Tag: colombia

After Smelling Legal Marijuana In New York, Colombian President Denounces ‘Enormous Hypocrisy’ Of U.S.-Led Drug War

Unveiling Colombia’s new national drug policy recently, President Gustavo Petro recalled smelling the odor of marijuana wafting through the streets of New York City during a recent visit to the U.S., remarking on the “enormous hypocrisy” of legal cannabis sales now taking place in the nation that launched the global drug war decades ago.

“Marijuana is sold today in Times Square,” Petro said, according to a translation of his speech. “It smelled on all the streets, all the way around the corner, and they sold it…like any other product. I suppose they charge taxes and that New York City or the state of New York lives partially from them.”

“That’s where the war on drugs began,” Petro continued, calling out the U.S.’s lead role in globalizing the drug war more than 50 years ago. “How many people have been imprisoned? How many people have died? Because undoubtedly illegality brought violence.”

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BP’s Financing of Colombia’s Murderous Military

Files unearthed exclusively by Declassified in Bogotá, Colombia’s capital, shine a new light on British oil giant BP’s financial arrangements with the Colombian military during the 1990s. At the time, the Colombian armed forces were one of the worst abusers of human rights in the Western hemisphere.

The documents show how BP not only offered to finance the military units operating around its oil sites in the department of Casanare, but also proposed funding Colombia’s “national defence activities” across the country.

On top of this, the files demonstrate how in 1994 BP collaborated with General Álvaro Velandia Hurtado, then the commander of the Colombian army’s notorious sixteenth brigade, on “conflict resolution” in Casanare.

An expert in military intelligence, Velandia has been accused of involvement in a series of brutal human rights abuses including the kidnap, torture, and murder of a social activist in 1987, and collaboration with a Colombian death squad. 

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UN says Colombia’s coca crop at all-time high as officials promote new drug policies

Coca cultivation reached an all-time high in Colombia last year, the U.N. said, as the administration of President Gustavo Petro struggles to reduce poverty in remote areas and contain armed groups that are profiting from the cocaine trade.

The new findings on coca growing were published over the weekend by the United Nations Office on Drug and Crime, which said 230,000 hectares (nearly 570,000 acres) of farmland in Colombia were planted with coca in 2022, a 13% increase from the previous year.

The South American nation is the world’s largest exporter of cocaine, which is made from coca leaves. Colombia provides 90% of the cocaine sold in the United States each year.

Colombia’s government said Monday that the amount of land planted with coca is increasing at a slower pace than in previous years. It hopes new programs that provide greater economic incentives for farmers to adopt legal crops will help reduce cocaine production in coming years.

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