The RAND Blog

Colombia

  • U.S. Coast Guardsmen unload 3,500 pounds of cocaine seized from a vessel in the Caribbean valued at an estimated $43 million in Miami, March 16, 2012
    Cocaine

    commentary

    Mixed Messages: Is Cocaine Consumption in the U.S. Going Up or Down?

    Beau Kilmer , Gregory Midgette

    Apr 28, 2017

    Brookings - Up Front

    Data lags and the elimination of the ADAM program complicate estimates of U.S. cocaine consumption. New users who haven't yet developed cocaine dependence are also a factor. It may be prudent to start planning for an increase in heavy use even before all of the evidence is in.

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  • Cuba's President Raul Castro stands between Colombia's President Juan Manuel Santos and FARC rebel leader Rodrigo Londono, a.k.a. Timochenko, in Havana, September 23, 2015, as they agreed to reach a final peace agreement within six months
    Colombia

    commentary

    Bringing FARC in from the Cold

    Arturo Munoz

    Oct 28, 2015

    Foreign Policy Concepts

    The announcement of a preliminary peace accord by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Colombian government is not receiving public support. Most Colombians manifest a strong desire for peace but they reject the possibility that crimes committed in the name of revolution should receive amnesty.

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  • coalition forces in Afghanistan
    Special Operations Forces

    commentary

    Special Ops Global Whack-a-Mole

    Linda Robinson

    Apr 7, 2013

    USA Today and CFR

    A new model for our nation's special forces could follow the approach used in Colombia and the Philippines, where special forces planned ongoing campaigns that use numerous advisory, civil affairs, and informational activities to address those governments' weaknesses in providing security and ending conflicts.

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  • commentary

    Prime Numbers: Doped

    Beau Kilmer , Peter Reuter

    Oct 19, 2009

    Foreign Policy

    The illicit drug trade is the ultimate value-added chain. As cocaine and heroin make their perilous journeys from the fields of Colombia and Afghanistan to markets in U.S. and European cities, each border crossed and each trafficker involved adds dollars to a price, write Beau Kilmer And Peter Reuter.

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  • commentary

    The Americas: Colombia's Rebels Talk Peace but Make More War

    Angel Rabasa

    Jul 13, 2001

    Wall Street Journal

    Colombia's friends, primarily the U.S., should be prepared to provide sustained and adequate support to the Colombian armed forces, not just for drug eradication, as is the case with the current policy, but to restore the capacity of the Colombian state to defend itself against forces that seek to overthrow it.

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  • commentary

    Violence Unraveling the Fabric of Society

    Angel Rabasa

    Jun 17, 2001

    San Diego Union-Tribune

    Threats to democracy and stability in the Andean region of South America could confront the United States with its most serious security crisis in this hemisphere since the Central American wars of the 1980s.

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  • commentary

    A Confounding, Complex Tragedy

    Brian Michael Jenkins

    Jun 17, 2001

    San Diego Union-Tribune

    Without external assistance, Colombia cannot defeat the guerrilla-gangster Minotaur that consumes it. It is in our national interest to help. At the same time, it is necessary that we fully comprehend the harsh realities we and our Colombian allies face.

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