In view of a massive increase in cocaine production in Colombia, the government of the South American country is resuming the destruction of coca plantations with the weed killer glyphosate after ten years.
Dec 23, 2025, 05:52Dec 23, 2025, 05:52
In areas where criminal organizations are active and farmers are forced to grow coca, the herbicide will in future be sprayed using drones, said Justice Minister Andrés Idárraga.
The cultivation of plants for cocaine production has increased again in Colombia.Image: keystone
The Colombian government stopped aerial coca destruction in 2015, but the Constitutional Court later banned the practice due to environmental and health concerns. However, destroying the coca fields by hand turned out to be much less effective. In the past ten years, the cultivated area in Colombia has almost doubled. Today the judiciary once again allows the spraying of coca plantations with weed killers within narrow limits.
Colombia is the largest cocaine producer in the world
Colombia is the largest cocaine producer in the world. According to the United Nations, the country has more than 250,000 hectares, around 65 percent of the world’s coca cultivation area. The drug is smuggled across the Pacific and the Caribbean to the USA or across the Atlantic to Europe.
USA imposes sanctions on Colombia’s President Petro
The US government recently classified Colombia as a country that is not fulfilling its international obligations in the fight against illegal drugs. The USA also imposed sanctions on Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro because he was not taking decisive action against drug trafficking.
“He is a very, very bad guy and he has to be careful,” said US President Donald Trump on Monday about his Colombian colleague Petro. “Because he makes cocaine and they send it from Colombia to the United States.” (sda/dpa)