At a time when Latin America found itself defenceless in the face of an abusing government, the people turned to the new media in the hopes of getting the attention of an international audience. The age of new technologies truly benefited the people of Latin America, for it enabled the Latin American citizens to not only connect with the world, but to also connect with each other. The writing in newspapers, the music on the radio, the images on television, and more recently the internet: each one of those media served as a means of expression through which the people was able to voice its fear of and its anger towards the government. Counting on the empathetic capacity of the public, families of the victims addressed the world and unraveled the true story of Latin America. As Dawson says, the medium “forces a dirty secret into the open, where it can no longer be ignored”. Obviously the Latin American government did not take very well not having control of the narrative anymore. However, eliminating the threat posed by the newly “assertive political actors” would have only drawn even more attention onto the situation in Latin America; which is why the government instead resorted to discredit the people refusing to stay quiet. Unfortunately for the government of Latin America, the “global north” was not fooled, and its sympathy for the Latin American people deepened.
Nevertheless, reporting stories sometimes also comes with risks. Even though the use of media may help to mobilize the citizens of a nation and to inspire the human rights activists across the globe to take action, choosing to speak the truth and denounce the crimes orchestrated by the authorities and more recently by the drug cartels constitutes a life-threatening risk. Press freedom, one of the core values in a true democratic system, has been attacked in the past, but never has it been more at risk than since the start of drug wars.
This week’s topic got me thinking a lot about the reason why drug wars cannot be won. We too often tend to put the blame on Latin America for the problem that is illicit drug trafficking, but what if drug users (and more specifically drug users in the United States) were actually more to blame? Aren’t the consumers complicit in the production of drugs?
Ronnie's Latin American Blog 
I think your point about the role American drug users have is very interesting. It’s true that, for the mot part it seems, Latin American countries get most of the blame for the drug problem, but they are getting the ontraband to the US someway, and many people are buying them, so is it fair to see Central and South America as the villains? In my opinion, I don’t think so. Of course, many of the reasons why the drug trade grew to be so big in a number of Latin American countries have to do with their histories. Many poor citizens felt abandoned by their governemnt and turned to drug trafficking to fulfill their needs. However, a similar narrative can be painted onto America. Why do so many of its citizens turn to illegal drug use?
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Hey! I think that you have a good point about consumers being complicit in the production of drugs. I definitely agree; drug trafficking wouldn’t be such an issue if there wasn’t such a demand for them! I think that this should be included in the story more often and considered a bigger part of the problem in order to have a complete picture of what’s happening.
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Really great blog! I think the question you pose at the end is a very interesting one but also complicated to answer. I don’t think you can place blame on one particular source for the drug trafficking industry in Latin America, but I agree that some blame does fall on the international users of these drugs. I mean if there was no one to buy the drugs then there would be no profit to be made in the industry and it would collapse. However there really isn’t a way to get rid of the consumer as the drugs are heavily ingrained in North American party culture with the middle/upper class populations and ingrained into the lower class communities as well. Also millions suffer addiction problems which are not something that can be stopped easily. So even if some blame falls on the consumer, there is no real way to remove that factor since people will always do drugs.
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I definitely do think that the drug users and drug ‘pushers’ are the most to blame. But the war on drugs was a great way for America to pour money into its law enforcement and like you say, blame Latin America for yet another issue. I think the war was never to be won but rather a way for the USA to keep its position of power and dominance
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I think plenty of the conversation about drug trafficking has mainly been around Latin America and has not taken into consideration the effect that drug consumption in the United States is having in Latin America.
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I really enjoyed reading your blog post. I agree with your analysis of the drug war. Often, the blame is placed on Latin America, however, there must be demand in order to have supply and this is why I believe drug users are also complicit in drug trafficking. Purchasing illegal drugs does contribute to the vicious cycle of drug trafficking.
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