Narcoterrorism

Narcoterrorism, in its original context, is understood to refer to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation, and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws by the systematic threat or use of such violence. As with most definitions of terrorism, it typically only refers to non-state actors.

Description

Pablo Escobar's violence in his dealings with the Colombian government is probably one of the most known and best documented examples of narcoterrorism. The term itself was coined by former President Fernando Belaúnde Terry of Peru in 1983 when describing terrorist attacks against his nation's anti-narcotics police. The term has become a subject of controversy, largely due to its use in discussing violent opposition to the US government's War on Drugs.

The term is being increasingly used for terrorist organizations that engage in drug trafficking activity to fund their operations and gain recruits and expertise. Such organizations include FARC, ELN, AUC in Colombia, PCP-SL in Peru, Hezbollah, and the Taliban.

A 2013 Congressional Research Service report noted that in 2003, the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) reported that 14 of 36 (39%) of the groups designated by the U.S. as foreign terrorist organizations "were involved 'to some degree' in illicit narcotics activity" while in fiscal year 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) "reported that 29 of the top 63 international drug syndicates, identified as such on the consolidated priority organization target (CPOT) list, were associated with terrorists."

In 2000, the U.S. enacted, continued under the Bush administration, Plan Colombia, intending to eradicate drug crops and to act against drug lords accused of engaging in narcoterrorism, including among them the leaders of the Marxist FARC and the AUC paramilitary forces. The U.S. government is funding large-scale drug eradication campaigns and supporting Colombian military operations, seeking the extradition of commanders.

Although al-Qaeda is often said to finance its activities through drug trafficking, the 9/11 Commission Report notes that "while the drug trade was a source of income for the Taliban, it did not serve the same purpose for al Qaeda, and there is no reliable evidence that bin Laden was involved in or made his money through drug trafficking." The organization gains most of its finances through donations, particularly those by "wealthy Saudi individuals".

Critics of the prohibition of drugs say that prohibition itself funds terrorism by indirectly creating a black market for banned substances from which criminal organizations profit.

In 2025, by executive order, the United States expanded its approach in its counter drug campaign to designate foreign drug cartels as foreign terrorist organizations. This gave the United States military broad authority to employ military force against drug cartels and to target their leaders through direct military action.

Examples

Areas or countries that have experienced narcoterrorist activity or narco-warfare include:

• India's D-Company, a transnational crime syndicate which carried out the 1993 Bombay bombings. Said to be involved in large-scale drug trafficking via their contacts in Pakistani intelligence. Its leader, Dawood Ibrahim, was formally classified as a global terrorist in 2003.
• In Mexico, certain drug lords such as Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes and Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar were formally classified as global terrorists in the 2025. Similarly, the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Gulf Cartel, Sinaloa Cartel, La Nueva Familia Michoacana, Northeast Cartel, and Carteles Unidos have been formally classified as both FTOs and SDGTs.
• Venezuela, in the form of the Cartel of the Suns and the Tren de Aragua. See generally Illegal drug trade in Venezuela.
• Syria, wherein the former ruling Assad family had sponsored various militant groups that control territories in Lebanon and Syria to finance the world's largest multi-billion dollar drug industry. The Assad regime supported the drug trafficking operations of militant group Hezbollah, which was vital for the group's finances.
• Afghanistan, to fund operations with sales of opium and heroin in the Afghanistan War
• Brazil, which has several organized and trained groups that dominate territories, such as Comando Vermelho and Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), carry out offensives against state and federal security forces, control the clandestine market for drugs, weapons and ammunition, and apply violence through psychological, community and indiscriminate terrorism against the civilian population.
• Colombia, which has influential right-wing paramilitary "narco-terrorists", Clan del Golfo, Los Rastrojos, The Black Eagles and left-wing revolutionary guerrillas such as the Popular Liberation Army.
• Kosovo, during the war in 1999. The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) used "narcoterrorism" to finance its operations.
• Lebanon – Hezbollah is said to derive its income from drug trafficking operations in both the Middle East and Latin America. According to research conducted by the Abba Eban Institute as part of an initiative called the Janus Initiative, Hezbollah makes a profit in the cocaine smuggling market to leverage it for terrorist activities. Hezbollah operatives are overseeing illicit finance and drug trafficking activities, moving about $200 million a month.
• United Kingdom (Northern Ireland), where loyalist paramilitaries like the Ulster Volunteer Force are believed to be involved in drug dealing.
• Peru has left-wing revolutionary guerrillas such as the Shining Path.
• The Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan is said to fund itself through heroin trafficking.
• Sweden, in the form of a large quantity of gang-related bombings, in retaliation to law enforcement, and other gangs and civilians. Bombings in Sweden.
• Turkey, The PKK has been linked to drug trafficking organizations in Europe and the Middle East since the 1990s.

Narcoterrorism in Colombia

During the period from 1984–1993, Colombia was known as one of the countries to have suffered a number of terrorist attacks at the hands of narcotic traffickers. Belisario Betancourt, Virgilio Barco and César Gaviria were three Colombian presidents that constantly battled against the Medellín Cartel’s unrelenting war on the government, especially through its branch known as Los Extraditables led by Pablo Escobar Gaviria, Gustavo Gaviria and Gonzalo Rodriguez Gacha. A number of crimes by “Los Extraditables” were due to their constant battles against the government’s policies on extradition and their collaborations with the United States government who sought to bring the Colombian drug bosses to justice. These terrorist acts typically consisted of assassinations of political figures, kidnappings, and bombings. The wing of the cartel also known as Los Priscos reportedly also participated directly in these acts of terrorism at the behest of the Medellín Cartel’s top leaders.

History

Pablo Escobar was elected as a representative as an alternative congress delegate, but allegations from politicians, the newspaper “El Espectador” and the minister of justice declared him a drug trafficker and he was eventually dismissed from Congress on January 4, 1984.

On April 30, 1984, a motorcycle gunman from the Medellin Cartel killed the minister of Justice Rodrigo Lara Bonilla. On November 6, 1985 the 19th of April Movement (Marxist guerrillas) sieged the palace of Justice in order to hold all supreme magistrates hostage. The organized military reaction caused the building to burn resulting in the deaths of 91 people, 11 of which were judges. Although the M-19 denies being funded from outside sources, multiple sources say the Medellin Cartel funded them. Additionally, numerous bombs detonated across the country, the most memorable bomb being the one that brought down Avianca Flight 203 during its flight over Soacha Cundinamarca resulting in 107 dead in 1989.

In Colombian history, the FARC were initially major enemies of the drug cartels. The MAS (Muerte a los secuestradores - Death to the kidnappers) was a group created by the most eminent members of the Cali cartel, including Escobar and Ochoa against the guerrillas who had kidnapped one of Ochoa's sister. The MAS was responsible for the deaths of 500 members of the Patriotic Union, a political party that emerged from the demobilization of part of the FARC in the 1990s. Significantly, it is worth recalling that Medellin cartel refused to buy coca from peasants living in areas under FARC control. From then on, even when there was evidence of collaboration between FARC and the drug traffickers, these connections were described as « temporary alliances ».

President Alvaro Uribe, who was elected on the idea of waging an all-out war against the FARC, over-emphasized the link between drugs and the FARC as well as the terrorist nature of the guerilla group in a post 2001 context: “(Álvaro Uribe) increasingly equated the guerrillas with drug traffickers and terrorists”. This policy has provoked much criticism which has enriched the debate on the nature of the conflict in Colombia, and consequently on the character of the FARC.

See also

• Narcoguerrilla
• Anti-Narcotics Force
• Drug cartel
• Illegal drug trade
• Terruqueo

External links

• The Drug War in Mexico: By Any Other Name it's Terrorism, by Barnard R. Thompson (MexiData.info)
• The Narco-terror Trap, by Ginger Thompson (ProPublica)