The FARC adamantly reject that they are drug traffickers , but have admitted to financing their activities through taxes levied at different stages of the drug production process ( on producers , buyers , laboratory production and landing strips ) . The Colombian and American governments have considered the FARC to be one of the world 's leading drug trafficking organizations . Although " Mexican transnational criminal organizations ( TCOs ) remain the greatest criminal drug threat to the United States " according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration 's 2015 National Drug Threat Assessment Summary , " the FARC-EP are increasingly working with Mexican TCOs to smuggle ton quantities of cocaine into the United States . " The report indicates ties between the FARC and Mexican drug cartels including Los Zetas , Beltrán-Leyva Cartel , Jalisco New Generation Cartel and the Sinaloa Cartel . In Havana , the FARC claimed that " the traditional drug policy of the Colombian state has been focused on the persecution of the weakest elements of the drug-trafficking chain : cultivators and consumers . " In 1999 , in response to the large increase in domestic cocaine production activities and the deterioration of security conditions , the Colombian and US governments announced Plan Colombia , a joint anti-drug strategy . The main aims of the Plan were a 50 % reduction in the production and trafficking of illegal drugs within six years and an improvement of security conditions in Colombia . US funding for the military component of Plan Colombia was on average US$ 540 million per year between 2000 and 2008 , while the Colombian government invested approximately US$ 812 million per year . Following the September 11 attacks , Plan Colombia resources began to be used for anti-guerrilla operations . Over 80 % of US aid to Colombia between 2000 and 2007 was military assistance , which came to reinforce the modernization of the Colombian armed forces under the Pastrana and Uribe administrations
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Colombian peace process