Colombia must maintain a robust program of forced eradication of coca crops, expand voluntary eradication, and increase cocaine and chemical precursor interdiction operations if it is to achieve peace.
That’s what the government of President Joe Biden said when presenting to the Congress of his country the first evaluation on the fight against drugs since President Gustavo Petro took office.
The evaluation is part of the Report on the International Strategy against Drugs, produced by the Department of State and which by law must be submitted to the legislature annually. Also, that the country it needs to expand state presence in rural areas and create the conditions for crop development and substitution programs to prosper.
In the report, known to this newspaper, the US also says that it is necessary to dismantle the criminal organizations that are engaged in this business and that are responsible for 97 percent of the cocaine that enters US territory.
“Reducing cocaine production and dismantling organized criminal groups is critical to achieving lasting peace in Colombia. The Colombian military and police have prevented hundreds of metric tons of drugs from reaching the United States annually at great financial and human cost both both in their forces and for eradicators. To prevent more coca cultivation, Colombia will need to maintain robust forced eradication, expand voluntary eradication, and increase interdiction operations against cocaine and precursors,” the document says.
The US also maintains that for development and substitution programs to succeed, there needs to be “strong commitment and investment from the Colombian state” and that its intention is to continue working closely with the government to address “the high levels of coca ” that still exists in the country.
Despite this, the evaluation presented by the Biden administration makes clear the fissures that already exist with the Petro government, something that is hinted at in some of the sections of the report.
This is because the new leftist government has said that it does not intend to forcefully eradicate in some areas of the country, that it will only do so once crop substitution begins to bear fruit, and that it does not intend to consider resuming aerial spraying.
In the State Department report, it mentions the agreement reached in September 2021 with the predecessor government of Iván Duque to develop a comprehensive anti-narcotics strategy in the country.
But according to the US, Petro has not yet “reviewed” that strategy, although some of its components have been publicly endorsed by the president. Among them security and rural development and protection of the environment.
“Upon taking office, President Petro announced that his administration was seeking to expand interdiction operations and anti-money laundering efforts targeting high-level drug traffickers. Petro has declared his intention to shift focus to voluntary coca eradication once the review whether the crop substitution program can be implemented reliably, while maintaining a credible capacity for forced eradication under certain circumstances. While the government reviews its counternarcotics plans, Colombia continues with its manual eradication programs,” the report said. Describe the changes that the new president has announced.
When evaluating figures, the report highlights that Colombia did not comply with its commitment to eradicate at least 100,000 hectares in 2022, since it only eliminated 70,000. It does not specify, however, if that shortfall of 30,000 has accumulated since Petro’s arrival at the presidency. But what it does say is that this goal was reached in 2021 when 103,000 hectares were eradicated and in 2020 (130,000 hectares).
The report does not disclose the statistics on illicit crops detected in the country in 2022. In general, these figures are provided by the White House in another report that is published between June and August of each year.
However, he mentions that the illicit crops present in 2021, some 234,000 hectares planted, represent very high levels.
According to sources consulted by this newspaper, the figures for 2022 could break historical records if the drop in eradication that occurred last year is taken into account.
According to the report, the country also seized some 783 metric tons of the alkaloid, a figure very similar to that registered in 2021.
Another interesting fact in the report is that it attributes 97 percent of all the coca seized in the US to a Colombian origin. Although Colombia has historically been responsible for more than 90 percent of the US cocaine market, it has rarely reached 97 percent. In fact, in the reports published by the DEA, it is generally 92 percent.
In the report, the State Department mentions how a judicial decision of 2021 prevents eradication from being carried out in Nariño, the department where the most coca is planted according to the US (68,300 hectares). Likewise, remember that aerial fumigation -stopped since 2015 by a decision of the Constitutional Court- depends on the government presenting a plan to do it safely. Something in which Duque advanced but was abandoned by Petro.
The drug report mentions in passing that the country continues to be a partner of the US in the fight against drugs and a strong leader at the regional level in this matter.
Venezuela is already a country that produces illicit drugs
The report, of course, evaluates other countries in the region.
“In the case of Venezuela, he maintains that there is concern about the increase in illicit crops in its territory, something that is turning this nation not only into a point of trafficking but also of drug production.
“Increasing evidence of coca cultivation and cocaine production in domestic drug laboratories suggests that Venezuela is now a producing country for illicit drugs, as well as a transit country,” the report says.
In general terms, the State Department says that Venezuela continues to be a major route for drug trafficking and that the Maduro regime is increasingly dependent on the drug trade for its livelihood.
“The Maduro regime – it maintains – is increasingly dependent on the revenues from drug trafficking, along with other illicit activities, to maintain its illegitimate hold on power. The regime’s lack of cooperation in international drug control. international drugs, the usurpation of the judicial system, military and security services for illicit purposes, public corruption and cooperation with non-state armed actors and criminal elements provided the ideal conditions for drug trafficking operations and associated violence”.
Likewise, the US says it is concerned about the production and trafficking of fentanyl in Mexico and the increase in illicit crops in Honduras.
SERGIO GOMEZ MASERI
EL TIEMPO correspondent
Washington
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