The US is “extremely concerned” about the increase in cocoa crops in Colombia

America said “Very worried“for that”Higher levels“In Cacao Cultivation and Cocaine Production in Colombiaand pledged continued cooperation with the South American country to combat drug trafficking.

This was revealed by a State Department spokesperson consulted by the news agency EFE Cocoa crops in Colombia will grow by 43% in 2021, a United Nations report revealed Thursday.

“The United States is very concerned about the high levels of coca cultivation and cocaine production in Colombia. We will continue to work with Colombia to respond to the major threat posed by drug trafficking,” the source said.

The spokesman recalled that Washington and Bogotá’s plan.Implement a comprehensive approach” Drug policy in drug production and demand reduction, protection of the environment and development and justice for the Colombian countryside.

Coca crops in Colombia grow 43% in 2021The year they were registered 204,000 hectares are cultivated That figure was 143,000 hectares in 2020, according to an annual report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (Unodc) released on Thursday.

The report indicates that cocoa crops in Colombia continue to be located “in the same areas with vulnerable conditions” and that 62% of the total is concentrated in three sectors: Nariño (border of Ecuador), Norte de Santander (border of Venezuela) and Pudumayo (border of Peru and Ecuador).

During his visit to Colombia two weeks ago, the US Secretary of State, Anthony BlinkThe new Colombian president has pledged his country’s firm support for a left-wing proposed anti-drug policy. Gustavo Pedro.

In a scathing speech to the UN General Assembly, Pedro lashed out at Washington’s decades-long military war on drugs, saying it has damaged Colombia’s jungle.

Report last Thursday United Nations Integrated Illicit Crops Monitoring SystemIt describes alarming statistics on cocaine production in Colombia, in fact, reached an all-time high and caused alarm not only in the UN but also in the Colombian government.

According to the document, by 2021 the area planted with cocoa plants will increase by 43% and the potential for cocaine production will increase by 14%. Never-before-seen statistics on illegal crops in the country. In that situation, Colombia does not have 143,000 hectares but 204,000. In addition, it indicates that the potential production of fresh cocoa leaf will exceed one million tons.

In this sense, cocaine catches increased: 505,683 kg in 2020 and 669,340 in 2021, with 86.5% of crops in the same places for 10 years. On the other hand, the report draws attention, it was published four months later, due to the change of director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime – UNODC – for the Southern Cone and the Andean region. From August 7 this year, Govt.

Short-term factors related to the dynamics of cocoa cultivation from 2020 to 2021 – according to the document – are the establishment of new criminal groups, the reduction of intervention and the deterioration of socioeconomic conditions due to the epidemic. Now, in terms of concentration of crops, these are the departments of Nariño, Norte de Santander and Putumayo, which account for 62% of the total.

(with information from EFE)

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