Although the United States continues to consider anti-drug cooperation with Colombia as “fruitful and lasting,” it has just made it clear that does not fully share the new eradication goals that Gustavo Petro's administration has set for 2024.
In response to a series of questions raised by this newspaper after learning of the government's plan for the current year, the State Department said this week that, from its perspective, “it is not the right time to reduce the use of eradication.” . Rather, and given the record levels of crops recorded in the country, an opportunity to make the most of all the tools available.
“With record levels of coca growth, now is not the time to slow down too much the use of tools like eradication. It is rather a time to make full use of all available anti-narcotics tools,” a State Department spokesperson told him. to this newspaper.
With record levels of coca growth, now is not the time to slow down too much in the use of tools like eradication. Rather, it is a time to make full use of all available anti-narcotics tools.
This week the Minister of Defense, Iván Velásquez, announced that The country's new eradication goal will only be 10,000 hectares. The figure is half of the previous goal that had been set for 2023 (20,000 hectares) and well below those proposed by previous governments.
In 2022, for example – during the government of Iván Duque – the goal was 100,000 hectares, of which about 70,000 were met.
And in 2021 the objective with which it was started was 130,000 hectares, of which just over 1,000,000 were destroyed.
Although the State Department recognizes that Colombia, under Petro, has gone from concentrating on forced eradication to a scheme that privileges interdiction and voluntary crop substitution, it insists that A robust forced eradication program must be maintained that includes a component for national parks.
“Colombia has shifted from focusing on forced eradication to prioritizing interdiction and crop substitution linked to voluntary eradication. While the United States supports Colombia in expanding these efforts, we continue to encourage the government to maintain a robust eradication program. forced with a stricter focus on national parks,” the spokesperson said.
While the United States supports Colombia in expanding these efforts, we continue to encourage the government to maintain a robust forced eradication program with a stricter focus on national parks.
A request very similar to the one that the State Department included in its latest Annual Report on International Narcotics Control Strategies (INCRS), which this newspaper revealed last week.
The spokesperson – who speaks officially on behalf of the Joe Biden administration – was emphatic that Both countries continue to cooperate to face a problem that affects both countries and that work will continue throughout this year.
“Our cooperation in this regard continues to be long-standing and fruitful. From January to December 2023, Colombian police and military seized or collaborated in the seizure of more than 841 metric tons of pure cocaine and cocaine base, 1,009 metric tons of coca leaf , 20,529,512 gallons of liquid precursors and 30,248,036 kilograms of solid precursors. In addition, 5,260 laboratories for the production of illicit drugs were dismantled and 20,325 hectares of coca were eradicated… The United States will continue to work closely with Colombia in 2024 to address the global problem of drugs,” the spokesperson concluded.
SERGIO GÓMEZ MASERI – EL TIEMPO Correspondent – Washington
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