Word: narco
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...generation ago, extradition was aimed at violent kingpins whose cartels threatened the Colombian government's stability. But the kind of narco-terrorism that cost thousands of Colombian lives in that era, and which stemmed largely from the drug lords' determination to erase extradition from the law books, has since been reined in. As for deterrence, even supporters of extradition acknowledge that fallen drug bosses are simply replaced by their ambitious underlings. "We oversold it," concedes Myles Frechette, who as U.S. ambassador in the 1990s pressured Colombian officials to reinstate extradition after it had been banned by the 1991 Constitution...
...surprisingly, the political ABCs often trump purely judicial considerations. In the post-Escobar era, paramilitary commanders emerged as some of Colombia's most dangerous narco-criminals. By deftly holding the sword of extradition on drug charges over their heads, Uribe convinced dozens of these warlords to turn themselves in and demobilize their troops. Those who cooperated and confessed were eligible for light sentences. But soon these death-squad leaders began implicating political allies of the President, including lawmakers, army officers, the government's spy chief and even Uribe's cousin, who was forced to resign from the Senate...
...guerrillas," says Leon Valencia, a Bogota political analyst. The United Nations and every other international organization deem the kidnapping of civilians, even political leaders, as a crime against humanity. The practice seemed to complete the rebels' gradual makeover from peasant warriors fighting for a Marxist utopia to ruthless narco-terrorists. When Betancourt, a French-Colombian citizen and a cause celebre in Europe, was whisked to freedom during last July's commando raid, much of the world lost interest in the FARC. Most analysts said the group, whose membership has been halved from as many as 20,000 members a decade...
...that the price of opium in Burma, also known as Myanmar, increased by 15% last year. As a result, Burmese land dedicated to poppy cultivation actually expanded in 2008, despite promises by the country's ruling junta to combat its reputation as one of the world's most notorious narco-states...
...Burmese in exile in Thailand. But the raid appears to have been galvanized by foreign anti-drug agents, and, as the Irrawaddy points out, it's not clear whether the Burmese junta would have raided the ship without international pressure. In the mean time, Southeast Asia's largest narco-state continues to thrive. And some Burmese farmers are able to fill their bellies for now, even as they are feeding the world's drug habit...