The United States military is continuing to expand its desired “drug war” in Latin America. This war is necessary so that the government, its military, other corrupt agencies, and especially the CIA, can continue to fund their covert operations (black ops) around the world. That is one of the main reasons that Afghanistan and Latin America are so important in this U.S. war to expand the market for drugs. It is in the interest of government thugs and the military to continually expand its efforts to keep illicit drugs on the black market.
The U.S. militarization of Latin America hasn’t come without high cost. Over just the past ten years, more than $20 billion has been spent to support this so-called war on drugs in that region alone. The U.S. Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy, and Coast Guard are all involved in this aggression against our southern neighbors.
Now, the U.S. military is in bed with and training local “law enforcement” and militaries in several countries in Latin America. Because of this, much equipment and arms are supplied by the U.S. to these local state agencies, and huge expenditures are ongoing for infrastructure development. This means that the U.S. in its normal imperial fashion is establishing a giant footprint in the area. This will simply allow much more intervention in the future, and along the way will feed the government’s corporate sponsors in crime to massive amount of profit.
This is all about “national security” according to government agencies, but as usual, that is a complete lie. The only way for the U.S. government and its military to fight terrorism and drug trafficking would be for it to war against itself. The United States is now the leader by far in advancing and prosecuting terrorism, and is most likely the largest single drug trafficking organization on the planet. There is big money and power in drugs, and government first and foremost seeks money and power.
The illegal drug market makes up for hundreds of billion of dollars, (probably more) and defense contractors are raking in hundreds of millions of dollars on the drug war alone each year. Those contracts have increased by over 5 times in the past decade alone. Given that this invasion of our neighbors is in Columbia, Mexico, and many parts of Central and South America is continually expanding, this invasion is going to get much worse as time goes by. The U.S. has absolutely no intention of stopping or even slowing the drug trade, as that would not serve their very corrupt agenda, so continued military presence in the region is almost a certainty.
Thousands of U.S. troops are now in Latin America due to this phony war on drugs, and tens of thousands of hours of U.S. military flights are logged every year. Navy and Coast Guard ships are always patrolling the southern waters, and this escalation of aggression is in the middle stages of even more expansion. It seems that the world is the playground of the U.S. for forcing on others its military might. This can only lead to more aggression, and will lead to the U.S. government gaining even more power and wealth at the expense of not only the people in Latin America, but at home as well!
For a more thorough understanding of the scope of these military interventions, although certainly not nearly critical enough, look at this article by Martha Mendoza at Salon.