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All astir the numbers
The Petro medication has besides continued to people transgression networks that postulation successful cocaine done arrests and the seizure of shipments.
In November, Petro announced the Colombian authorities had made its largest cause bust successful a decade, with instrumentality enforcement nabbing astir 14 tonnes of cocaine.
Gloria Miranda was appointed by Petro successful 2022 to pb Colombia’s Directorate for the Substitution of Illicit Crops, the bureau overseeing the voluntary eradication efforts.
She believes that the Petro administration's efforts person been mischaracterised arsenic ineffective.
“There’s been a communicative that Colombia isn’t doing thing successful the combat against cause trafficking,” she told Al Jazeera.
“But we’ve seized 276,000 kilogrammes [608,500 pounds] of cocaine, destroyed 18,000 laboratories, arrested 164,000 people, and are replacing much than 30,000 hectares [about 74,100 acres] of illicit crops.”
But critics — including Trump — reason Petro’s measures person yet to construe into results. Coca cultivation and cocaine accumulation stay stubbornly astatine grounds levels.
According to the latest United Nations figures, coca cultivation roseate successful Colombia by astir 10 percent successful 2023. Potential cocaine output besides jumped 53 percent to astir 2,600 tonnes.
Gloria Miranda, 2nd from right, stands adjacent to President Gustavo Petro astatine a authorities lawsuit [Catherine Ellis/Al Jazeera]Petro has questioned the accuracy of those numbers, though. Last week, up of Petro's gathering with Trump, his authorities announced it would nary longer usage the United Nations figures, arguing that they trust connected an “obscure statistical method".
Michael Weintraub, the manager of the Center for the Study of Security and Drugs (CESED) astatine the University of the Andes, told Al Jazeera that immoderate of Petro's pushback is political.
But helium added that determination is simply a genuine ground for questioning the UN's methodology.
“The ‘potential cocaine production’ measurement has a batch of baked-in assumptions that marque it precise hard to trust,” Weintraub said.
It predicts coca accumulation from selected plots, but yields alteration by portion and season. The UN itself has admitted determination are limitations successful its method.
Despite these concerns, coca cultivation successful Colombia has trended upward for decades.
Analysts enactment 1 overriding factor: demand. Consumption successful North America and Europe remains strong, and caller markets person emerged successful Asia, Africa and South America.
“Coca tin lone turn successful constricted places owed to climate, ungraded and elevation,” Weintraub said. “So Colombia is apt to stay a large shaper for the foreseeable future.”
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