The Plan Colombia flop: 17 years and $10B later, coca in Colombia up 38%

[Judi Lynn]

written by David Maas March 15, 2017


The United States’ soon-to-be-released official 2016 report on coca cultivation in Colombia reveals that cultivation of the illicit crop in Colombia has gone up 38% since the start of the $10 billion counter-narcotics strategy “Plan Colombia” in 2000.

The report’s numbers, confirmed by Colombian Defense Minister Luis Carlos Villegas on Tuesday, also project an annual production of 700 tons of pure production of cocaine, a 32% increase since the beginning of the stepped-up US assistance.

The new figures, which continue the upward trend the country has witnessed since 2013, provide the most damning evidence to date of the failures of US-backed hard-line counter-narcotics policies in Colombia.

The Plan Colombia assistance package, conceived in 1999, with funding approved the following year, had as its two primary objectives to reduce production and trafficking of illegal drugs (primarily cocaine) by 50% within six years, and to improve security conditions in the country by reasserting control in territory controlled by illegal armed groups.

More:
http://colombiareports.com/plan-colombia-flop-17-years-10b-later-coca-colombia-36/