Political Quotes

“I want to speak briefly about a recent decision of the Government of Colombia to end the aerial fumigation of coca. Since the beginning of Plan Colombia 15 years ago, the United States, at huge cost, has financed a fleet of aircraft, fuel, herbicide, and pilots to spray coca fields in Colombia. When this first began we were told that in 5 years the spraying, along with billions of dollars in U.S. military and other aid, would cut by half the flow of cocaine coming to the United States. Fifteen years later, that goal remains elusive. While the cultivation of coca has been reduced, aerial fumigation was never the solution to this problem. It is prohibitively expensive and unsustainable by the Government of Colombia. It also defies common sense. One Colombian official told me the cost of aerial fumigation is approximately $7,000 per hectare, while the cost to purchase the coca produced in one hectare is $400. In other words, for one-fifteenth the cost of aerial fumigation you could buy the coca and burn it. The process also ignores the reality of rural Colombia where most coca farmers are impoverished and have no comparable means of earning income. Absent viable economic alternatives they resort to the dangerous business of growing coca, often at the behest of the FARC rebels or other armed groups. The active ingredient in the herbicide used in the fumigation is glyphosate, a common weed killer.…”