CÉSAR GAVIRIA, the former Colombian leader involved in taking down the world’s most notorious drug kingpin, Pablo Escobar, has offered some advice to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, saying he would not win the war on drugs by killing suspects and sending in the troops.
In an opinion piece for the New York Times published Tuesday, the ex-president said Duterte’s violent methods could turn out disastrous as repressive policing and military intervention would only compound his country’s drug problem.
Gaviria said although illicit drugs were a national security concern, the war against narcotics could not be won by armed forces and enforcement agencies alone.
Based on his decades of experience tackling one of the world’s most severe drug markets, the former Colombian president said Duterte would also waste a lot of money with his approach to the war on drugs, without really solving the problem.
Locking up nonviolent offenders, Gaviria said, almost always backfires, and might only serve to consolidate organised crime.
“That is the message I would like to send to the world and, especially, to President Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines. Trust me, I learned the hard way,” he said in the article.
Known as one of the world’s primary suppliers of cocaine, Gaviria recalled that Colombia, with support from North American and Western European governments, had poured billions of dollars into a relentless campaign to eradicate drugs and destroy cartels. He said this allowed his government to take down Escobar in 1993, but while that did make Colombia a little safer, the drug lord’s death came at a tremendous price.
Members of Colonel Martinez’s Search Bloc celebrate over Pablo Escobar’s body on December 2, 1993. Pablo’s death ended a fifteen-month effort that cost hundreds of millions of dollars. Image via @Wikipedia Commons
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“My government and every administration since threw everything at the problem — from fumigating crops to jailing every drug pusher in sight. Not only did we fail to eradicate drug production, trafficking and consumption in Colombia, but we also pushed drugs and crime into neighboring countries,” he said.
“And we created new problems. Tens of thousands of people were slaughtered in our anti-drug crusade. Many of our brightest politicians, judges, police officers and journalists were assassinated. At the same time, the vast funds earned by drug cartels were spent to corrupt our executive, judicial and legislative branches of government.”
Since Duterte entered office in June last year, more than 7,000 people have been killed in his war on drugs, almost half of whom died at the hands of police while the others were allegedly murdered by vigilante groups.
Police have said many of those deaths were caused by gang members killing one another but critics continue to blame them on vigilantes allegedly in cahoots with enforcers, Reuters reported.
The Philippine government also vehemently denies sponsoring extrajudicial killings, or police collaboration with assassins.
Cesar Gaviria, former President of Colombia and a member of the Global Commission on Drug Policy, speaks during a news conference at the Waldorf Astoria in New York on June 2, 2011. Pic: AP
Gaviria, however, said his government’s heavy-handed approach to drugs did little to diminish the drug supply and demand in Colombia, and had lesser effect in Western Europe and the US.
“In fact, drugs such as cocaine and heroin are as accessible as ever from Bogotá to New York to Manila.”
Gaviria, who is a founding member of The Global Commission on Drug Policy, which has supported open and evidence-based debate on drugs since 2011, said the although the commission differs from hardliners tackling drugs, its approach does not mean that they were soft on drugs.
“We do not believe that military hardware, repressive policing and bigger prisons are the answer. Real reductions in drug supply and demand will come through improving public health and safety, strengthening anti-corruption measures — especially those that combat money laundering — and investing in sustainable development,” he opined.
“We also believe that the smartest pathway to tackling drugs is decriminalizing consumption and ensuring that governments regulate certain drugs, including for medical and recreational purposes.”
He said even though Duterte’s government is duty-bound to ensure the security of the Filipino people, there is a “real risk that a heavy-handed approach will do more harm than good.”
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Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte. Source: Concept News Central.
Tough penalties, he added, were necessary to deter organised crime, but extrajudicial killings and vigilantism are the “wrong ways to go”.
Following the death South Korean businessman who was killed by rogue Filipino police officers in a botched kidnap-for-ransom attempt, Gaviria says Duterte appears to have realised the consequences of his approach. Despite this, he said Duterte’s plan to bring in the army to fight in the drug war would also be “disastrous”.
“The fight against drugs has to be balanced so that it does not infringe on the rights and well-being of citizens,” he said, adding tackling drugs requires addressing not just crime, but also public health, human rights and economic development.
Regardless what Duterte believes, Gaviria said Philippines would not be able to completely eradicate drugs and drug users.
He pointed out that the Philippines already has a low number of regular drug users and said the implementation of penalties and extrajudicial violence against drug consumers made it almost impossible for drug addicts to seek treatment.
“Instead, they resort to dangerous habits and the criminal economy. Indeed, the criminalisation of drug users runs counter to all available scientific evidence of what works.”
The body of the third son of a local family to be claimed by the Philippines drug war. Pic: Darius Askaripour.
Gaviria said politicians have always gained popularity from taking on a hardline approach to drugs and that he, too, had been seduced into taking a tough stance on the scourge during his time as president.
“The polls suggest that Mr. Duterte’s war on drugs is equally popular. But he will find that it is unwinnable,” he said.
“I also discovered that the human costs were enormous. We could not win the war on drugs through killing petty criminals and addicts. We started making positive impacts only when we changed tack, designating drugs as a social problem and not a military one.”
“This is a test that many of my Colombian compatriots have failed. I hope Mr. Duterte does not fall into the same trap.”
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