These nations ignored the problem primarily due to its slow introduction and penetration into their society, the insistence from the U.S. that the sources of the drugs was the only problem and because the governments at the time were more concerned with foreign debt, inflation, economic growth, civil-military relations and political survival.
[1] The United States continued to increase their anti-drug operations in the Andean region resulting in displacement.
[4] This means that the U.S. tactics forced the drug traffickers to search for safer areas with less government pressure to eliminate the flow of narcotics.
The drug traffickers took advantage of the neglected Southern Cone and began shifting their routes, locations for cocaine laboratories and money laundering centres.
It was also found that Uruguay and Chile had become major financial centres for money laundering after the invasion of Panama.