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UN: Colombia coca crop down; Peru and Bolivia up

UN: Colombia coca crop down; Peru and Bolivia up

By FRANK BAJAK

Associated Press Writer

BOGOTA -- Colombia's coca crop shrank by nearly a fifth last year while cultivation of the bush that is the basis of cocaine rose in Peru and Bolivia, the world's two other coca-producing nations, the United Nations said Friday.

The U.N. Office of Drugs and Crime said the "dramatic" 18 percent reduction in Colombia from 2007 owed in part to the manual eradication - as opposed to the aerial spraying of herbicide - of 96,100 hectares (371 square miles).

The agency's annual survey of the Andes' coca crop and estimated cocaine production said cultivation in Colombia dropped to 81,000 hectares - the lowest since 2004 - while Bolivia's crop increased by 6 percent and Peru's by 4.5 percent.

In last year's report, it noted a 27 percent increase in coca cultivation in Colombia, the world's top producer of cocaine.

Estimated cocaine production in Colombia, meanwhile, was down 28 percent last year to 430 metric tons from 2007 - with 20,000 fewer households growing coca, the U.N. agency said.

Colombia analyst Adam Isacson, of the Washington-based Center for International Policy, cautioned about "one element that should keep the champagne corks from popping" in the Andean nation's government.

Beginning in October, when a series of pyramid schemes began collapsing in southern Colombian coca-growing regions, peasants who lost their savings began replanting coca on a huge scale, he said.

That certainly offset, said Isacson, some of the gains of the 133,496 hectares (515 square miles) of coca crop that the UNODC said were sprayed with the herbicide glyphosate in Colombia last year.

Neither Peru nor Bolivia use herbicides against coca and the United States complains that Bolivia is no longer a serious partner in the war on drugs after expelling U.S. drug agents last year for alleged espionage.

Nevertheless, the U.N. said drug trafficking was seriously disrupted overall in the region, with 200 tons of cocaine seized in Colombia, 22 tons in Bolivia and 12 tons in Peru.

"Peru must guard against a return to the days when terrorists and insurgents, like the Shining Path, profited from drugs and crime," agency director Mario Costa said in a statement.

Remnants of the Shining Path insurgency, which was nearly eradicated in the mid-1990s, control an area on the eastern slope of the Andes that the U.N. says is now the world's leading source of cocaine.

Lima-based drug trade analyst Jaime Antezana estimates actual cultivation in Peru grew at least seven percent.

"Peru still lacks an integral, national strategy that uses all available instruments," he said. Eradication only takes place in two of Peru's eight main coca-producing regions.

The UNODC put Peru's production capacity last year at 302 tons compared to 113 tons for Bolivia.

By Simon on Jun 19, 2009, 10:49 in Friendly Talkzone.

romy says on Jun 19, 2009, 10:59:

This is great news for Colombia! though its coming at the expense of other nations.
I wonder how accomplished the US will feel when coca cultivation has been completely shifted from one nation to others?

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Simon says on Jun 19, 2009, 11:58:

We finally agree on something, Romy.

"Just an honest, decent Colombian trying to do the right thing."--Simon

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nine inch nails says on Jun 19, 2009, 11:58:

It makes sense since I don't believe there is a Plan Peru or at least on the scale of Plan Colombia and Bolivia well they don't want us in there.

I thought funny when I was in Cuzco they openly sell bags of coca leaves and coca candy because it is legal. I liked Peru also.

Now we got the LFL so who needs to watch the NFL?

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Loggi says on Jun 19, 2009, 13:07:

Now that the raw materials are there, they will move operations a few kilometers this way where you don't have black hawks, US inelegance and some of the best trained soldiers on your but 24/7.
It has become a hazardous job making and running drugs under the Uribe government and there are far easier options available in these countries.

Live for the moments you can't put into words

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durito2 says on Jun 19, 2009, 13:21:

"I wonder how accomplished the US will feel when coca cultivation has been completely shifted from one nation to others?"

This is how it always goes, years ago it shifted the other way. It will always be like this.

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Loggi says on Jun 19, 2009, 13:26:

Exactly Durito. As long as the demand is there, it will be produced. It is the same as stepping up police patrols in a certain area, this does not stop the crime, it only moves.

Live for the moments you can't put into words

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makopp5 (☼Travelguide writer) says on Jun 19, 2009, 13:28:

"I thought funny when I was in Cuzco they openly sell bags of coca leaves and coca candy because it is legal"
You can buy in Colombia also teabags with coca or rum with coca.

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durito2 says on Jun 19, 2009, 13:30:

Coca te is less stimulating than coffee, it's not exactly anything like cocaine.

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theflatline says on Jun 19, 2009, 13:51:

Just ask Dr. Rockso

Legaleez for Complete Morons - A book for gringos in Colombia for who think they understand the nature of the law in a country where they cannot speak the language.

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goin_south says on Jun 19, 2009, 16:08:

Now, wait a stinkin minute, Simonito.
The next report is going to say that .... Colombian Crops are Up!

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billyb says on Jun 19, 2009, 17:42:

It's like a water balloon, you squeeze one end and the other bulges. As long as there is demand, there will always be supply.

"All I want to know is where I'm going to die, so I never go there" Unkown (at least to me) wise man.

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goin_south says on Jun 19, 2009, 21:32:

The next report is goin_to say that Colombian Crops are...................................

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Lcacique says on Jun 20, 2009, 01:25:

billyb: I could have sworn that we got in an argument about this a year or so ago, maybe not. Needless to say...here we are in agreement again.

Bolivia didn't have Plan Bolivia, it had Plan Dignidad (an Orwellian name). In Peru, Fujimori's administration shot down planes and pursued other forms of interdiction along with eradication. It also "benefited" from a fungus outbreak that devastated coca crops. Montesinos, Fujimori's right-hand man, was being paid by the US to fight narcotics in Peru while simultaneously profiting from narcotrafficking in Colombia. Montesinos was one of those dirty bastards that the US government seems to like when the curtains are drawn.

"Es fácil vivir con los ojos cerrados interpretando todo lo que se ve mal..." ~ J. Lennon

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Sam Salmon says on Jun 20, 2009, 17:21:

"It also "benefited" from a fungus outbreak that devastated coca crops"
==================================================
Surprising there hasn't been more done like that by the US gubmint-they have the resources to engineer a plague-more politics I suppose.

I know they introduced some strange worms that were eating the buds on Marijuana plants in northern Mexico a few years ago but I guess it's wasn't effective long term.

' a la orden!'

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Lcacique says on Jun 20, 2009, 17:28:

There are people who believe that they were behind it in Peru. Several members of the government have tried to convince their colleagues into applying the fungus in Colombia to combat coca production.

Of course applying worms to Mexican marijuana would not be effective long term, plenty is grown in the US.

"Es fácil vivir con los ojos cerrados interpretando todo lo que se ve mal..." ~ J. Lennon

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