Colombia continues in the center of the international debate for the drug traffickingbecause a recent Sky News report reveals that, despite the pressures and warnings from Washington, Coca farmers in rural areas of the country continue to cultivate the plant that serves as a basis for cocaine.
The British chain indicates that The constant demand in the United States maintains alive an illegal economy that has extended for decades.
Hidden crops and survival economy
The Sky News team toured jungle regions of the south of the country, where coca crops grow between thick vegetation and far from state control. In one of the areas visited, journalists found an eight -hectare plantation, with about two and a half years old, ready for harvesting.
(You can read: Visa, descertification and diplomatic tensions revocation: Samper and Petro cases).
According to the report, they need 30 kilograms of coca leaves to obtain 70 grams of pure cocaine. However, the peasants who cultivate the plant receive just seven dollars for that amount of sheet, a minimum figure if compared to the value that the drug reaches in the international market.
One of the produced producers explained that Coca cultivates because it has no other source of income. Despite being aware of legal risks and environmental impact, he affirms that the crop represents the only way to support his family in areas where there is no infrastructure or access to legal markets.
Medellín
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In Medellín, the Sky News team recorded scenes that show how the trade of Illicit drugs It remains visible in some sectors. Street vendors offer cocaine, pills and other narcotics in broad daylight. According to the report, traffickers use whistles to alert about the presence of the police and coordinate the sale, while the rest of the city continues their daily lives.
(Also read: This country was the Swiss in South America and is now a direct drug trafficking path).
“Listen to man, we are a narco -state, so are things, if you want to see drug trafficking, I will show you drug trafficking. This is Colombia“They told him to Reporter Stuart Ramsay, correspondent of the British media.
Colombia, in Trump’s “problem” list
During his mandate, the US President Donald Trump He included Colombia in his list of ‘problem countries’ within his strategy against drug trafficking. His administration promoted operations in the Caribbean and South America to intercept drug shipments to the United States, while warning the governments of the region about the need to strengthen their eradication policies.
Despite interdiction and bilateral cooperation, cocaine production in Colombia remains highand much of it is destined for the North American market. The British medium emphasizes that while demand in the United States continues to increase, illegal crops will hardly disappear.
Drug use
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The report also highlights the great economic disparity in the production chain. While international posters and networks obtain millionaire profits, farmers in remote areas barely manage to cover their basic needs.
In the words of one of the interviewees by Sky News, the business “always benefits others”, While they assume the risks of persecution and poverty. For many, abandoning coca is not a viable option without real substitution alternatives.
A persistent problem
Sky News’s work concludes that drug trafficking in Colombia remains a structural problem that combines rural poverty, lack of opportunities and constant demand from abroad. Although eradication campaigns and international policies continue, economic incentives to continue cultivating the coca leaf remain intact.
(Further: UN and US).
Colombia, warns the report, will continue to face a complex challenge: fighting a business that feeds on internal inequality and increasing consumption on the other side of the border.
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