I was posting about this in July last year, and even then it was a two-year trend:
While the FARC peace travesty rolls right along, coca cultivation has surged over the past two years as growers are offered greater incentives at lower risk.
This was known even while Obama was helping Santos-FARC coalition takeovr Col.
Coca Cultivation Soars in Colombia https://t.co/lJEf8w23o3— MaryAnastasiaO'Grady (@MaryAnastasiaOG) March 13, 2017
Now the Acreage under coca cultivation set to surpass levels before a U.S.-sponsored eradication program began (emphasis added),
The surge in the coca crop has come since 2013, as the U.S. was forced to reduce and ultimately end spraying from crop dusters because of health concerns over the use of a toxic defoliant and the Colombian government’s worries that the program was turning many rural residents against the state as it was negotiating a peace deal with Marxist rebels. On Tuesday, U.S. officials in Washington are expected to announce that coca is planted on about 695 square miles of land, or more than 10 times the area of the District of Columbia. The increase continues a rise in which planted acreage has more than doubled since its lowest point in 2012.
A year ago I also posted that Hezbollah was teaming up with Colombian cocaine lords due to Iran’s falling oil revenues.
