|
|
Article: Drug trafficking and its impact on Colombia: an economic overview
- Article from:
- Canadian Journal of Latin American & Caribbean Studies
- Article date:
- January 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCopyright Canadian Association of Latin American and Caribbean Studies 2003. Provided by ProQuest LLC. (Hide copyright information)
|
Introduction
Colombia's economy, the fifth largest in Latin America, has been characterized by steady growth over a long period of time, and can boast an increasingly diversified and internationalized production sector. Colombia has also enjoyed a long-lasting democracy. Nonetheless, little of this is perceived by international opinion; from the 1990s onwards, the very mention of Colombia has immediately conjured up images of drug trafficking and the criminality associated with it. Of course there is a reason for this: by the end of the 1990s, Colombia had become the principal supplier of illegal drugs in the Andean area, while the country's economy had weakened considerably and its ...