Putumayan triads: patron-client relationships in the cocaine economy
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.22380/2539472X.1189Keywords:
Patron-client relations, cocaine production, PutumayoAbstract
This paper analyzes cocaine’s relations of production in southern putumayo through the lens of patron-client relations. I argue that the exchange of intangible for tangible signs of goodwill between primary producers and middlemen masks vertical relations of dominance and submission. While the primary producer is situated at the lowest level in these relations, the middleman is a mere broker in a triadic structure whose head is represented by the cocaine producer. Nevertheless, as I demonstrate in the article, primary producers’ particular form of submission regarding their subjection to the exploitation, violence, and power exercised by armed groups, is conditioned by the capacity of the intermediary to negotiate with the cocaine producer
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