Colombia, Record Coca Production: Government Changes Course

Colombia continues to break one record after another: its protagonist is the culture that, unfortunately, made this South American country famous throughout the world – coca.

The cultivation of Erythroxylum coca, which is used to make cocaine, broke a record for the second year in a row, with plantings covering 230,000 hectares in Colombia in 2022 (+13% compared to 2021), according to the annual report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). As a result, 1,738 tons of this narcotic substance were produced, which is 24% more than in 2021.

Most Colombian cocaine is grown in the southern regions of Narino and Putumayo, on the border with Ecuador and Peru, and in the northern Santander region bordering Venezuela, strategic areas for the export of raw materials that are increasingly processed outside Colombia to minimize the possibility of seizure. Almost half of the illegally farmed fields are located in indigenous reserves or nature parks, and the crops are in the hands of right-wing and left-wing paramilitary groups and cartels commanded by drug lords.

Although it is illegal, coca plays a significant role in Colombia’s economy. The survival of entire communities depends on it, and it is also obviously a billion-dollar business for the drug lords, the protagonists of violence and the guerrilla war that is tearing apart the countries of South America.

The Colombian government has made it clear that it is adopting a new drug policy aimed at dismantling the criminal organizations with the least possible harm to rural producers.

“I propose to have a different and united voice that defends our society, our future, and our history, which will stop following failed rhetoric,” explained Colombian President Gustavo Preto on September 10, speaking at a conference on drugs in Latin America. “The time has come to restore hope and not repeat the bloody and brutal wars erroneously labeled ‘War on Drugs,’ treating drugs as a military problem rather than a problem of society’s health.”

Preto has repeatedly criticized the line dictated by the United States in the war on drugs, highlighting the obvious failure of the “military” approach, which has led to nothing but enormous bloodshed.

Specific proposals include an amnesty for drug traffickers who want to get out of the business and the acquisition of arable land to be given to small farmers so they could live off legal crops. The goal is “complete peace” in the country.