U.S. Steps Up Militarization of Africa Through “Drug Wars" | Black Agenda Report

U.S. Steps Up Militarization of Africa Through “Drug Wars"

25 Jul 2012

🖨️ Print Article

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

The United States wants to drag Africa into its drug wars – on top of Washington’s War on Terror. Since drugs always follow American “anti-narcotics” activity in the world, the inevitable result will be an explosion of drug networks in targeted African countries. “Liberia and Ghana will soon emerge as hubs of the African drug trade – just as happened in Colombia and elsewhere in Latin America.”

U.S. Steps Up Militarization of Africa Through “Drug Wars”

A Black Agenda Radio commentary by Glen Ford

“Washington has its eyes on Liberia and Ghana.”

When a high U.S. government official says Africa is “the new frontier,” it’s time for everyone that cares about the continent to watch out, because something really dangerous is afoot. A top guy in the D.E.A. recently described Africa as the “new frontier” where Washington hopes to embed commando-style teams of specially vetted police for an American-run war on drugs, similar to U.S. operations in El Salvador, Guatemala, Panama, and the Dominican Republic. And we all know how those U.S. so-called anti-drug operations turned out. We should add to the list Colombia and Afghanistan, the world capitals of cocaine and heroin, respectively.

According to mythology, everything King Midas touched turned to gold. It appears the United States has the Narcotics Touch; everything the Americans touch turns to dope. American allies in the developing world quickly become narco-states.

The pattern has not changed in 60 years, since the Italian and French mafias were rewarded with international drug franchises in return for their assistance against socialists and communists. Southeast Asia’s Golden Triangle became the center of the global heroin trade during the Vietnam War – a project of the CIA. When the U.S. shifted its focus to suppressing leftist movements in Latin America, cocaine became the region’s biggest export. The United States has never waged war against drugs – quite the opposite. Washington rewards its political friends with drug franchises and monopolies, in return for service to American corporate interests. That’s why most of America’s friends in the developing world are criminal regimes.

“Washington hopes to embed commando-style teams of specially vetted police for an American-run war on drugs.”

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is most proud of its work in Honduras, where a U.S.-backed coup overthrew a mildly leftist government during President Obama’s first year in office. The Americans now roam the country like they own it, in joint operations with the same soldiers and national police that continue to kill and brutalize peasant, student and worker organizations. The joint drug operations, which have succeeded in killing at least four innocent Mosquito Indians, including two pregnant women, will undoubtedly result in a march larger drug trade under the tight control of the military, police and wealthy landowners allied with the Americans. That’s how the American Narco Touch works. The endless phony War on Drugs is a tool of U.S. policy, designed to subvert foreign governments and societies. The drug trade never gets smaller.

Now it’s Africa’s turn. Washington has its eyes on Liberia and Ghana, where it plans to train elite police units after first “vetting” their personnel – a euphemism for making sure that the commandos are willing to act as de facto U.S. operatives. You can be sure that Liberia and Ghana will soon emerge as hubs of the African drug trade – just as happened in Colombia and elsewhere in Latin America. With Washington’s “vetted” operatives in charge of the African drug networks, the U.S. will vastly increase its ability to buy influence among the greedy classes all across the continent, both in and out of uniform. Just as in Colombia and Honduras and Panama and Guatemala, the Drug Wars become indistinguishable from the War on Terror, which used to be called the War on Communism. It's really a war against the poor.

For Black Agenda Radio, I'm Glen Ford. On the web, go to BlackAgendaReport.com.

BAR executive editor Glen Ford can be contacted at Glen.Ford@BlackAgendaReport.com.

listen

http://traffic.libsyn.com/blackagendareport/20120725_gf_AfricaDrugs.mp3

More Stories

Danny Haiphong and Margaret Kimberley
Remembering the 2020 Black Lives Matter Uprising/Cuba and Venezuela in Focus w/Jacqueline Luqman
10 Jun 2022
Journalist and activist Jacqueline Luqman joins the Left Lens to discuss the two year anniversary of the BLM uprisings and her recent trips to Cuba and Venezuela.
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Black Agenda Radio June 10, 2022
10 Jun 2022
The UK sends asylum seekers to Rwanda, the number of police killings in the U.S. continue unabated, and the Democratic Republic of Congo is threatened by U.S. client states and comprador, neo-…
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
The UK Will Send Asylum Seekers to Rwanda
10 Jun 2022
The United Kingdom is paying the Rwandan government $150 million to accept asylum seekers. The UK is accelerating deportations and denial of legal rights to Global South immigrants. Fiona of the…
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Number of Police Killings in 2022 Outpace 2021
10 Jun 2022
Police killings continue at a rate of more than 1,000 per year in the U.S., with 2022 numbers outpacing those of 2021. Sam Simyangwe of Mapping Police Violence provides analysis of the death toll and…
Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist
Congo Attacked by U.S. Client States and Neo-Colonial Politics
10 Jun 2022
The Democratic Republic of Congo lives under threat of attack from neighboring U.S. client states Rwanda and Uganda. Its neo-colonial leadership acts on the direction of Washington and Europe.…