50 US soldiers are said to fight cocaine trafficking in Colombia

The large-scale cultivation of coca in Colombia could not be stopped despite great efforts. The United States is now resorting to a military solution.

Bogota (dpa) - 50 US soldiers are to be deployed to Colombia in June to support the fight against the cocaine trade.

The US Southern Command unit will remain four months to advise the country's military on "procedures and tactics to improve the fight against drug trafficking," Army chief Luis Fernando Navarro said in a video. The US Southern Command confirmed the information, according to the Colombian media.

Navarro said the U.S. soldiers would operate primarily in four Colombian regions. According to a report by the newspaper "El Tiempo", this is the one with the most coca cultivation. Decades of the war on drugs, billions of dollars in financial aid and a peace agreement with the guerrilla organization Farc, which was mainly financed by drug trafficking and protection money, have not stopped the large-scale cultivation of coca in Colombia. Cocaine is made from coca. According to data from the US government, coca was cultivated in an area of ​​2120 square kilometers in the South American country last year, compared to 208 square kilometers in 2018. Much of the cocaine is smuggled into the United States, where the number of drug-related deaths from cocaine - From 1.4 to 4.5 deaths per 100,000 people - more than tripled between 2012 and 2018, according to the U.S. Department of Health.

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El Tiempo report