Colombia Is Top Cocaine Producer Again, Still Supplying Mexican Cartels Sylvia Longmire - Breitbart
go to original November 22, 2015

And the World's Top Cocaine Producer Is... (The Lip)

After falling behind Peru as the world’s largest cocaine producer, Colombia has regained the top spot. The South American country now grows more illegal coca than Peru and third-place Bolivia combined, and most of that cocaine is headed to the U.S. through Mexico.

According to the Washington Post, in 2014—the last year for which statistics are available - Colombians planted 44 percent more coca than in 2013, and US drug agents say this year’s crop is probably even larger. US and Colombian officials say the biggest reason for the spike is that the narco-terrorist group Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), along with other armed groups, has encouraged farmers to plant more coca. They have been negotiating a peace deal with the Colombian government, and the US government is likely to send aid directed at supporting a robust crop substitution plan.

But despite a sharp decline in American taste for cocaine, the FARC and other cocaine producers in Colombia see an opportunity. Cocaine has historically been very expensive on the street, and demand has been overshadowed by much cheaper - and more potent - Mexican methamphetamine and black tar heroin. However, a steep drop in the price of cocaine in the US could encourage demand to start climbing rapidly if the drug becomes competitive with other cartel offerings.

Mexican cartels have long been in league with Colombian cocaine producers, so this shift is likely to be very profitable for them. In September 2014, FOX News Latino reported that the Colombia’s anti-narcotics director said Mexico’s notorious drug cartels had taken a more active role in the production of cocaine, and had made incursions into the South American nation.

Read the rest at Breitbart

Photo: Henry Guttmann/Getty Images

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