Drug trafficking in Colombia was strengthened in 2021. The lands dedicated to the planting of coca increased by 43% and as a result the amount of drugs exported to the world was also increased; criminal organizations were strengthened financially and at the organizational level.
The Integrated System of Monitoring Illicit Crops (Simci) of the United Nations Office published this October a report depicting an increase in the area planted with coca in Colombia, from 143,000 hectares in 2020, to
The report estimates that production in that country reached an all-time high of 1,400 tons of cocaine (2021), with an upward trend. In the same year that there was an increase in coca cultivation and production, Central American countries seized at least 248 tons of drugs, according to the count made by the AFP agency, of which 128 tons were seized by the Panamanian authorities, breaking their own mark from previous years. Just a month after the end of the year, the Panamanian authorities have seized more than 100 tons, almost equaling the previous figure.
The recently announced data emphasize that the fight against drugs is exceeding the capacity of governments, which in most countries in the region – in some with greater emphasis than others – criminal organizations have managed to penetrate institutions, expand their operability, making this fight more complicated.
Colombia remains the country in the world that produces the most drugs, more than 90%. And 85% have been sown in the same territories for more than a decade.
In addition, criminal groups have significantly improved performance in a few years. For example, in 2014 the average yield of coca leaf per hectare was 5.6 kilos, but last year it went to almost 8 kilos per hectare.
Why the increase?
Simci’s report attributes, as one of the factors that led to the increase in crops, the positioning of new criminal groups and the deterioration of socioeconomic conditions due to the pandemic. This last factor results in the hiring of new members for their ranks, taking advantage of the lack of employment for groups of young people between 15 and 29 years old.
The dynamics of these groups have also been modified, according to the United Nations report. They portray three predominant illegal armed groups that have hegemonic control of more than 60 organized criminal structures with roles divided between production, trafficking, custody of cocaine hydrochloride laboratories and crops, among others.
Something to note is that the conditions of services and goods of the villages near coca are better than in those far away, which both the population and those involved in the drug trafficking chain enjoy.
The improvements services that without illicit activity would not have consolidated. This translates, for example, into a large number of pharmacies, supermarkets, restaurants, appliances, shops and bars where prostitution is also practiced.
In addition to the above, there are other factors that drive the growth of illicit crops. The main one lives up to the beginning of supply and demand. In 2020, 21,000,000 users of cocaine-like substances were estimated. By observing the trends of the last 10 years, there is a constant long-term increase in the number of estimated users of this type of drug.
In addition to this, governments have not managed to strengthen the municipalities where the most coca is produced in Colombia. They continue to face conditions of poverty and limitations of access to markets. The hope that emanated from the peace agreements was deflated.
There are low levels of implementation of the peace agreement in the country: only 2% of the provisions of the agreement in relation to the Integral Rural Reform, a key point for the exchange of crops, has been completed.
All this maelstrom has also caused the expansion of drug trafficking networks to areas with favorable conditions for coca production In 2021, post-FARC-EP armed groups were located in 138 municipalities previously occupied by that guerrillas.
The drug traffickers have also benefited from the constant devaluation of the Colombian peso, which in recent months has bordered on unsuspected peaks, doubling its value to almost 4,000 pesos per dollar. The criminal structure of drug trafficking encompasses everything necessary for the business, including the financing of illicit crops.
Routes
As for trafficking, Central America has been a cordon on the route to the United States for decades. However, more attractive markets such as Europe, for the value that the drug acquires, have opened new routes from the ports of Panama and Costa Rica.
Criminal groups take drugs out of Colombia mainly by sea in fast boats, semi-submersible boats (of which at least five have appeared in Panamanian waters) and more sophisticated submersibles with greater load and navigation capacity.
The drug report published to the coast of Mexico in submarines, and in containers from the Andean region of Colombia to Central and Western Europe.
Last June, the National Aeroneaval Service (Senan) dismantled a band made up of port operators, members of transport companies, allegedly linked to the contamination of containers destined for Belgium, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands.
Despite the operation, in September This gives an idea of the infinite struggle to end the illicit market, and of the power they have to infiltrate any space that represents profits for them.
The upward variation in crops is also due to the reduction of government intervention in cultivated areas, which has not changed: 62% are concentrated in Nariño, north of Santander and Putumayo. 10% of the increase in crops was recorded in new areas, while 33% was on the periphery of the aforementioned enclaves.
In Colombia, 45% of the total coca is concentrated in only 10 Colombian municipalities. In these regions, in previous years there was a reduction in the area with coca, largely associated with the intervention of forced eradication. However, the difficulties in sustaining this type of mechanism and the lack of complementary measures that manage to change the conditions of vulnerability, resulted in the increase in the area planted in 2021.
The concentration and permanence of coca crops can be explained by a functional geographical relationship to traffic. 12 of the 14 enclaves are located in border departments or with direct access to the sea. In these enclaves there is a convergence of illegal armed groups, drug traffickers and producers.