Despite the Media, the Drug War May Have a Happy Ending

Hollywood is one of the most powerful arbiters of public opinion in the U.S. Even for those who would disagree with this, it is almost impossible to deny the entertainment industry’s enormous influence on culture and society and in shaping the perceptions and attitudes of countless millions.

This impact extends far beyond America’s borders; its reach, indeed, is global. Examples of this are everywhere, but as the president of Colombia, I feel compelled to mention the recent wave of movies, such as “Traffic,” “Blow” and “Proof of Life,” and television series such as “The West Wing” and “Law & Order,” because they have all dealt in some way with the war against illegal drugs.

They have, moreover, sparked a debate about the need to fight this war. In some instances they have stated outright that such a war is futile.

There is no question that the demand for illegal drugs is what triggers this nightmare. We in Latin America have been saying as much for 20 years. Without a significant reduction in demand in the U.S. and Europe and better access to treatment centers for addicts, there is little hope to solve the global drug crisis.

Yet the recent movies and television shows that have focused on the drug war are just entertainment programs. Viewers should take them at face value, not as the complete reality or truth.

For example, the complexity of the situation in Colombia cannot be summarized in a movie or a newspaper editorial. In the movie, “Clear and Present Danger,” the character based on the notorious Pablo Escobar is shown living a carefree life, playing with his children and hitting baseballs. In “Blow,” we see him on his ranch, talking business. What we don’t see are the bombs he set off in Colombia, in shopping malls and on airplanes; or the judges, politicians, journalists and police officers he murdered in cold blood; or the thousands of widows and orphans he and his cohorts created.

I was kidnapped at gunpoint by Escobar’s henchmen and barely escaped with my life. In fact, there are very few Colombians whose lives remain untouched by the violence generated by drug-trafficking in our country.

Escobar and many of his fellow traffickers are now either dead or behind bars. Yet their attacks left scars on Colombia’s institutions and, certainly, drug trafficking continues to assault our democracy similar to the way the mob’s money attacked U.S. institutions during prohibition. The nature of the threat has changed--the urban, cartel-based operations, have evolved into a more fractured, underground and largely rural-based industry. The reason for this change is clear. The cartels of Medellin and Cali were defeated by Colombia’s security forces and by a population unwilling to cower to brutal acts of violence and intimidation.

Still, the drug industry has re-emerged in the remote Colombian countryside, an area that, until now, had been largely “frontier” land with little government or law enforcement presence.

It is clear that drug money is fueling the violence of the armed groups in Colombia. To face this challenge, my government has developed a plan that has won the support of two U.S. administrations and a strong bipartisan consensus in Congress--a plan that focuses on increased counter-narcotics operations, while on another level giving long-term economic aid to subsistence coca farmers and their families.

I am certain that our bilateral efforts will have a positive and lasting effect in reducing the amount of the drugs that reach American streets and schools and reducing the violence that plagues Colombia. Only through an integrated and sustained strategy--one that works to reduce supply and demand and that helps farmers and drug abusers--will both our countries be able to move forward in a substantial way.

Hollywood movies often end with the boy getting the girl, of good triumphing over evil, or of the cowboy riding off into the sunset. In real life, that is not always the case.

Still, in Colombia we are guided by a hard-headed optimism and by a strong belief that it is right to stand up to those forces that would undermine our democracy. It has also meant a great deal to Colombians to know that we are not alone in this challenge and that we have the support of many in the U.S.