THE Peruvian government announced its intention to buy the entire crop coca leaveslegitimizing them illegal cropsto fight cocaine trafficking in the country, a member of the trio of countries where the largest quantities of this drug are produced in the world.
The planned measure, difficult to implement as the number of people cultivating coca illegally is high, it is already causing objections.
“It is necessary, for at least a year, to buy coca leaves from the already registered producers and those who will be registered in the register being created”, explained the day before yesterday Wednesday o Prime Minister Anival Torres, presenting the initiative.
About 95,000 legal coca growers are registered in the official register. The leaves they produce have been bought since 1978 National Coca Company (ENACO), paying 100 soles (approximately 25 euros) per string (11.24 kg).
They are consumed in the form mate (popular beverages in Latin America), sweets, flouror with chewing themdelivery on Andes to fight fatigue and his high altitudein the Peru as in Bolivia.
According to official figures, the illegal coca growers are about 400,000. The area of ​​the crops is estimated to reach 620,000 acres; the production is 160,000 tons. Of which ENACO currently buys only 2,500 tons, a percentage that hardly corresponds to 1.5%.
“The message that the government is sending is that it is legalizing coca cultivation and that it will buy coca leaves that are grown illegally. “The message is ‘grow coca’, and this is very dangerous, because we are talking about the raw material used by drug traffickers,” he told AFP. Reuven Vargas, former Minister of the Interior of Peru.
According to the UN, the Colombia and the Bolivia are the countries with the highest production of coca leaves and cocaine in the world. In Peru, cocaine production is estimated at around 400 tonnes a year.
“By encouraging coca cultivation, the producer will obviously have two markets: that of the state, which the government promises, and that of drug traffickers,” he said. former caretaker President Francisco Sagasti (2020-2021).
For Fernando Rospilios, former Minister of the Interior, “Creating a new list of producers” will allow “drug traffickers to legitimize” part of their activities.
“Drugs and drug trafficking are destroying and depriving us of our freedom. “There should be no room for drug trafficking and illegal activities,” he said last week. Peruvian President Pedro Castillo, who witnessed the incineration of several tonnes of cocaine.
In 2021, more than 84 tonnes of cocaine were seized and incinerated, according to Peruvian police.
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