Manual eradication of illicit plantations has left eight people dead and more than 40 injured and mutilated in the country so far this year. This was confirmed by the Minister of Defense, Guillermo Botero, at the end of his speech at Concordia Americas.
"With the precautionary principle that the Constitutional Court took against glyphosate (suspending aerial spraying), today we have to mourn the death of these people, so we are waiting for the Constitutional Court to modify its sentence. Meanwhile, we have no other mechanism to continue eradicating manually, "said Botero.
He in the same way warned that drug trafficking is in the same way taking the lives of citizens who are victims of the violence generated in areas where illicit plantations are larger.
Botero lamented that drug trafficking is a situation that destroys everything, the economy and common wellbeing, he explained that Colombia has 100 groups of eradicators, which shows that the Security forces is complying with the constitutional mission, even at the cost of their own life.
From January the first and August the 6th in 2018, 29,500 hectares of coca were eradicated. Once this Government started, by August 7 to December 31 of that year, 30,500 hectares were eradicated. That is to say that in less time we did more," he said.
This year, 27,000 hectares have been eradicated throughout the country. "We already have a goal of 80,000 hectares for this year. With other programs that the Presidency of the Republic has, voluntary substitutions, it is possible to eradicate 20 or 25 thousand additional hectares to surpass 100 thousand," said Botero.
Source: Ministry of National Defense
