Various areas and countries that have experienced narcoterrorist activity or narco-warfare.
Pablo Escobar's violence in his dealings with the Colombian government is probably one of the most known and best documented
examples of narcoterrorism.
Afghanistan Narcoterrorism has been used in Afghanistan to fund operations with sales of opium and heroin in the
Afghanistan War.
Colombia 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.
Pablo Escobar's violence in his dealings with the Colombian government is probably one of the most known and best documented examples of narcoterrorism. During the period from 1984 to 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. Although the
Medellín Cartel was one of the first criminal organizations to be formally classified as a
Foreign Terrorist Organization, its use has become widely relevant in the 21st century, particularly from 2025 onwards following the deployment of
US naval troops in the Caribbean in the context of
Operation Southern Spear. 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 of narcoterrorism in Colombia On April 30, 1984, a
motorcycle gunman from the
Medellin Cartel killed the minister of Justice
Rodrigo Lara. On November 6, 1985 the
19th of April Movement (Marxist guerrillas) sieged the palace of Justice 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 () 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.
India 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. As an individual,
Dawood Ibrahim was the first
drug lord to be officially and formally classified as a
global terrorist in 2003. He is believed to have had ties to the terrorist organization
al-Qaeda, as well as to its leader,
Osama bin Laden. 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".
Kosovo Kosovo, during the
war in 1999. The
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) used "narcoterrorism" to finance its operations.
Mexico In Mexico, certain
drug lords such as
Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes and
Iván Archivaldo Guzmán Salazar were formally classified as global terrorists in 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. On February 22, 2026,
Nemesio Oseguera "El Mencho" Cervantes (leader of the
Jalisco New Generation Cartel) and six other people were killed in a
Mexican Army security operation in
Tapalpa, Jalisco. The operation sparked clashes in the area, resulting in shootouts, explosions, and the burning of several vehicles and stores throughout the state, road blockades, kidnappings, and an apparent state of siege, giving rise to narcoterrorism.
United States formally pardoned the former president of
Honduras,
Juan Orlando Hernández, convicted of drug trafficking.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. The designation of
narcoterrorism by U.S. policy has been criticized for categorizing violent resistance to drug enforcement as a national security threat to justify the further militarization of the war on drugs. 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. == Perspectives on origins ==