Colombia’s cocaine trade continues to expand despite a multibillion-dollar antidrug strategy the U.S. has led through five American presidential administrations

See Colombia’s Acreage of Coca, Used to Make Cocaine, Surges to Record: U.N. says amount of land dedicated to growing the plant rises with cocaine production also expanding by Juan Forero of The WSJ. Excerpts:

"Colombia has posted a sharp rise in coca cultivation, the United Nations said on Thursday, raising concerns among U.S. antinarcotics officials about how the country’s new government will bring drug trafficking under control.

The U.N.’s Office on Drugs and Crime said the amount of land used to grow coca—the main ingredient in cocaine—had expanded 43% from 2020 to 2021 to 504,000 acres spread out across several rural states.

Candice Welsch, the UNODC’s regional director, said the amount of coca across Colombia last year was the highest since the agency began closely monitoring crop size more than two decades ago. The startling expansion of the shrub led to what the U.N. estimated was the production of 1,400 tons of cocaine, 14% more than in 2020 and also a record.

The findings, based on satellite data and on-the-ground monitoring across the country, show that Colombia’s cocaine trade continues to expand despite a multibillion-dollar antidrug strategy the U.S. has led through five American presidential administrations. That will be a challenge to President Gustavo Petro, a former senator and leftist guerrilla who took office in August after pledging to overhaul the way Colombia fights the cocaine trade."

"Officials at the U.S. Embassy in Bogotá and at the Office of National Drug Control Policy at the White House didn’t respond to requests for comment about the U.N.’s findings."