As oil exports fall in Colombia, cocaine production is on the rise due to President Gustavo Petro's failed policies. This may soon make the drug Colombia's main export.
Bloomberg economics expert Felipe Hernández explained that revenues from cocaine exports are no longer far from oil exports, La República reported.
According to the report, Colombia earned $19.1 billion from oil trade last year, while estimated cocaine revenues reached $18.2 billion.
However, cocaine production is reaching record levels, so this activity could end up displacing oil as the country's main export. Last year alone, the production of cocaine reached 1,738 tons and the area of land planted with coca reached 230,000 hectares in 2022, which represents an increase of 13% over the previous year.
La cocaína superará al petróleo como la principal exportación de Colombia, informa Bloomberg. Que pena🙃 https://t.co/LWtVqp1Sch
— Santiago Echavarria Medina (@santiago_echa) September 14, 2023
Petro said he would crack down on the drug lords who profit most from the cocaine trade and explained that his focus would be on dialogue with the nation's main drug trafficking groups. But so far the socialist president's anti-drug policies have not only failed, they may have facilitated increased cocaine production.
Recently, the Colombian president spoke about it at a conference with other Latin American and Caribbean countries and acknowledged that his approach to the war on drugs failed. But he insisted that instead of focusing on eradicating cocaine production, consumer countries should try to reduce demand and pointed his finger directly at the United States, the EU and the UN.
"We are afraid to say that you, who have the most users of these drugs, are wrong," he said.
