Colombia's Cocaine Production and Drug Raids

This is where coca leaves are transformed into coca paste, which

is the base

for cocaine.

I'm here with the police commando unit who are about to destroy a cocaine-producing

laboratory. I'm in Putumayo, one of Colombia's biggest

coca-growing areas. Almost 70% of the world's

cocaine is made in the country. Colombia grew enough

coca to make over 3,000 tons of cocaine in

2024. I'm not the first journalist to be given

access to one of these

types of raids. The Colombian government likes to show its

efforts at

tackling the war on drugs. When we got here,

we encountered three of the people who

actually grow the coca leaves. They begged the military not to destroy

their

laboratory because they have three children who are still at school,

and they say

they get no help from the state. Criminal gangs often force farmers

to make coca paste, threatening to kill them

or to recruit their

children as fighters. Others grow coca because it's more

profitable than other crops. More than 80% of the

cocaine in the United States comes from Colombia.

Last year, Trump placed sanctions on Colombia's

president, Gustavo Petro,

and decertified Colombia as an ally in the fight against drugs.

Colombia is out of control. Now they have the worst president they've

ever had.

He's a lunatic who's got a lot of problems, mental problems.

Since then, the United States has also been blowing up

suspected drug boats in the

Caribbean.

The Colombian government insists it is doing its best to fight the

narcos. Authorities claim to have intercepted

2,840 tons of cocaine since Petro took office

in August 2022. That's 61% more than

the previous right-wing government managed over a comparable time period.

Finding and destroying coca operations is costly work.

Replacing them is much cheaper. There are thousands all across

Colombia. The country is twice the size of France, so that means

there's plenty of land on which farmers can grow coca

and build these

laboratories, often in places that are too remote and too

difficult for the police to get to.

The reality is that these raids don't work.

They don't fix the drug trafficking problem.

If the supply of cocaine were actually reduced,

the price would go up,

giving drug gangs a greater incentive to produce more.

Legalization is the only way to end the profits that are sustaining

these armed groups. The question for Petro is whether missions

such as these can convince the Trump administration that Colombia is

cracking down on cocaine.