Word: peru
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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What happened? Weren't we supposed to be winning the drug war in Latin America? The infamous Medellin and Cali cartels were busted in the mid-1990s. And since 1995, successful eradication programs have reduced coca cultivation by two-thirds in Peru and by more than half in Bolivia...
...turns out, however, that Colombian traffickers weren't ready to raise the white flag. The billion-dollar cartels were replaced by more than 40 independent organizations that are difficult to penetrate and whose leaders have been just as enterprising as the old kingpins. When Peru and Bolivia put the squeeze on coca cultivation, the traffickers moved their crops to southern Colombia, which the government in Bogota had largely ceded to Marxist guerrillas. Then, improved refining techniques enabled traffickers to increase output. To combat the growers, the White House has asked for $1.6 billion in aid. For foreign...