Origin and consequences of the war on drugs. From the united states to Andean countries

This paper aims to study the War on Drugs and its consequences in the Andean countries (Colombia, Peru and Bolivia). It analyses the way in which the United States internationalization of a criminal political discourse, resulted on a punitivist ideology separated from human rights when responding to the drug problem in these countries. The study begins with an incursion into the legal, political and social aspects of the origin of the discourse of the War on Drugs in the United States and the Andean countries. It continues with the presentation of the results and the current state of the political response to coca cultivation in each of these countries. The work closes with an exposition of the most visible consequences of the war on drugs in the Andean countries, characterized by the increase in prison overcrowding, the selective criminal prosecution of marginalized groups and mass incarceration. Regarding the methodology, it uses the inductive rationale through the bibliographic search. Consequently, it characterizes the punitivisim discourse against drugs and the ideologies that support it as a response lacking rationality within the framework of a Social and Democratic Rule of Law, whose implementation in drug-producing countries has caused structural damage to the legitimacy of the democratic systems of these countries, especially with regard to the respect for fundamental rights. This paper offers a study on the War on Drugs and its consequences in the Andean countries (Colombia, Peru and Bolivia). In particular, the way in which the United States internationalized a criminal political discourse that resulted in the establishment of an exceptional criminal prosecution system without a minimum standard when it comes to the constitutional guarantee of due process. In a second moment, this study approaches the different strategies assumed by these countries once the United States abandoned direct military intervention in policies. The paper ends analysing the visible consequences of this process, characterized by the increase in prison overcrowding, the selective criminal prosecution of marginalized groups and mass incarceration are exposed.