In the first quarter of the 2023 administration, 2,009 hectares of surplus coca were eradicated in the country

Soledad Prado / Diego Seas

On this Thursday, April 13, a commission headed by the Vice Ministry of Controlled Substances, representatives of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Unodc) and authorities from the National Service for Protected Areas (Sernap), Udestro and Digprococa, provided an extensive report on the tasks of eradicating surplus coca crops that they carried out in the country.

Jaime Mamani, Vice Minister of Controlled Substances, reported that in the first quarter of this year 2,009 hectares of surplus coca were eradicated, located in different points of four departments.

He explained that to date, in the department of La Paz, 430 hectares have been eradicated; in Cochabamba, 1,352; in Santa Cruz, 212 hectares; while in Beni, 15 hectares, this in compliance with the General Law of the coca leaf that allows only 22 thousand hectares.

The report was provided from the Choré Forest Reserve, in the Río Víbora camp, in the municipality of Yapacaní, where the eradication of more than one hectare of coca was carried out.

“This is an unauthorized area for the production of leafy crops. of coca, later the reforestation of this area will be carried out because it is a Forest Reserve and we have to take care of our environmentMamani said.

The management report 2022 of eradication of surplus coca in reserves and national parks realizes that eradicated 1,588 hectares of coca.