According to the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, 204,000 hectares of coca leaves were listed in the country in 2021, increasing 43 % compared to 2020. Cocaine production is also increasing.
Le Monde
This is the highest level recorded by the UN since it started monitoring the production of Coca in 2001. In Colombia, 204,000 hectares were devoted to the planting of Coca leaves in 2021. According to the annual report of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime (ONUDC), published Thursday, October 20, this is an “43 % increase compared to 2020. Colombia is by far the largest world producer, ahead of Peru and Bolivia.
The departments of Nariño and Putumayo, on the border with the Ecuador, are the most producing regions with 89,266 hectares. The Norte de Santader region, close to Venezuela, arrives in second position with 42,576 hectares.
In addition to the cultivation of coca leaves, the production of cocaine, conveyed to the United States, the largest consumer in the world, and Europe, is also up, going from 1,010 tonnes to 1,400 tonnes . For the UN, it is an “upward trend that has been consolidated since 2014”, despite the intense repression carried out against drug traffickers.
The UN underlines that the increase in planted areas and the production of cocaine is mainly due to “territorial vulnerability”, “increased global demand” and the presence of armed actors who benefit of this business. What reinforce the new leftist president Gustavo Petro in his desire to change his strategy in the fight against cocaine traffic.
“The war against drugs failed”
Invested in early August, he had from his first speeches that he was “time to have a new international convention which accepts that the war against drugs failed”, to prefer a “strong policy of prevention of the consumption “in developed countries. He had reiterated his remarks in September at the General Assembly of the United Nations, demanding “the end of the irrational war against drugs”.
At the presentation of this report to Bogota, the Minister of Justice Nestor Osuna judged that these figures “are precisely the technical evidence which constitute the starting point for the construction of a new policy in terms of drugs”.
The Colombian government is still refining its new strategy to combat trafficking, which excludes the legalization of cocaine, although Mr. Osuna estimated that “one day” the “trade and traffic” of cocaine will have to be regulated worldwide.
During a visit in early October in Bogota, the American secretary of state, Antony Blinken, a traditional ally of Colombia in Latin America, said to be “on the same wavelength” as President Petro “in What concerns this more global approach “.
Help COCA cultivators
The Colombian President defends Coca cultivators and promises a rural reform to stimulate food production and economic advantages for those who abandon illicit cultures.
In addition to the surrender to the justice of drug traffickers in exchange for advantages, the new Colombian president aims a “total peace” in the country ravaged by more than half a century of internal conflict fueled by the juicy traffic of cocaine cocaine .
He resumed negotiations with the ELN (National Liberation Army, Guévariste), the last guerrillas constituted as such as still active in the country and also intends to discuss with the dissidents of the ex-FARC, who reject the peace agreements 2016.
Despite these good wishes displayed, President Petro has faced a first setback in the polls since coming to power two months ago. It only benefits from 46 % support of those questioned, ten points less than during the previous survey.
The economic situation, including unemployment, is the main concern of Colombians in a country that undergoes the effects of global inflation and a historic devaluation of the local currency compared to the dollar. Wednesday, Mr. Petro attributed the crisis to the United States and their economic policies.