Thank you for that question. If you look up my website, that's my research agenda, the war on drugs in Colombia. In that agenda I have to say I've been very critical of the government stance on the war on drugs in Colombia. My view on this is that most violence in Colombia is indeed explained by the war on drugs. Both paramilitary groups and guerrilla groups finance their terrorist activities today with the proceeds of the drug trade. Before 2000, before the start of Plan Colombia, FARC and the paramilitary groups didn't have a strong hold on the drug trade. Nowadays they are the two main drug producers in Colombia and they are also engaged in the initial stages of drug trafficking.
There has been progress in solving the security issues. Unfortunately, the war on drugs has only shown some results, some very small results, during the last year. But if you take 2000 to 2007, the results are negligible in terms of reducing the amount of cocaine reaching consumer countries. What you do find is an increase in violence.