Glyphosate and cocaine: Colombia's next drug war?
As cocaine production rises, Donald Trump is increasing the pressure to curb it and insisting Colombia should spray its fields with glyphosate again
Monday, March 9, 2020
Pedro Arenas is afraid that they'll take flight again. "I expect it could be within the next months," he says. Since the end of last year, nine AT-802 firefighting aircraft have been deployed throughout the country. But their mission is not to put out fires. The planes are trying to eliminate a problem that has been causing bloodshed in Colombia for decades: cocaine. The planes are loaded with the controversial herbicide glyphosate. According to Colombian media, nearly 800 barrels of the chemicals are in stock from a Chinese manufacturer. If spraying resumes, "people in the remote communities will completely lose faith in the institutions and the peace process," Arenas believes. (See also: The ‘deja vú’ of aerial crop spraying in Colombia)
