The Colombian president, Gustavo Petro, criticized this Friday the report of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Unodc, in English), which indicates an increase in cocaine production in Colombia in 2023, and said that it leaves “doubts”.
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This was stated by the head of state at a police graduation ceremony held in the General Francisco de Paula Santander Police Cadet School, in Bogotá.
According to Petro, what his Government intends is to make their business difficult so that it would not be profitable but “The UN report on the year 2023 says that the productivity of the coca leaf doubled in one year, that is what gives me doubts because I have not observed any crop in the world that doubles in one year.”
“That is, the same planted area, which has a little more hectares, produces twice as much in 2023 than in 2022”criticized Petro.
Gustavo Petro.
A report presented on October 18 in Bogotá by Unodc indicated that coca crops grew by 10% in Colombia in 2023 and They reached 253,000 hectares, which is 23,000 more than in 2022, while cocaine production increased by 53%.
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The document indicates that the area planted with coca as of December 31, 2023 was 253,000 hectares, while the production of pure cocaine hydrochloride rose to 2,664 tons, a figure that in 2022 was 1,738 tons.
According to Petro, the report says that cocaine production increased because of the Government but what is actually happening is that drug traffickers have replaced coca plants for better-yielding ones.
“They (the drug traffickers) are capable, they have the money, they can take biotechnology and genetics and adapt the plants so that they produce more cocaine,” he assured.
Cocaine.
In his speech, Petro warned that the figures show the difficulties of the war against drug trafficking, since the efforts in seizures do not equate coca production.
“Every time we seize less than what is produced”he said and assured that “We must change strategy, tactics and international relations. This is an American problem, and its consumption has become a global problem.”
He also criticized what he called a failed policy in the fight against drugs and assured: “We are in a never-ending war if we don’t change the policy. If we don’t, we are going to continue killing each other.”
On the other hand, the Colombian president assured that the demand for illicit drugs increased in several countries, among them China and India and that this has also influenced the negative results for Colombia.
EFE
