to the scandals and he was dropped as a useless luggage. But despite derecognition of President Maduro, the US and other western governments continued to have official dealings with the government of President Maduro. The devious Brits refused to hand over the Venezuelan gold in their Bank of England when Maduro wanted it back. The excuse was that UK had not recognized Maduro as the President. The Brits continued to deal with President Maduro officially and shamelessly and are holding on to the Venezuelan gold even now.

There was a brief Magical Realism show in May 2020.  A group of ex-marine mercenaries of US hatched a plan code named “Operation Gideon”. They attempted a sea borne raid through boats to land in Venezuela, capture President Maduro, take him to the US and claim the 15 million dollar bounty which was the going rate announced by Washington DC at that time. The mercenaries were caught and some were killed and others jailed by Venezuelan authorities. While the US  administration claimed that it was not an official operation, they had got these criminals released through quiet negotiations and got them back to the US in 2023. 

Who stole the Venezuelan election

Maduro claimed to be the winner of 2024 election. Trump and Machado claimed that Edmundo Gonzalez was the winner and accused Maduro of stealing the election. Now Trump has ditched Gonzalez and Machado while jailing Maduro.. Trump says he will run Venezuela. He has appointed himself as the " Acting President of Venezuela" in his social media post.

So, it would not be an exaggeration to say that the real thief who has stolen the election is Trump..He refuses to give a timeline for election or transition and says that it would take years. Restoration of democracy is not Trump’s priority. 

Trump says that the the interim government of Venezuela is “giving us everything that we feel is necessary.  They’re treating us with great respect. We’re getting along very well with the administration that is there right now". 

The fable of a Monkey and two cats

Once upon a time, two cats were fighting over a piece of bread. Each wanted more than the other. A monkey saw this and offered a solution. It brought a weighing scale and broke the bread in two unequal pieces deliberately and put on each side of the weighing scale. When one side weighed heavier it took a bite from that and put the rest in the scale. Then the other side was heavier and the monkey took a bite from the other side. Eventually the monkey finished the pieces on both the sides and the foolish cats were left hungry. Trump has done the Monkey trick to the Maduro and Machado cats.

Trump has announced that he would extract Venezuelan oil from its huge reserves for years. He has already begun to make money for the United States by taking oil that has been under sanctions. He says that the US would obtain 30 to 50 million barrels of Venezuelan crude oil in the near future. He talks of a deal with the Venezuelan authorities whereby America would market all Venezuelan oil “indefinitely”. The proceeds “will be disbursed for the benefit of the American people and the Venezuelan people at the discretion of the US government”.  Trump adds that all the goods purchased for Venezuela in this way would be American.

Maduro was not a dictator in the classical sense

Maduro was not a classical dictator like Pinochet of Chile or Noriega of Panama. He did not have absolute powers and control over others in the regime. He was a just a public face of the collective leadership of the post-Chavez regime. He had less power than Diosdado Cabello, the Interior Minister or Padrino Lopez, the Defense Minister and Army Chief or the Rodriguez siblings Delcy Rodrigues, the Vice President and her brother Jorge Rodriguez, the President of the National Assembly. He could not take any major decisions without the approval of the other four.

Maduro did not have the charisma or grassroots support or any personal vision or agenda, unlike Chavez. Even in speeches, he tried simply to imitate the style and rhetoric of Chavez. The other four powerful figures let him appear in the TV, sing and dance. This was a clever move which paved the way for his being portrayed in the western media as a dictator responsible for rigging of elections and economic collapse. 

The Cuba angle

Maduro was not the prime candidate to succeed Chavez. It was Diosdado Cabello, the interior minister, who was expected to inherit the mantle of Chavez. He had better credentials as the second strongest man after Chave. But the Cubans had influenced Chavez to appoint Maduro as successor during the last days of Chavez in a Cuban hospital. The Cubans did not warm to Cabello who was independent and did not share Chavez’s or Maduro’s admiration for Cuba. After the coup against him in 2002 (in which a few dissident Generals joined), Chavez took on Cuban advisors for personal protection and intelligence services. This system continued for Maduro also. Since he had less power than the other quartet of power, Maduro relied even more on his Cuban advisors. This was resented by the others. That’s why they let the Americans kill 32 Cubans during the raid.

Chavez considered Fidel Castro as his role model and mentor. He gave free and subsidized oil besides monetary and other support to Cuba which was helpless after the withdrawal of Soviet assistance in 1991. Maduro continued Chavez's policy of supporting Cuba with oil and money. This was not to the liking of the other Chavista factions. 

The Americans have instructed Delcy Rodriguez to end the support to Cuba, which will become even more vulnerable and easier game for US. This has pleased the Cuban-origin Secretary of State Marco Rubio who has been dreaming of liberating Cuba from Communism and claiming the properties owned by his family. Rubio has already warned that the Cuban regime should be afraid.

The capture and kidnap was just a stage-managed event

The so called capture and kidnapping of Maduro was a stage-managed event. Delcy Rodriguez and company had willingly offered the head of Maduro to appease the deities of Washington DC in return for the Americans allowing thousands of Chavistas to continue with their heads on their bodies.  There is bounty of 25 million dollars on interior minister Diosdado Cabello and 15m on defense minister Padrino Lopez.  Plus some more millions on other heads. Trump is not pursuing them despite the trumped up charges and US court convictions against them. If Machado/ Gonzalez had taken over power, they would have happily handed over hundreds of Chavista heads to the Americans. 

Delcy Rodriguez has been in touch with the Americans through Chevron which still operates in Venezuela. As the minister in charge of oil sector, she had the excuse to deal with the Americans. She is more pragmatic and better skilled in negotiations than Cabello or Lopez. So, She was chosen by both the sides to do the deal of offering Maduro’s head and lot of oil to the Americans. Even Maduro was willing to give oil and other things except his head. But Trump wanted a trophy and a spectacular power display of his macho MAGA image. Rodriguez agreed and let the Americans display the power of airforce jets, helicopters, high-tech weapons and skills of special forces. It was all prearranged.

It was not a Regime Change but a Regime Reset

So what has happened in Venezuela is not a Regime Change but a simple Regime Reconfiguration minus Maduro but plus Trump. This arrangement suits the US better than letting Machado/ Gonzalez to take over the country. If that was the case, the Chavistas (with their armed forces and militias) would have fought with the Machado government fiercely to save their heads and positions of power. There would have been bloodshed. Machado would not have been able to manage the situation and the American ground forces would have become necessary. Having learnt from the mistakes made in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Americans did not want a repeat. In any case Trump’s priority was not restoration of democracy. 

Trump’s priority is oil, not democracy

Venezuela has the world’s largest oil reserves of over 300 billion barrels. It was the American companies who had discovered the oil in 1914 and produced till the nationalization in 1975 by President Carlos Andres Perez. He had paid them compensation through negotiations and after approval by the Venezuelan Congress. In the 1990s the Venezuelan government had invited foreign companies back into the oil sector. Some companies such as Chevron, Exxon Mobile and Conoco Philps went back. But when President Chavez came to power in 1998, he wanted these companies to form joint ventures with PDVSA, the national oil company holding majority shares. Except Chevron, the other companies refused the terms and exited. They claimed compensation but the amounts were exorbitant. So they went to courts and arbitration. These claims, with interest, now amount to 22 billion dollars. The American companies would certainly plan to take Venezuelan oil against the dues, claimed by them.

Despite the dispute over compensation disputes, Chevron has been operating in Venezuela all these years. When the Americans imposed sanctions on Venezuela in 2019, Chevron got a special license to operate in the country. It has been operating with repeated renewal of sanctions. 

In the meeting with President Trump on 9 January, the oil companies asked for change of Venezuelan laws on regulations as well as investment guarantees in order to go back to the country. Because of sanctions, PDVSA’s production capacity has been crippled due to shortage of equipments and materials needed for repairs and modernization. Billions of dollars would need to be invested to restore production to the pre-sanction level of over 3 million barrels per day.

Oil is a resource curse for Venezuela

The country has so much of fertile agricultural land, mineral resources including gold and diamond, hydroelectric potential, beautiful beaches and pleasant climate. These resources are sufficient to be a prosperous nation, even without oil. But when the easy money from oil started coming, the Venezuelans abandoned all the other resources and started living exclusively on oil income. 

The problems of Venezuela started when oil was discovered in 1914.  In just a decade, the country had undergone a rapid transformation from an obscure agricultural backwater somewhere in the Andes to the world’s largest oil exporter and the second-largest oil producer after the United States. 

 Since then, the Venezuelans have been infected incurably by the Dutch disease and resource curse. Oil has spoiled both the rulers and the ruled. The politicians stole and misspent the petrodollars during the high oil prices and let the economy slide into crisis when the prices went down. The businessmen gave up productive industries and went into imports and quick ways of making fast buck. Farmers neglected agriculture and moved into cities to share the luxury life style spawned by the oil boom. 

By 1930, while the world struggled with the Great Depression, Venezuelans began to enjoy enormous riches. Venezuela became a key supplier of the oil that fueled the Allied effort during World War II. The flood of oil revenue caused their currency bolivar to appreciate against the dollar.  The strong currency was a boon for Venezuelan consumers, who could suddenly afford to import what they used, wore, and ate every day. Caracas became expensive. A US diplomat earning 2000 dollars in Washington DC needed 5000 dollars to live in Caracas. 

Venezuela’s days of economic plenty did not last. World War II disrupted global trade and pushed the import-dependent nation into economic disarray, plagued by product shortages. Venezuela quickly went from a nation with enough purchasing power to import fine wines to a place where people struggled to find car tires.

Venezuela had increased its oil revenue thanks to a smart Venezuelan, Pérez Alfonzo, the Minister of Development, appointed by the military rulers after the 1945 coup. He changed the game of negotiations with the foreign oil companies. He pushed them for fifty-fifty share in the profits the multinational oil companies derived from the sale of crude oil as well as refining, transportation, and sale of fuel. He educated the sheikhs in the Middle East and helped them to get a similar arrangement with the foreign oil firms. Pérez Alfonzo worked with the representatives of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Iraq, and Iran and signed the agreement to create the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC. From that point on, oil companies would have to consult with exporter countries before setting oil prices.

In the period 1950-57 Venezuela accumulated huge foreign exchange reserves, thanks to the hike in oil prices after the coup in Iran and closure of Suez Canal. In 1963, the country churned out 3.5 million barrels of oil a day. The country’s per capita income was the highest in Latin America, and the currency bolivar remained one of the world’s strongest currencies. Sears Roebuck had opened eleven stores in Venezuela.

After the Arab oil embargo in 1973, Venezuela’s petrodollars tripled. The flow of dollars from oil was too much for Venezuela’s economy causing a form of economic indigestion. The newly elected president Carlos Andrés Pérez asked congress for special powers to better handle the avalanche of money. Venezuela was in a state of emergency because it had too much cash.

Venezuelans wasted no time in developing a taste for the finer things in life. The country became known for having the best French and Italian restaurants in Latin America, many of them run by famed chefs. Venezuela became one of the largest importers of premium alcohol, like whiskey and champagne, as well as luxury vehicles, like the Cadillac El Dorado. Caracas became such a chic destination that Air France’s Concorde supersonic jet opened a Paris–Caracas flight in 1976. The per capita income of Venezuelans rivaled that of West Germany. 

Chavez was a creation of the situation created by the Venezuelan oligarchs

In the 1980s, Venezuela faced a crisis after the fall in prices due to a global oil glut and lower demand.  Since Venezuelans had grown accustomed to generous governments, politicians continued to spend even in the face of less money coming in. The country’s economy in 1989 went into its worst recession ever, with gross domestic product contracting nearly 9 percent. Venezuela was forced to seek a financial lifeline from the International Monetary Fund and asked the U.S. government’s help to renegotiate and reduce its outstanding debts. People got frustrated with the austerity program of the government and took to the streets by the thousands to protest, riot, and loot for ten days. Protesters set fire to cars and buses, and they clashed with the military. When it was all over, the uprising that became known as El Caracazo had left three hundred people dead and material losses in the millions of dollars. During the eight years ending in 1989, poverty had increased tenfold. Inflation topped 100 percent in 1996. 

It was at this time that Chavez entered politics as an outsider challenging the two established political parties (AD and COPEI) run by oligarchs. He asked a simple question to the audience during his election campaign; “ Venezuela is a rich country with the largest reserves of oil. Why then 44% of the people are poor?”. The masses voted for him overwhelmingly.  He won the subsequent elections and a constitutional referendum overwhelmingly. He did not need to rig them.  Chavez started implementing his pro-poor and other socialistic policies. He wanted PDVSA, which was a state within the state to reduce overdependence on US and diversify other markets. 

Overthrow of Chavez in a coup 

The two oligarchic political parties, who were wiped out in the elections, realized that they could not beat Chavez electorally. So they went to Uncle Sam and organized a coup in April 2002 and overthrew Chavez with the help of a few dissident elements from the army.  The PDVSA employees went on a strike and crippled oil production, exports and even internal distribution. There was severe shortage of gasoline. Chavez was sent to jail in a remote island. But the oligarchs started fighting against each other for spoils and refused to give any share to the generals. So the generals freed Chavez and restored him as President after two days. As Ambassador of India to Venezuela, I saw the coup and its aftermath.

Chavez wanted to teach a lesson to those who were involved in and supported the coup. He sacked 15,000 employees of PDVSA and put the company under the control of Chavistas. He started destroying the business and industry of the oligarchs systematically. He imposed strict controls on foreign exchange and business licenses. He took over some factories and put the army in charge of distribution of essential supplies and some business. He let the army commanders and militant followers to make money through corruption. He brought democratic institutions, judiciary and the election tribunal under his control. Since the opposition parties had become insignificant, he assumed more powers and became authoritarian.  This is how the country became a Chavista dictatorship which mismanaged the economy. Inflation and devaluation of currency reached five digits. The GDP contracted for several years. This was the system inherited by Maduro when he was appointed as the successor after Chavez’s death in 2013. The system worsened under Maduro who could not control the others involved in corruption and mismanagement. He did not have the power or competency to arrest the deterioration.

The US, with its bounties and sanctions, became the obstacle for free and fair elections

The American sanctions starting from 2006 worsened the Venezuelan situation. The sanctions on oil exports, started and intensified since 2017,  crippled the Venezuelan economy. Shortage of foreign exchange meant  scarcity of essential items, more control, crime and corruption. This triggered economic emigration of several million Venezuelans. 

Maduro and the Chavista party PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela) would have definitely been voted out in the 2024 elections. The people were angry and frustrated with the misery of daily life. But Maduro was forced to rig the elections because of the fear of American bounties. 

The US had imposed bounties of 50 million dollars on the head of President Maduro, 25 million on Interior Minister Cabello and 15 m on Defense Minister Lopez besides several more millions on others. This meant that if the pro-American opposition came to power, they would have sent all of the top Chavista leadership  to American jails. So, the Chavista regime could not hold free and fair elections which would have been their death warrant. They had no option but to rig the elections to prevent the opposition from coming to power. Thus, the US became the obstacle for free and fair elections in Venezuela. 

The political parties of Brazil, Chile, Argentina and Uruguay restored democracy in the 1980s by internal protests, guerrilla warfare and eventually negotiations with the military dictatorships who were supported by the US.  The political leaders offered amnesty to the perpetrators of human rights crimes only after which the Generals agreed to hand over power. But Machado forgot this history of Latin America. She made a dangerous move when she openly sought US military intervention. She did not realize that it would come at a price. Trump says he will run the country. He finds that the Chavista regime is better suited for him to get oil and other benefits. He is not going to allow elections in the near future, since he fears that Machado will come to power and complicate his agenda. Thus, the US has again become the obstacle for restoration of democracy. 

American serial wars on Latin America

Machado has caused a dangerous problem for the Latin American region by her open invitation for US military intervention and the success of 'Operation Absolute Resolve’.  She has whetted the appetite of US for further adventures in Cuba, Colombia and Mexico. 

The history of Latin America is filled with American invasions, occupations, military coups and destabilizations. It is like a Netflix serial. Location shootings and subtitles change. But the main plot through the episodes is the same; regime change to remove leftist governments and install pro-US regimes to promote American business and hegemony. The wars are given different titles such as war on communism, war on drugs, war on terrorism and war on corruption. The last one was used to bring down the government of the Workers’ Party in Brazil and some leftist presidents in the region. In the current campaign to oust President Maduro, the Americans started with the title “war on drugs” but changed it to 'war on terrorism’ and combined the two later to “ War on Narco-terrorism” to get more bang for the buck. Venezuela and Maduro were not significant sources of drugs nor were they terrorist threats to the US. 

War on Drugs

The US has accused Maduro and his colleagues of involvement in drug trafficking to the US. This is a false accusation. Even according to American official sources, Venezuela accounts for an insignificant portion of drugs which go to the US. 

Secondly, drug is not a supply side problem. Drug is a demand and consumer-driven multibillion dollar US business. Out of every drug dollar, only 20 cents go outside US to the producers and traffickers, while 80 cents remain within the US. Millions of Americans pay top dollars willingly and happily to get high on drugs from wherever they can get them. Some years back, an American firm, Purdue Pharma, had aggressively marketed its opioid Oxycontin and made billion of dollars while thousands of Americans became addicts and ended up dead. The DEA did not do a drug war against the company. The Justice Department did a deal with it and the company got away with some fines. As long American consumers continue to demand and pay for the drugs, the business will go on. The drug consumption in US has not decreased after the killing of Pablo Escobar or the arrest of Chapo Guzman. Drug is simply and clearly an American domestic issue. But the US has created a false and malicious narrative blaming other countries and the Hollywood has propagated this falsehood through films and the Netflix serial “Narcos”.

There is a flip side to the drug issue. The Latin American cartels have been empowered by illegally supplied American guns. US is the main source of illegal  guns to the cartels. Mexico has only two gun shops for the whole country. These are run by the Mexican military which has rigorous checking and control procedures. But there are nearly 10,000 (yes, Ten Thousand) American gun shops in the border with Mexico. About 200,000 American guns are supplied illegally to Mexico every year. These guns cause more Latin American deaths than the drugs in the US. While the drug is consumed by the user, the guns stay around for many years to kill lot of people. The Americans refuse to recognize this issue and do not take any action to stop the gun trafficking.

Simon Bolivar’s prophecy

Simon Bolivar, the Venezuelan independence hero and Liberator of South America, wrote in a private letter dated August 5, 1829, addressed to British diplomat Patrick Campbell, "The United States appear to be destined by providence to plague Latin America with misery in the name of liberty”.  Venezuela is the latest example of misery caused by US in the name of liberty. The Donroe Doctrine will cause only more misery to the Latin Americans in future.

The article was published by The Wire magazine on 12 January 2026

https://thewire.in/world/the-uss-magical-realism-show-in-venezuela