Coca
Brief /
A Quarter of Gasoline Sold in Colombia Is Used for Cocaine
Dozens of gas stations in Colombia are under investigation for allegedly selling vast quantities of fuel to criminal groups to be used in coca paste processing,...
Analysis /
High-Profile Arrests Won’t Stem Cocaine Production in Peru’s VRAEM
Authorities have arrested two prominent drug traffickers in Peru’s largest coca-producing region in recent months, but the dentitions alone are unlikely to help...
Analysis /
A Death Foretold: Colombia’s Crop Substitution Program
The government’s failure to comply with the coca crops substitution program in Colombia has left the future of almost 100,000 families in limbo and sets up a...
Analysis /
Crop Eradication vs. Substitution Doubts Crippling Colombia Rural Communities
Colombia’s voluntary crop substitution program has seen almost 35,000 hectares of coca crops destroyed in just eight months, according to the United Nations...
Analysis /
Glyphosate Alone Won’t Fix Colombia’s Complex Coca Woes
Colombia’s Constitutional Court is debating lifting a judicial ban on the spraying of glyphosate during the controversial aerial fumigation of illicit coca crops,...
Brief /
Peruvian Farmers Abandoning Coffee Plantations for Coca Fields
A drop in coffee prices is forcing hundreds of Peruvian farmers to seek work in coca plantations-a sign that the country, like its neighbor Colombia, is seeing a...
Brief /
Pacific Drug Routes From South America More Popular Than Atlantic
With a well-known route through the Southern Cone decimated and authorities combing the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, drug traffickers are turning to the...
Analysis /
A Blast from the Past: The Duque Security Plan for Colombia
When Colombian President Iván Duque announced his new security plan, he told the media that security “shouldn’t be confused with war.” In his actual plan,...
Analysis /
Key Criminal Revelations From Former Venezuela Intelligence Chief
The former head of Venezuela’s military intelligence service has revealed some key details that confirm longstanding links between several officials in the regime...
Analysis /
Aggressive Coca Eradication Threatens Voluntary Substitution Efforts in Colombia
Colombia’s new government plans to deploy an ambitious program to forcefully eradicate illicit crops, stoking fears for the future of a crop substitution program...
Analysis /
GameChangers 2018: As Opioids and Cocaine Boom, the Americas Wilt
While traditional criminal organizations have widened their portfolios dramatically in recent years, drug trafficking remains the most important earner in the...
Colombia /
How Organized Crime Profits from Deforestation in Colombia
Two years after the signing of a peace deal between the Colombian government and the FARC, Colombia’s forests are under siege and experiencing heightened levels...
