Targeting Cocaine at the Source

Overview

Coca, the raw material for cocaine, is grown exclusively in the Andean region of South America. Cocaine production in Colombia constitutes a threat to U.S. security and the well-being of our citizens. Ninety percent of the cocaine entering the United States originates in or passes through Colombia. Peru and Bolivia are the other Andean nations with significant levels of coca cultivation, but most of the cocaine produced from Peruvian and Bolivian coca is trafficked within South America and to Europe. Targeting cocaine at the source, therefore, consists of disrupting coca cultivation, cocaine processing and trafficking in Colombia, Peru and Bolivia along three vectors: eradication, interdiction, and organizational attack.

What Is Being Done

Aerial eradication remains central to the strategy for destroying potential coca base and cocaine hydrochloride in Colombia before it can be marketed by traffickers or terrorists such as the FARC, particularly in remote locations and those fields that are well-protected and/or mined. As the effectiveness of aerial eradication increased from 2001 to 2003, drug growers were put on the defensive, shrinking the size of their plots, dispersing them, pruning and replanting seedlings, and, finally, moving further into the eastern departments of Colombia. The Government of Colombia maintained pressure on the cultivators, adapting to their changes, improving intelligence, protecting the spray platforms, and staying in key cultivation areas for longer periods of time. Over this same period, the Government of Colombia also increased its capacity for manual eradication, from 1,700 hectares of coca in 2001 to over 64,000 hectares in 2007.

Colombian Coca Cultivation Estimates

Colombian Interdiction/Seizures

Peru has made a valuable contribution to drug control efforts in the region. Peruvian President Alan Garcia has demonstrated a commitment to counternarcotics cooperation, planning and mounting an aggressive eradication campaign. In 2006 Peru exceeded its 10,000 hectare goal and met this benchmark again in 2007. Another major achievement of the Peruvian Government was the formulation of a new 5-year drug strategy, an integral component of which is the government's ability to deploy a sufficient number of trained police into coca-growing regions, where cocaleros have been engaged in numerous violent acts to resist eradication. President Garcia is also aggressively tackling organized crime, enacting a judicial reform package that increases law enforcement authorities in several areas, including in the seizure and forfeiture of illicitly gained assets.

Peruvian Coca Cultivation Estimates

Peruvian Interdiction/Seizures

There have been setbacks in Bolivia, however. The influence of coca growers over the government has contributed to falling eradication rates, and the effects of the liberalized coca cultivation policies of Bolivian President Evo Morales are yet to be fully seen. The United States continues to seek ways to cooperate with the Bolivian Government in areas such as arresting drug traffickers, disrupting cocaine production, seizing illicit drugs and precursors, supporting alternative development, reducing demand, and training law enforcement and judicial officials.

Bolivian Coca Cultivation Estimates

Bolivian Interdiction/Seizures

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