Essentially, the US Government was aiding the Argentenians at the time, who were training the Contras. When the Argentinians discovered that the US was also aiding the Brits, they refused to further train the Contras. This is when the Israelis took over the training. Meanwhile, the CIA was busy training Bolivian intelligence employees through Klaus Barbie and essentially took over the drug trade in Central America. The war on drugs is essentially an war on the citizenry.
Sovereign states emerge, based upon capital rather than geography.
Gegraphical states can't defend, because the enemy is not corporeal, but corporate, with no social contracts, citizenry or other accoutrements of statism. The ghost states can make war on geographical states by subverting the citizenry, sowing confusion, by control of information, propaganda and surveillance. Keeping war going in S America is a distraction and a proving ground for electronic warfare by electronic states. The role of police today has blurred, along with that of the military. Today, personnel from all branches of military are acting as police on foreign and domestic soil.