StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...

Latin America's Guerrilla Groups, its Drug Gangs and Poverty - Essay Example

Cite this document
Summary
The involvement of the poor and the down trodden classes of the society in negative activities is a well established fact and thus the poor people in Latin America do have a role to play in the guerilla warfare and drug gangs of the region. Sustained poverty in most of the countries of Latin America during the 80’s and 90’s was evident from the stature of all fields of economic and social development which include infrastructure, education, labor market and healthcare…
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.9% of users find it useful
Latin Americas Guerrilla Groups, its Drug Gangs and Poverty
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "Latin America's Guerrilla Groups, its Drug Gangs and Poverty"

Download file to see previous pages

The situation in rural areas is much poorer than in the urban areas where the average salaries of the workers are 3 to 4 times less as compared to the urban areas. Moreover there are no social security services offered to the rural population. The high cost of living in these areas has forced the children out of the schools into factories and agricultural fields, but still they do not earn enough to feed themselves. There is a general lack of awareness among the local population about the benefits of getting education and having regular health check-ups in the areas where the government has managed to establish schools and hospitals.

These conditions are very easily exploited by the drug lords and guerilla commanders who use the poor people for their interests because the poor are easily attracted towards the large sums of money they get in return. The case of drug lords is very simple as compared to guerilla commanders because the only incentive offered to the poor by the drug lords is the financial benefit they get in return of doing illegal things for them. This is quite attractive for the poor considering their low income; however the guerilla commanders have other ways of attracting the poor.

Guerilla warfare is often considered as a gesture of revolutionist and separatist mindset of a particular group of people in a country, therefore the poor are very easily pulled towards this illegal activity without any feeling of guilt. The poor also consider it illegal to get involved in the drug trade; however the guerilla commanders are deemed as leaders by a considerable number of poor people in Latin America because they consider them their saviors against the so called oppressive economic system of their countries.

So the poor in these countries feel pride in joining the guerilla groups (Guevara). Eradication of poverty through economic reforms is considered as one solution, however the financial problems of the poor people of Latin America is just a part of the story; there are other very important issues associated with this problem, lack of education being the most important of all. Despite the remarkable advancements in information and communication technology, the rural areas in most of the countries of Latin America are still living in isolation and thus know a very little about the outside world.

The lack of education facilities in this region of the world has only aggravated the situation. The poor people of rural areas are too afraid of changing their way of living and consequently they are hostile towards their governments, blaming them for their poverty and deplorable condition (Fay). Conditional cash transfer programs are perhaps the best solution possible in such a scenario because of the vast opportunities it offers to the poor. The idea is to pay the poor to reduce their poverty but this payment is made on certain conditions which involve the improvement in the behavior of the population and improvement of lifestyle.

The two problems identified by carrying out detailed analysis of the involvement of poor in drug crimes and guerilla wars are poverty and lack of education and healthcare. The system of conditional cash transfer offers solutions to both of these problems. Many families in

...Download file to see next pages Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“Latin America's Guerrilla Groups, its Drug Gangs and Poverty Essay”, n.d.)
Latin America's Guerrilla Groups, its Drug Gangs and Poverty Essay. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/literature/1440285-latin-americayies-guerrilla-groups-its-drug-gangs
(Latin America'S Guerrilla Groups, Its Drug Gangs and Poverty Essay)
Latin America'S Guerrilla Groups, Its Drug Gangs and Poverty Essay. https://studentshare.org/literature/1440285-latin-americayies-guerrilla-groups-its-drug-gangs.
“Latin America'S Guerrilla Groups, Its Drug Gangs and Poverty Essay”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/literature/1440285-latin-americayies-guerrilla-groups-its-drug-gangs.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF Latin America's Guerrilla Groups, its Drug Gangs and Poverty

Organized crime: an evolving phenomenon that defies precise and clear-cut universal definition

This paper argues that organized crime has eluded accurate and clear-cut definition through the years because the problem is in a perpetual state of flux, such that certain characteristics or behaviors of criminal gangs today may be abandoned tomorrow.... When any human activity repeatedly threatens the common good and begins to get out of hand, the objective is to put it up for closer inspection so that better understanding of its dynamics would help improve the capability of government to fight and prevent it....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

Colombian Drug MulesDrug Trade and Trafficking

Insisting that government weakness, not complicity is at the source of the problem, Speziale contends that poverty and lack of economic options are the primary reasons for the survival and growth of the Colombian drug trade (p.... poverty and economic necessity drive her to become a drug mule ("Maria Full of Grace").... Despite concentrated and persistent government efforts, the Colombian drug trade has expanded over the past decades and drug trafficking is as vigorous as ever....
16 Pages (4000 words) Essay

The War on Drugs: America's Failed Attempt at Prohibition

This, in particular, is the most pressing concern in the U S which, for a… The purpose of this paper is to outline the consequences of the war, measures adopted and the reasons for the failure of prohibition of drugs in Taking into consideration this social evil, it would not be a wasteful exercise to draw the time line and arrive at a conclusive decision to pinpoint the serious pitfalls in the various administrations over the years, that have resulted in a set back in curbing the drug menace in the United States....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

How Alberto Fujimori Was Able to Maintain Popular Support after the Shock

In the period between 1980 and 1985, Peruvians were under the leadership of Belaunde.... Belaunde's presidency had promised to create over a million new jobs for the Peruvians but this was not… His leadership was characterized by unorthodox methods by his government officials, inflation, violence and climate disasters....
16 Pages (4000 words) Term Paper

Prison Gangs and Security Threat Groups

This research paper establishes the connection between gangs and immigration pointing out how many gangs are non-American in origin and argues that the policy of keeping illegal immigrants in jail has had tremendous social ramifications, one of which is the creation and flourishing of prison gangs.... The research paper "Prison gangs and Security Threat Groups" establishes the connection between gangs and immigration pointing out how many gangs are non-American in origin and argues that the policy of keeping illegal immigrants in jail has had tremendous social ramifications, one of which is the creation and flourishing of prison gangs....
12 Pages (3000 words) Research Paper

Current Concept of Organized Crime

nbsp; This paper argues that organized crime has eluded accurate and clear-cut definition through the years because the problem is in a perpetual state of flux, such that certain characteristics or behaviors of criminal gangs today may be abandoned tomorrow....  … When any human activity repeatedly threatens the common good, the objective is to put it up for closer inspection so that better understanding of its dynamics would help improve the capability of the government to fight and prevent it....
11 Pages (2750 words) Literature review

Gangs in Latin America

This report "gangs in Latin America" is a critical evaluation of Latin American gangs with oversight into their activities as well as the gang life which they lead.... These gangs are formed mostly by youths, especially due to lack of employment, in the underrepresented communities.... hellip; America is one of the major countries that have recorded high numbers of notorious organized gangs, which are a threat to security in society (Rosenthal 2000 p 95)....
6 Pages (1500 words) Report

The Weaknesses of the Insurgency Strategy in Colombia

To control and eliminate these insurgent organizations, the central government has been using different counterinsurgency strategies, and to some extent, these strategies have brought some positive results in the shape of reduced insurgent attacks and decreased drug trade as well.... At the same time, rising unemployment also fuels insurgency and drug trade as the unemployed are easy targets for such organizations.... In order to reduce this trade, the United States has been regularly enhancing military assistance for enabling the Colombian army to end the drug trade and all those drug dealers which are directly or indirectly involved in the drug trade (Busky 2002)....
14 Pages (3500 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us