Latin American Initiative on Drugs and Democracy
Encyclopedia
The Latin American Initiative on Drugs and Democracy (also known as the Latin American Commission on Drugs and Democracy) in March, 2009, issued a report which "declared the war on drugs a failure," according to one commentator. The commentator drew parallels with the Prohibition in the United States
and also reviewed signs of relaxing attitudes toward drugs prohibition in 2009. Another commentator cited Jeffrey Miron
of Harvard's work on the subject, Senator
James Webb
's call for a commission on the subject, and a study by Glenn Greenwald
about Portugal
’s policy of decriminalization published by the Cato Institute
while also supporting in general the conclusions of the Latin American Initiative.
Commissioners of the LAI were:
, chaired by President Cardosa, followed on the work of the LAI and issued a report in 2011. The Global Commission included presidents Zedillo and Gaviria and writer Llosa, and they were joined by, among others, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
, former NATO Secretary General Javier Solana
; former US Secretary of State George Shultz, former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker
, writer Carlos Fuentes
and businessman activist Richard Branson
.
Prohibition in the United States
Prohibition in the United States was a national ban on the sale, manufacture, and transportation of alcohol, in place from 1920 to 1933. The ban was mandated by the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution, and the Volstead Act set down the rules for enforcing the ban, as well as defining which...
and also reviewed signs of relaxing attitudes toward drugs prohibition in 2009. Another commentator cited Jeffrey Miron
Jeffrey Miron
Jeffrey Alan Miron is an American economist. He served as the chairman of the Department of Economics at Boston University from 1992 to 1998, and currently teaches at Harvard University, serving as a Senior Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies in Harvard's Economics Department.Miron is an...
of Harvard's work on the subject, Senator
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
James Webb
James Webb
James Webb, Jim Webb or Jimmy Webb may refer to:Public service*James B. Webb, known as J. B. Webb , influential in shaping Australia's international relations and aid during the 1950s, 60s and 70s*James E...
's call for a commission on the subject, and a study by Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Greenwald
Glenn Greenwald is an American lawyer, columnist, blogger, and author. Greenwald worked as a constitutional and civil rights litigator before becoming a contributor to Salon.com, where he focuses on political and legal topics...
about Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
’s policy of decriminalization published by the Cato Institute
Cato Institute
The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank headquartered in Washington, D.C. It was founded in 1977 by Edward H. Crane, who remains president and CEO, and Charles Koch, chairman of the board and chief executive officer of the conglomerate Koch Industries, Inc., the largest privately held...
while also supporting in general the conclusions of the Latin American Initiative.
Commissioners of the LAI were:
- César Gaviria Trujillo (ColombiaColombiaColombia, officially the Republic of Colombia , is a unitary constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments. The country is located in northwestern South America, bordered to the east by Venezuela and Brazil; to the south by Ecuador and Peru; to the north by the Caribbean Sea; to the...
), president of Colombia (1990-94) and secretary general of the Organization of American StatesOrganization of American StatesThe Organization of American States is a regional international organization, headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States...
(1994-2004) - co-president of LAI - Ernesto Zedillo Ponce de León (MexicoMexicoThe United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
), president of Mexico (1994-2000) and professor and director of the Center of Globalization Studies at Yale UniversityYale UniversityYale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
– co-president of LAI - Fernando Henrique CardosoFernando Henrique CardosoFernando Henrique Cardoso – also known by his initials FHC – was the 34th President of the Federative Republic of Brazil for two terms from January 1, 1995 to December 31, 2002. He is an accomplished sociologist, professor and politician...
(BrazilBrazilBrazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
), president of Brazil (1995-2002) and professor at the University of São PauloUniversity of São PauloUniversidade de São Paulo is a public university in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. It is the largest Brazilian university and one of the country's most prestigious...
– co-president of LAI - Ana Maria Romero de CamperoAna María Romero de CamperoAna María Romero de Campero was a Bolivian journalist, writer, activist and influential public figure in her country. She was President of the Senate at the time of her death...
(BoliviaBoliviaBolivia officially known as Plurinational State of Bolivia , is a landlocked country in central South America. It is the poorest country in South America...
), reporter, editor, chronicler, international correspondent, columnist and director of the newspaper Presencia for seven years; 30-year career as journalist - General Alberto Cardoso (Brazil), Chief Institutional Cabinet Minister of the presidency of Brazil.
- Antanas MockusAntanas MockusAurelijus Rutenis Antanas Mockus Šivickas is a Colombian mathematician, philosopher, and politician.The son of Lithuanian immigrants, he left his post as the president of the National University of Colombia in Bogotá in 1993, and later that year ran a successful campaign for mayor...
(Colombia), president of Corporación Visionários por Colômbia (Corpovisionarios), a non-profit, ex-dean of the National University of ColombiaNational University of ColombiaThe Universidad Nacional de Colombia , also called UNAL or just UN, is a public, national, coeducational, research university, located primarily in Bogotá, Medellín, Manizales and Palmira, Colombia...
(1991-93) and ex-mayor of BogotáBogotáBogotá, Distrito Capital , from 1991 to 2000 called Santa Fé de Bogotá, is the capital, and largest city, of Colombia. It is also designated by the national constitution as the capital of the department of Cundinamarca, even though the city of Bogotá now comprises an independent Capital district...
(1995-97, 2001-03) - Diego García SayánDiego García SayánDiego García-Sayán Larrabure , is a former Justice and Foreign Affairs Minister of Perú, and currently a judge on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights....
(PeruPeruPeru , officially the Republic of Peru , is a country in western South America. It is bordered on the north by Ecuador and Colombia, on the east by Brazil, on the southeast by Bolivia, on the south by Chile, and on the west by the Pacific Ocean....
), judge and vice-president of the Inter-American Court of Human RightsInter-American Court of Human RightsThe Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it makes up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States , which serves to uphold and...
, minister of justice in Peru (2000-01) and, later, minister of foreign relations, Peru - Enrique KrauzeEnrique KrauzeEnrique Krauze Kleinbort is a Mexican historian, essayist and publisher. He is president of the publisher Editorial Clío and director of the cultural magazine ....
(Mexico), teacher; research at the Colégio de MéxicoEl Colegio de MéxicoEl Colegio de México, A.C. is a prestigious Mexican institute of higher education, specializing in teaching and research in the social sciences and the humanities...
and St Antony's College, OxfordSt Antony's College, OxfordSt Antony's College is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England.St Antony's is the most international of the seven all-graduate colleges of the University of Oxford, specialising in international relations, economics, politics, and history of particular parts of the...
; worked for the magazine VueltaVuelta (magazine)Vuelta was a Mexican literary magazine, founded by poet Octavio Paz in 1976 following the controversial dismantling of the workers' cooperative that ran the daily newspaper Excélsior. It ceased publication following Paz's death in 1998....
(1977-96) - Enrique Santos Calderón (Colombia), director, columnist of the Sunday edition of the newspaper El Tiempo; co-founded and directed the weekly magazine Alternativa with his colleague Gabriel García MárquezGabriel García MárquezGabriel José de la Concordia García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, short-story writer, screenwriter and journalist, known affectionately as Gabo throughout Latin America. He is considered one of the most significant authors of the 20th century. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in...
(1974-80) - João Roberto Marinho (Brazil), vice-president of the administration council and editorial vice-president of the Globo Organizations
- Mario Vargas LlosaMario Vargas LlosaJorge Mario Pedro Vargas Llosa, 1st Marquis of Vargas Llosa is a Peruvian-Spanish writer, politician, journalist, essayist, and Nobel Prize laureate. Vargas Llosa is one of Latin America's most significant novelists and essayists, and one of the leading authors of his generation...
(Peru), writer, 2010 Nobel Prize for Literature, column "Piedra de Toque" for El País (Madrid) - Moisés NaímMoisés Naím-External links:****...
(Venezuela), editor-in-chief of the Foreign Policy magazine based in Washington, DC; minister of trade and industry of Venezuela (early 1990s) and then executive director of the World BankWorld BankThe World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
; syndicated Sunday columns for El País - Patricia Llerena (ArgentinaArgentinaArgentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
), Chamber Judge of the Oral Criminal Tribunal in the city of Buenos AiresBuenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
and former assistant manager of the Central Bank of the Republic of Argentina - Paulo CoelhoPaulo CoelhoPaulo Coelho is a Brazilian lyricist and novelist.-Biography:Paulo Coelho was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He attended a Jesuit school. As a teenager, Coelho wanted to become a writer. Upon telling his mother this, she responded with "My dear, your father is an engineer. He's a logical,...
(Brazil), writer, according to ReutersReutersReuters is a news agency headquartered in New York City. Until 2008 the Reuters news agency formed part of a British independent company, Reuters Group plc, which was also a provider of financial market data...
(October 3, 2003), among the three best known and most successful in the world - Sergio RamírezSergio RamírezSergio Ramírez Mercado is a Nicaraguan writer and intellectual who served in the leftist Government Junta of National Reconstruction and as Vice President of the country 1985-1990 under the presidency of Daniel Ortega.Born in Masatepe in 1942, he published his first book, Cuentos, in 1963...
(NicaraguaNicaraguaNicaragua is the largest country in the Central American American isthmus, bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. The country is situated between 11 and 14 degrees north of the Equator in the Northern Hemisphere, which places it entirely within the tropics. The Pacific Ocean...
), writer and part of the National Council of Government (1979) and later, vice-president, of Nicaragua - Sonia Picado Sotela (Costa RicaCosta RicaCosta Rica , officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a multilingual, multiethnic and multicultural country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the west and the Caribbean Sea to the east....
), member of the Human Security Advisory Committee of the UN; president of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights (2002); president of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture (2005-08); Deputy of the Legislative Assembly of Costa RicaLegislative Assembly of Costa RicaThe Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislative branch of the government of Costa Rica. The national congress building is located in the city capital, San José, specifically in El Carmen District in San José Canton.-Composition:...
(1998-2002); judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (1988-94) and Ambassador of Costa Rica in the United States(1994-98). - Tomás Eloy MartinezTomás Eloy MartínezTomás Eloy Martínez was an Argentine journalist and writer.-Life and work:Born in San Miguel de Tucumán, Martínez obtained a degree in Spanish and Latin American literature from the University of Tucumán, and an MA at the University of Paris...
(Argentina), professor at Rutgers UniversityRutgers UniversityRutgers, The State University of New Jersey , is the largest institution for higher education in New Jersey, United States. It was originally chartered as Queen's College in 1766. It is the eighth-oldest college in the United States and one of the nine Colonial colleges founded before the American...
(1995-present) and director of the Latin American Studies program; writer in Argentina until 1975, thereafter in exile
Legacy
The Global Commission on Drug PolicyGlobal Commission on Drug Policy
The Global Commission on Drug Policy was a 19-person panel which issued an assessment in 2011 of the global war against drugs, saying "it's an abject disaster" according to one report. The emphasis in drug policy on harsh law enforcement over four decades has not accomplished its goal of banishing...
, chaired by President Cardosa, followed on the work of the LAI and issued a report in 2011. The Global Commission included presidents Zedillo and Gaviria and writer Llosa, and they were joined by, among others, former United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
, former NATO Secretary General Javier Solana
Javier Solana
Francisco Javier Solana de Madariaga, KOGF is a Spanish physicist and Socialist politician. After serving in the Spanish government under Felipe González and Secretary General of NATO , he was appointed the European Union's High Representative for Common Foreign and Security Policy, Secretary...
; former US Secretary of State George Shultz, former US Federal Reserve chairman Paul Volcker
Paul Volcker
Paul Adolph Volcker, Jr. is an American economist. He was the Chairman of the Federal Reserve under United States Presidents Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan from August 1979 to August 1987. He is widely credited with ending the high levels of inflation seen in the United States in the 1970s and...
, writer Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes
Carlos Fuentes Macías is a Mexican writer and one of the best-known living novelists and essayists in the Spanish-speaking world. He has influenced contemporary Latin American literature, and his works have been widely translated into English and other languages.-Biography:Fuentes was born in...
and businessman activist Richard Branson
Richard Branson
Sir Richard Charles Nicholas Branson is an English business magnate, best known for his Virgin Group of more than 400 companies....
.