Colombia is a country in South America in the northwestern part of the continent. Colombia has a lot of natural resources, including beautiful beaches, dramatic mountains, and lush rain forests, but it is known for its political unrest and the violent influence of powerful drug cartels. Despite a long history of democratic government, Colombia has one of the most rigidly stratified class systems in Latin America. Colombia is the only country in South America with …showed first 75 words of 1382 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1382 total…drugs, primarily cocaine. The estimated value of illegal drug exports amounted to almost half the value of Colombia's legal exports from 1980 to 1995. Earnings from the drug trade helped Colombia avoid the debt crisis that afflicted much of Latin America during the 1980s. But by cheapening the dollar and thereby overvaluing the Colombian peso, the drug trade also undermined the competitiveness of Colombia's legal exports by making them more expensive than similar exports from other countries.