By Martin Healy
Colombia are the number one country for cocaine production in the world, and the nation has a long-standing reputation with the illegal substance.
According to a new report from the United Nations, this reputation is not going anywhere anytime soon.
A new report from the United Nation’s Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) yesterday revealed some bleak news for the war against cocaine production in Colombia.
The new figures state that in 2017, around 171,000 hectares (423,000 acres) of the country’s land was used to grow coca, the plant whose leaf is the base ingredient of cocaine.
This is up 25,000 hectares (17pc) on the year before. Coca output now surpasses the previous record of 163,000 hectares in 2000.
The report estimates that the South American country has grown enough coca to produce 1,379 tonnes of cocaine – up 31pc on 2016.
Numbers are increasing despite the landmark peace deal that was signed with rebel group the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Farc) in 2016.
The deal ended the 52 years of civil war in the country and looked to move farmers away from coca production and into legal goods like coffee or cacao.
Despite Farc’s absence, other rebel groups are now violently threatening coca farmers to stay away of the peace agreement’s conditions, as well as targeted regional activists who campaign in favour of the peace process’s provisions.
These figures are not good news for the US, who have a long-standing battle with the drug trade in Colombia.
John Sullivan, Colombia’s foreign minister and the US deputy secretary of state, has discussed ‘the need for continued action to reduce coca cultivation and cocaine production in Colombia’, at a meeting earlier this month in Washington, according to a state department press release.
Colombia’s president, Ivan Duque, said last week said that he hopes to reduce coca production by 140,000 hectares during his next four years in office. ‘It is not easy, but that is the goal we want to set,’ he said.
Bron Extra.ie