Colombian President Gustavo Petro has announced a plan to reduce coca cultivation in the northeastern region, hit by rebel attacks, by paying farmers to switch to legal crops, the AP reported, BTA reported.
At a cabinet meeting, Petro said his government would seek to eradicate 25,000 hectares of coca in the Catatumbo region within 140 days as part of efforts to reduce violence and weaken rebel groups that profit from the cocaine trade. The region has an estimated 55,000 hectares of coca plantations and is one of the main producers of cocaine in Colombia.
“Peace in Colombia depends on the voluntary decision of coca farmers to uproot their crops,“ Petro told the meeting.
In January, more than 36,000 people were displaced from their homes in Catatumbo, a mountainous region of about 400,000 people that borders Venezuela.
Rebels from the National Liberation Army (ELN) have launched coordinated attacks against civilians they accuse of being collaborators with a rival group.
The attacks have killed about 80 people, prompting the Colombian government to suspend peace talks with the ELN and declare a 90-day state of emergency that allows it to restrict some civil liberties in the area without the approval of the Congress.
Petro accused the rebels of trying to take over the region to control the coca crop and drug trafficking routes.