Colombia announces stop prosecuting small coca growers

The government of Colombia, the world's largest cocaine producer, announced on Wednesday (December 21st) that it will no longer forcibly eradicate small-scale coca leaf crops, as part of a new policy against drug trafficking that will intends to attack the drug barons first.

The forced destruction of coca crops will now only apply

, Defense Minister Ivan Velasquez said at a press conference in the capital Bogota.

,” he added.

The government will seek

with small coca growers to

the extension of their sowing and gradually replace them with legal crops, detailed Ivan Velasquez.

On the other hand, plantations of two hectares or more will continue to be eradicated by the forces of order.

This measure, which had already been mentioned by the left-wing president, Gustavo Petro, during a recent meeting with coca growers, had drawn criticism from the opposition, who saw it as a first step towards the legalization of the main component of cocaine.

Former President Iván Duque (2018-2022) focused his tenure on eradicating drug crops by force, in military operations that often resulted in clashes with farmers.

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The peace agreement signed between the government and the FARC guerrillas in 2016 already provides subsidies for farmers who voluntarily destroy their illegal crops and replace them with legal crops.

But the scheme has so far required farmers to destroy their coca plantations before receiving any aid, a restriction the new government is seeking to ease following complaints of non-compliance with the agreement.

According to the defense minister, authorities will focus on seizing large drug shipments bound for the United States and Europe.

Colombia is the world's largest producer of cocaine and the United States its main consumer.

In 2021, this South American country broke a new record with 204,000 hectares of coca leaves planted, according to the UN, an increase of 43% in one year.