Coca and Violence in Colombia (Online Event)

Amid an alarming rise in rural violence in Colombia, the country’s U.S.-backed drug policy is facing a new test. Bogotá argues that eliminating coca – the raw material for cocaine – is the only route to improving security in the countryside. Yet its hardline approach of forcefully eradicating the crop is having the opposite effect, exacerbating conflict in rural Colombia and undermining the country’s ability to consolidate the 2016 peace agreement. Eradication places the poorest, most vulnerable farming communities in jeopardy, while having little impact on drug supply to the United States. As the Biden administration reframes priorities in Latin America, this panel joined WOLA’s expertise on drug policy, Viso Mutop’s field-level experience and the analysis of a new International Crisis Group report entitled "Deeply Rooted: Coca eradication and violence in Colombia".

Remarks were followed by a Q&A, the event was livestreamed on Crisis Group's YouTube channel.