The area of land being used to grow coca in Colombia has increased by 17 percent, according to a UN report. A peace deal with the FARC rebel group was expected to reduce cocaine production, but the opposite appears true.
Image: picture-alliance/L. Robayo
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The overall area covered by illegal coca plantations in Colombia increased by 17 percent last year when compared with 2016, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (ONODC) has said.
The amount of land used to grow coca leaves — the primary raw ingredient of cocaine — would have been enough to produce almost 1,400 metric tons of the drug last year.
The bulk of coca farming was taking place in the southern part of Colombia, the report found. Cultivation of coca in Narino department, on the border with Ecuador, surpassed 45,735 hectares (around 113,000 acres). That figure meant the region alone had more farmland dedicated to coca than the whole of Peru, the world's second-largest supplier of cocaine after Colombia.
The findings were based on satellite imagery, as well as on-the-ground verification, and echo similar findings by the US government.
President promises 'dramatic' remedy
While Bogota is a key ally in Washington's efforts to stem the supply of drugs into the United States, the boom in coca production has begun to test US-Colombian relations. US President Donald Trump recently threatened to decertify Colombia as a partner in the war on drugs.
Speaking in response to the report on Wednesday, Colombian President Ivan Duque acknowledged the growth in illicit crop farming and said action would be taken.
"The decision of the government is to have a comprehensive policy, which will be presented in the coming days and which will include the strengthening of our capabilities to intervene from the air, at sea and on land," Duque said after a meeting with his top military command.
"Our goal is to show dramatic results in the next four years."
Colombia's long struggle for peace
Colombia's presidential election is an important milestone towards consolidating the peace accord with FARC guerrillas. It was reached after decades of bloody conflict between the state and the FARC guerrilla groups.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Legaria
Difficult path toward peace
The 2016 signing of the peace accord between the Colombian government and FARC rebels was a major, but not final, step towards ending the decades-long conflict. The deal remains a controversial topic in the country and took center stage during the presidential election.
Image: Kaeufer/Moser
Land owners vs. farmers
The conflict's origins date to the 1920s and a struggle over land ownership, which claimed thousands of lives. The 1948 murder of Jorge Eliecer Gaitan (photo), a liberal politician, threw the country into deep crisis. A result was the formation of a number of resistance groups; the Colombian army launched a campaign against "communist farmers."
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FARC and ELN
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN) were founded in 1964. The former wanted to break up the monopoly of land ownership, whereas the ELN formed out of a radical student movement and ideas of liberation theologians such as Camilo Torres (photo). The Colombian government fought both groups with the support the United States.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo
Paramilitary groups
The conflict deepened in the 1980s with the introduction of right-wing paramilitary groups in the service of the landowners against FARC. Both sides were closely linked to drug cartels. Four presidential candidates and countless left-wing politicians were murdered by paramilitaries between 1986 and 1990.
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Ingrid Betancourt kidnapped
In February 2002, the government cut off peace negotiations with FARC after guerrillas hijacked a domestic flight. Days later, the rebels struck again, kidnapping presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt. Alvaro Uribe went on to win the election that May and escalated military operations against FARC, ruling out further negotiations. He was re-elected in 2007. Betancourt was released in 2008.
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Peace talks begin
Juan Manuel Santos was elected president in 2010. Two years later, a law concerning compensation for victims of violence and the return of land came into effect. Peace talks between the government (photo) and FARC officially began that November.
Image: Reuters
Ceasefire
At midnight on August 29, 2016, the permanent ceasefire came into force. "A new chapter in Colombia's history begins on August 29," Santos wrote on Twitter. "We have silenced the weapons. The war with FARC is over!"
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Legaria
Peace deal with FARC
On September 26, 2016, President Santos and FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, a.k.a. Timochenko, signed the peace treaty, ending the 52-year-old conflict. The signing took place in Cartagena and was attended by 2,500 people.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/F. Vergara
Setback
Distrust in FARC manifested itself in a pre-referendum campaign against the peace treaty, led by the conservative ex-president Alvaro Uribe. To the surprise of many observers, a thin majority of Colombians voted to reject the deal on October 2, 2016.
Image: picture alliance/AP Photo/I. Valencia
Peace Prize for Santos
The international community threw its support behind the treaty's supporters. Just five days after it was rejected in a referendum, Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. The ceremony took place in Oslo in December 2016.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/T. Schwarz
Parliamentary ratification
Colombia's parliament ratified the peace treaty on November 30, 2016, following a list of changes to the deal's original language.
Image: Getty Images/AFP/G. Legaria
Disarmament
FARC rebels gave up their weapons in three phases. On June 27, 2017, at the end of the UN-controlled disarmament process, Santos wrote: "For me and all Colombians, today is a special day. It's a day when weapons were exchanged for words."
Image: picture alliance/dpa/A. Piñeros
The new FARC
The now disarmed, former rebel group chose to renew itself as a political party and disavow violence during a convention on August 27, 2017. The guerrilla's founder, Rodrigo Londono (photo), was elected the new party's head. He was unable to run for president, however, due to his poor health.
Image: picture-alliance/AP Photo/F. Vergara
FARC at the polls
For the first time since the end of the armed conflict, FARC put up its members as candidates in the parliamentary election, which took place on March 11, 2018. The party received just 50,000 votes, but secured five seats in the senate and lower house of parliament, respectively, as guaranteed by the peace treaty. The conservative party of former President Uribe won the election.
Image: Imago/Agencia EFE
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Controversy over pesticide
Officials have said they want to resume aerial fumigation of coca plantations with the herbicide glyphosate. That practice was ended by former President Juan Manuel Santos after a report linking glyphosate with cancer, amid peace talks with the leftist FARC rebels, who were heavily embroiled in the drugs trade.
The 2016 peace deal was expected to reduce drug production, but it appears the opposite has happened. Drug traffickers have taken over land once occupied by FARC, and some peasants are believed to have started growing coca in the hope of receiving compensation if they replace it with other crops.
