Bogotá- The administration of Gustavo Petro announced that by 2025 it is proposed to eradicate 30,000 hectares of illicit coca crops, a figure that triples the goal of the previous year. This decision arises amid increasing pressures by the United States, which evaluates to suspend certification to Colombia as a partner in the anti -drug fight.
The Minister of Justice of Colombia, Ángela María Buitrago, indicated that the new goal seeks to preserve international cooperation and prevent the country from losing millions of dollars in financial support. The statement coincided with the reactivation of spraying with glyphosate, a controversial turn after they were suspended in 2015 for their harmful effects on health and the environment.
“Contradictions”
The government’s turn highlights a series of contradictions. During his campaign, Petro promised to focus on persecuting the great capos of drug trafficking and protecting cultivating peasants.
However, it now contemplates the use of glyphosate from land, under agreements with communities, a measure that generates skepticism between experts and human rights defenders.
Although Petro offered during his campaign an anti -drug policy focused on social justice and voluntary substitution, reality seems to push him towards methods that he denounced in the past. With more than 250,000 hectares of coca registered last year, Colombia is still trapped between the reformist speeches and the pressure of the facts.
