PEACE.- A warning bell was sounded by the Coca Crop Monitoring 2025 report from the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), which established that the cultivated area in Bolivia increased from 34,000 hectares in 2024 to 36,400 in 2025.
The greatest growth was concentrated in the Cochabamba Tropics, where the cultivated area increased from 14,275 to 17,460 hectares, an increase of 22%.
The information led President Rodrigo Paz to present a new anti-drug policy with a financing amount of $492 million for the next five years, of which 56.3% will come from international cooperation and the rest will be provided by the Bolivian State.
The Minister of Government (Interior), Marco Antonio Oviedo, considered that the data are “really worrying” and stated that it is “urgent” to recover the capacity for institutional intervention to achieve sustained results.
This new anti-drug plan proposes strengthening financial and criminal intelligence, territorial control and international cooperation to combat drug trafficking and dismantle transnational criminal organizations.
Fundamental axes of anti-drug policy
The Anti-Drug Policy 2026-2030 is articulated in the following axes:
- Citizen security.
- Public health and comprehensive development.
- Strategy that combines the reduction of drug supply and demand.
When presenting the plan, Oviedo stated that the government will seek to progressively reduce surplus and illegal coca crops to the limits established by law, differentiating them from legal production and traditional uses of the leaf.
To reduce the supply, the strategy will prioritize a “strategic and territorialized interdiction”, based on the actions of the Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking (FELCN).
These measures will be complemented with financial intelligence, asset investigations, asset recovery and greater control of chemical precursors, as explained by the minister.
Demand reduction will be addressed from a public health approach, through prevention, treatment, rehabilitation and social integration programs, with priority for children, adolescents and other vulnerable populations.
Strengthen national capacities
Oviedo pointed out that the new policy will be executed under the principles of “sovereignty” and “non-interference”, with international cooperation aimed at strengthening national capabilities.
The representative of the European Union (EU) in Bolivia, Jaume Segura, appreciated that the plan covers the dimensions of security, health and development, and reaffirmed the bloc’s willingness to collaborate with the country in the fight against criminal networks.
The new strategy is the first anti-drug policy presented by a Bolivian government outside the Movement towards Socialism (MAS), which ruled the country for almost two decades, first with Evo Morales and later with Luis Arce.
Since Paz came to power in November 2025, Bolivia has sought to strengthen its international cooperation and establish new regional coordination mechanisms against organized crime and drug trafficking.
Oviedo noted that criminal organizations are expanding their networks, diversifying routes and markets and incorporating new technologies to mobilize financial and logistical resources across borders.
“The response to drug trafficking must be bilateral, regional and multilateral because criminal organizations operate in a network and States must also respond in an articulated manner,” said Oviedo.
The legal
In Bolivia it is legal to plant a maximum of 22,000 hectares of coca leaves according to the General Coca Law (Law 906).
- Peace: 300 hectares (Yungas area).
- Cochabamba: 700 hectares (Tropic zone).
The regulations set this limit of 22,000 hectares for traditional and medicinal consumption.
