This is the highest level recorded by the UN since it began tracking coca production in 2001. In Colombia, 204,000 hectares were planted with coca leaves in 2021. According to the report annual report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), published on Thursday 20 October, this is a “43% increase” compared to 2020. Colombia is by far the largest producer in the world, ahead of Peru and Bolivia.
The departments of Nariño and Putumayo, on the border with Ecuador, are the most productive regions with 89,266 hectares. The Norte de Santader region, close to Venezuela, comes second with 42,576 hectares.
Alongside the cultivation of coca leaves, the production of cocaine, sent to the United States, the world’s largest consumer, and Europe, is also on the rise, rising from 1,010 tons to 1,400 tons. For the UN, it is a “upward trend that has been consolidating since 2014”despite the intense crackdown on drug traffickers.
The UN emphasizes that the increase in planted areas and cocaine production is mainly due to the “territorial vulnerability”at “increasing global demand” and the presence of armed actors who profit from this trade. This is enough to reinforce the new left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, in his desire to change strategy in the fight against cocaine trafficking.
“The war on drugs has failed”
Invested in early August, he had, from his first speeches, felt that he was “time to have a new international convention that accepts that the war on drugs has failed”to prefer a “strong consumption prevention policy” in developed countries. He reiterated his remarks in September at the United Nations General Assembly, demanding “the end of the irrational war on drugs”.
At the presentation of this report in Bogota, the Minister of Justice, Nestor Osuna, judged that these figures “it is precisely the technical evidence that constitutes the starting point for the construction of a new drug policy”.
The Colombian government is still fine-tuning its new anti-trafficking strategy, which rules out the legalization of cocaine, although Osuna said that” one day “ the “trade and traffic” of cocaine should be regulated globally.
During a visit to Bogotá in early October, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Colombia’s traditional ally in Latin America, said he was ” on the same wavelength “ that President Petro “with regard to this more comprehensive approach”.
Help coca growers
The Colombian president defends coca growers and promises rural reform to boost food production and economic benefits for those who abandon illicit crops.
In addition to the surrender to justice of drug traffickers in exchange for advantages, the new Colombian president aims for a “total peace” in the country, ravaged by more than half a century of internal conflict fueled by the lucrative cocaine trade.
He has resumed negotiations with the ELN (National Liberation Army, Guevarist), the last guerrilla constituted as such still active in the country, and also intends to discuss with the dissidents of the ex-FARC, who reject the peace agreements of 2016.
Despite these displayed good intentions, President Petro is facing a first setback in the polls since he came to power two months ago. It only enjoys the support of 46% of those questioned, ten points less than in the previous survey.
The economic situation, including unemployment, is the main concern of Colombians, in a country that is suffering the effects of global inflation and a historic devaluation of the local currency against the dollar. On Wednesday, Mr. Petro blamed the crisis on the United States and its economic policy.