Stoking Tensions

[DISCLAIMER]

During my service in the United States (U.S.) Marine Corps, fulfilling a role in the maritime land force service branch of the U.S. Department of Defense, I volunteered for the Marine Security Guard (MSG) program which was coordinated with service to the U.S. Department of State.

While assigned to protect the U.S consulate in Rio de Janeiro, Brasil, I was transferred to Lima, Peru due to an alleged spike in activities of terrorism (the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims). About this matter, I stated in a post entitled Toca Me:

Recently, I discovered a TikTok video that lists various CIA [Central Intelligence Agency] coups in South America. One isn’t surprised that there’ve been attempts to cancel the video platform when such truth is revealed.

In a separate YouTube video, more in-depth exploration of U.S.-backed coups is presented. In any case, I was ordered to Peru shortly after the Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori and his head of Peru’s National Intelligence Service, Vladimiro Montesinos, fled the country.

According to one source, the CIA had its hands in the affairs of Peru and in regard to matters for which I provided security during that turbulent time in Lima. I won’t bore you with the publically-available details herein. Simply know that the spooks touched Peru.

When assigned to protect the U.S. embassy in Lima, my ignorance was remedied regarding spooks (government intelligence agents). Thus, between August 2000 and March 2001, I became disillusioned about disinformation disseminated by the spooks I unwittingly defended.

For instance, one of the major reasons relayed to me about U.S. involvement in South America related to combatting so-called terrorist organizations which funded their criminal activities through the sale of illegal drugs. Regarding this matter, one source states:

Narcoterrorism, in its original context, is understood to refer to the attempts of narcotics traffickers to influence the policies of a government or a society through violence and intimidation, and to hinder the enforcement of anti-drug laws by the systematic threat or use of such violence. As with most definitions of terrorism, it typically only refers to non-state actors.

I was told that the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Drug Enforcement Administration, and other U.S. law enforcement entities operated in Peru as a means of countering narcoterrorism from terrorist groups such as the Shining Path, Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement, and others.

However, when a shipment of something like 200 M60 machine guns were allegedly delivered to the embassy by “mistake,” I grew suspicious about whom it was the U.S. was backing. Besides, Marines used the M249 Squad Automatic Weapon platform, not M60s.

Why were Lima MSGs instructed to test fire the M60s? Why were there M60s sent to our unit in the first place? Why were those weapons shipped off quickly thereafter? To whom were the weapons shipped? Why didn’t any of the other Marines ask these critical questions of the CIA?

There’s little wonder about why my time in Lima was cut short when other Marines ostensibly voted me out of the MSG detachment. My skepticism about the diplomatic mission in Peru, under the auspices of fighting a failed drug war, wasn’t conducive for blind obedience to orders.

When further contemplating this matter, I’m reminded of the hip hop album Revolutionary Vol. 2 (2003) by lyricist Immortal Technique. In particular, I think of the track “Peruvian Cocaine”, featuring Pumpkinhead, Diabolic, Tonedeff, Poison Pen, Loucipher, and C-Rayz Walz.

The intro to this song features an audio sample from the 1983 film Scarface, in which a man discusses with an interviewer how drug operations between the U.S. and other countries are conducted:

[Interviewer]

“I’ve heard whispers... about the financial support your government receives from the drug industry in Bolivia.”

[Gutierrez]

“Well, the irony of this, of course, is that this money, which is in the billions, is coming from your country. You see, you are the major purchaser of our national product, which is, of course, cocaína, cocaine.”

[Interviewer]

“On one hand, you’re saying the United States government is spending millions of dollars to eliminate the flow of drugs onto our streets. At the same time, we are doing business with the very same government that is flooding our streets with cocaine?”

[Gutierrez]

“Mm hmm, si, si. Let me show you a few of the other characters that are involved in this... tragic comedy.”

Although a work of fiction, the delicate matter addressed in this Scarface clip is precisely what I discovered was likely taking place during my time in Lima. Thus, there was a logical and reasonable (collectively “rational”) explanation for an alleged spike in activities of terrorism.

When providing psychoeducational lessons about Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT), I often illustrate the relationship between logic and reason through use of syllogisms. Regarding the drug trade that involves North, Central, and South America, consider the following example:

Form (modus ponens) –

If p, then q; p; therefore, q.

Example –

If the distribution of drugs across U.S. borders, with the appearance of fighting a war to prevent the supply of these substances, generates billions of dollars annually through both dissemination and supposed attempts to stop the spread of narcotics, then it’s in the best interest of the U.S. government not to fully reduce or completely stop the flow of drugs into the U.S., as a means of increasing revenue.

The distribution of drugs across U.S. borders, with the appearance of fighting a war to prevent the supply of these substances, generates billions of dollars annually through both dissemination and supposed attempts to stop the spread of narcotics.

Therefore, it’s in the best interest of the U.S. government not to fully reduce or completely stop the flow of drugs into the U.S., as a means of increasing revenue.

No matter my moral and ethical opposition to what I observed when serving a diplomatic mission in South America, drug distribution was a big business that didn’t require my advocacy. To my surprise, fellow MSGs merely ignored what was taking place.

Essentially, the drug war was a matter of U.S. officials backing whichever business partners they favored over others. Concerning this matter, the outro for “Peruvian Cocaine” contains an audio sample from the 1991 film New Jack City, in which a man accused of drug trafficking states:

“I’m not guilty. You’re the one who’s guilty. The lawmakers, the politicians, the Columbian drug lords... all you who lobby against making drugs legal, just like you did with alcohol during the Prohibition!

You’re the one who’s guilty. I mean, c’mon, let’s kick the ballistics here, ain’t no Uzis made in Harlem! Not one of us in here owns a poppy field! This thing is bigger than [Immortal Technique]. This is big business. This is the American way.”

Of course, some people may desire to intentionally forget what part they played in virtually countless lives being lost to narcoterrorism, terrorist-backed entities ostensibly propped up by the U.S., and nation states which participated in drug trafficking in the early 2000s.

However, Pepperidge Farm remembers! Personally, I opt not to willingly discount the memory of what I discovered in Peru. This is especially important to me in regard to a recent decision made by the Peruvian president, about which one source reports:

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte has signed into law an amnesty bill that grants impunity for serious crimes committed during the country’s internal armed conflict, Human Rights Watch said today.

Peru’s Congress passed the law on July 9, 2025, and President Boluarte signed it into law on August 13. It provides blanket amnesty to members of the Armed Forces, the police, and self-defense committees accused of or under investigation for alleged crimes committed during Peru’s internal armed conflict between 1980 and 2000. It also mandates the release of people sentenced for crimes committed during the armed conflict who are over age 70.

“This law is quite simply a betrayal of Peruvian victims,” said Juanita Goebertus, America’s director at Human Rights Watch. “It undermines decades of efforts to ensure accountability for atrocities and weakens the country’s rule of law even further.”

Noteworthy, I know that one source alleges, “Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International claim to be independent, but they have a revolving door with the US government, and serve its foreign-policy interests, with funding from CIA-linked foundations and billionaire oligarchs.”

When serving the MSG mission, I learned of spooky non-governmental organizations, of which Human Rights Watch is claimed to be, so I take with a grain of salt any claim stemming from such entities. After all, this is a rational method of determining truth.

Nevertheless, if people who committed atrocities in Peru during the time I was assigned to Lima are now being released without the service of justice, one wonders what message is broadcast to the rest of the world. Is terrorism by another name now considered moral and ethical?

I ask, because it appears as though the activities conducted by the U.S. a quarter of a century ago are echoing in the present. For context, one source states:

The Trump administration is aggressively stoking tensions with Venezuela and its president, Nicolás Maduro, and appears to be creating conditions that could lead to a military confrontation.

A major buildup of U.S. naval forces is underway outside Venezuela’s waters as the administration has stepped up belligerent rhetoric about fighting drug cartels and labeled Mr. Maduro a terrorist-cartel leader. All that raises the question of whether the end goal is just to counter drug-smuggling boats, or a potential regime-change war.

President Trump signed a still-secret directive last month instructing the Pentagon to use military force against some Latin American drug cartels that his administration has labeled “terrorist” organizations. Around the same time, the administration declared that a Venezuelan criminal group was a terrorist organization and that Mr. Maduro was its leader, while calling his government illegitimate.

I’ve seen firsthand how this game is played. Moreover, I didn’t need to watch Scarface or New Jack City to understand how malleable the rules are regarding allegations of terrorism or narcoterrorism with U.S. intervention strategies south of our border.

If it’s not a mysterious arms cache appearing in a South American embassy, presumably to back whichever entity’s actions are more aligned with U.S. interests, then it’s apparently going to be “naval forces” underway off the coast of Venezuela. This sort of game has deadly consequences!

Bear in mind that terrorism relates to the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The illegal drug trade (also known as drug trafficking) arguably has a primary purpose of making money, not achieving political or ideological aims.

Furthermore, what label will be assigned to the U.S. if armed conflict erupts and our nation is responsible and accountable for the loss of non-combatant lives? Will we become the baddies in this likely scenario? Wouldn’t that make us the terrorists? That’s some spooky shit!

Then again, given that the U.S. continues to back Israel’s ostensibly terroristic actions in Gaza, where reportedly “data from an internal Israeli intelligence database indicates that at least 83 percent of Palestinians killed in Israel’s onslaught on Gaza were civilians,” I’m not surprised.

At this point, I think that stoking tensions is precisely our nation’s pastime. Make no mistake about it, admitting this gives me no satisfaction. All the same, just as Pepperidge Farm remembers what occurred 25 years ago in Peru, history will remember actions of the U.S.

Fortunately, I practice unconditional acceptance by acknowledging how little control and influence I have in life. Thus, instead of unhealthy self-disturbance, I experience healthy distress. Ergo, the product of my beliefs about the U.S. stoking tensions is a poorly written blogpost.

Perhaps you, too, observe how the actions of our country are practically indistinguishable from terrorist organizations across the globe, masked by supposed anti-drug trafficking efforts. How do you reconcile your beliefs and resulting reactions from your attitude about such matters?

Would you like to learn a method of rational living whereby you use adaptive beliefs which lead to more constructive outcomes, such as voicing your opinion without an unhelpful expectation that anything will change as a result of your efforts? If so, I look forward to hearing from you.

If you’re looking for a provider who tries to work to help you understand how thinking impacts physical, mental, emotional, and behavioral elements of your life, I invite you to reach out today by using the contact widget on my website.

As the world’s foremost hip hop-influenced REBT psychotherapist, I’m pleased to try to help people with an assortment of issues from anger (hostility, rage, and aggression) to relational issues, adjustment matters, trauma experience, justice involvement, attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, anxiety and depression, and other mood or personality-related matters.

At Hollings Therapy, LLC, serving all of Texas, I aim to treat clients with dignity and respect while offering a multi-lensed approach to the practice of psychotherapy and life coaching. My mission includes: Prioritizing the cognitive and emotive needs of clients, an overall reduction in client suffering, and supporting sustainable growth for the clients I serve. Rather than simply trying to help you to feel better, I want to try to help you get better!

Deric Hollings, LPC, LCSW

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