Colombia will use drones to destroy coca crops as it grapples with record cocaine production
BOGOTA, Colombia (AP) — Colombia The government announced Monday it will use drones to continue spraying coca crops with herbicides as authorities grapple with record levels of cocaine production fueling cocaine production. Tensions with Trump administration.
south american country Aerial smoking of coca crops banned In 2015, after the World Health Organization added glyphosate (the weed killer used by spray planes) to its list of carcinogens.
The new action involving high-tech unmanned aerial vehicles has been approved by the government and will start on Thursday, Minister of Justice Andrés Idárraga said at a press conference.
He said the drones would be sent to areas where gangs and rebel groups are forcing villagers to grow coca, the main source of cocaine. “Our security forces will be safer this way,” Idárraga added.
Environmental activists have long warned that small planes spraying coca fields (mostly flown by U.S. contractors) also dump their chemicals on legal crops and into streams, polluting fragile ecosystems and exposing villagers to contaminated water.
After suspending aerial spraying, Colombia stepped up manual eradication campaigns carried out by soldiers.
However, coca cultivation became widespread without aerial spraying; Because coca crops in remote areas where plantations are guarded by drug gangs and rebel groups and sometimes surrounded by landmines have become difficult for the military to destroy.
The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime estimates that some 261,000 hectares (about 645,000 acres) of coca will be planted in Colombia by 2024; This is almost double what was planted in 2016.
According to Idárraga, the drones will fly no further than 1.5 meters (5 feet) from their targets to ensure water sources and legal crops are not sprayed. A single drone will be able to destroy a hectare of coca crops every 30 minutes.
“This is a controlled and effective method,” Idárraga said, adding that it “reduces environmental risks.”
Idea of using drones to destroy coca fields was first launched in 2018 by the administration of right-wing President Ivan Duque. However, the plans were postponed due to lack of consensus in government institutions and the Colombian parliament.
Colombia’s current government, led by a leftist President Gustavo PeterHe initially rejected aerial spraying and other forced eradication campaigns, saying he did not want to target poor villagers who grew coca for drug dealers because they had no legal alternatives.
Petro’s administration has become more aggressive on coca crops this year as it tries to defeat rebel groups funded by the illegal drug trade that have refused to sign peace deals with the government and have recently stepped up attacks in Colombian cities.
The United States has long criticized Colombia’s decision to stop aerial spraying. The Trump administration, which accused the Petro government of not doing enough to stop cocaine production, added Colombia to this list in September. List of countries not cooperating in the drug war For the first time in almost 30 years, millions of dollars in military and economic cooperation are at stake.
The USA also imposed sanctions in October Sanctions on Petrohe accused him of allowing “drug cartels to grow” in the country. More recently, Washington has threatened to authorize ground attacks against drug traffickers in Colombia.
Petro vehemently rejected U.S. accusations that it was not doing enough to target drug traffickers, saying Colombian security forces were interfering with a record number of cocaine shipments, even though the country was also producing record amounts of the drug.
