UN Reports Record Increase of Cocaine Production in Colombia

"Socalj" for Borderland Beat

Last year the area of coca cultivation expanded to a vast 204,000 hectares (504,100 acres). Colombia is already the world's largest cocaine producer.

Colombia has increased its cultivation of coca plants - the main ingredient in cocaine - by 43%, a new report by the United Nations (UN) says. It is the highest figure since the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) began collecting such data in 2001.

According to the document, in 2021 the area planted with coca plants grew by 43% and the potential for cocaine production increased by 14%, reflecting figures never seen before on illicit crops in the country. Under this scenario, in Colombia, there are no longer 143,000 hectares but 204,000. In addition, it indicates that the potential production of fresh coca leaves can exceed one million tons.

In this sense, cocaine seizures increased: from 505,683 kilos in 2020 to 669,340 in 2021 and 86.5% of the crops have been in the same places for 10 years. This report draws attention because it was published four months later due to the change of direction of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime —UNODC— for the Southern Cone and the Andean Region, and also due to the transition of government from August 7 this year.

Short-term factors —according to the document— associated with the dynamics of coca cultivation from 2020 to 2021 are the positioning of new criminal groups, the reduction of intervention and the deterioration of socioeconomic conditions due to the pandemic. Now, regarding the concentration of crops, these are Nariño, Norte de Santander, and Putumayo, departments that house 62% of the total.

Regarding this report and its worrying results, Leonardo Correa, director of the United Nations Illicit Crop Monitoring System, stated in an interview with Yamid Amat that "crops have been increasing for a long time within what we have called productive enclaves, but in this year, in particular, they increased outside the enclaves.”

Likewise, the official explained that “ this situation in which coca has been basically in the same places for more than 10 years as a consequence of the fact that the conditions of the vulnerability of the populations have not yet been solved, explains that despite all the efforts, coca continues to grow in the territory” and indicated that this upward trend had its genesis in 2014 and registered a first peak two years later.

The Minister of Justice Néstor Osuna indicated in the presentation of the report that it is another example of the failure of the fight against drugs. Regarding this, he confirmed that the government of President Gustavo Petro will change this model of combating the production and consumption of illicit substances.

“The national government is formulating, designing, and implementing a new drug policy that does not include the legalization of cocaine. That change is possible that one day in the world it will be built. It is possible that the trade, the production, the trafficking of cocaine, have a regime similar to that of alcohol”, said Minister Osuna.

He was also clear in saying that the changes made to the law will not go in the direction of legalizing the use of cocaine. “The drug policy of the national government does not go in that direction, it goes towards the aspects of pacification of the territory, non-criminal treatment of peasants, the substitution of land and crops, and promotion on the international agenda of a change in drug policy ”, he explained.

Colombian President Gustavo Petro has called the war on drugs a failure. Instead, the newly-elected left-wing leader wants to regulate the industry and expand programs to substitute illegal crops, BBC South America correspondent Katy Watson reports. Most of Colombia's cocaine heads to Europe and the United States, which is the world's largest consumer of illicit drugs.

For years Colombia has struggled to get farmers to move away from coca production, but promises to provide incentives and subsidies have not materialized, our correspondent says. The UN report says the heaviest coca cultivation takes place in the North Santander department in the northeast of Colombia, and two departments in the southwest, on the Ecuador border Nariño and Putumayo.

The Tibú municipality in North Santander, on the Venezuela border, has the highest level of coca cultivation of all of Colombia's municipalities - 22,000 hectares. The crop is flourishing especially in areas near national borders or with easy access to the sea, the report says. In those regions, illegal armed gangs, drug traffickers, and producers work together.

The UNODC says coca cultivation continues to threaten Colombia's biodiversity, contributing to deforestation. About half the coca plantations are in special land management zones, including forest reserves. Aerial spraying to get rid of the crops was suspended in 2015 after a court ruled that the herbicide used - glyphosate - could cause cancer and pollute the land.

President Petro's predecessor Iván Duque strongly supported the US war on drugs. In 2020 former President Donald Trump told Colombia to resume aerial spraying. But earlier this month, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken met President Petro in Colombia and said they shared "extensive common ground" on the coca problem.

"We strongly support the holistic approach the Petro administration is taking," Blinken said. "On both the enforcement side but also on the comprehensive approach to the problem... I think that we're largely in sync."

Source BBC, UN, Infobae