COLOMBIA: Curbing Drug Production

DIALOGO/www.elcolombiano.com/The Associated Press

2011 v21-1

[The Associated Press]

Colombian anti-narcotics police stand guard near a coca field in Caceres in northwest Colombia. Police were watching over farmers who were hired by the government to manually eradicate coca fields. The Colombian government released the following 2010 statistics on drug seizures and guerrilla demobilizations.

Seizures:

39.1 metric tons of marijuana

4.4 metric tons of processed cocaine

3.4 metric tons of coca paste

All of the drugs listed above are thought to have been property of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC. In addition, 18 cocaine processing labs and 146 coca paste processing labs were destroyed.

Demobilizations:

2,381 guerrillas voluntarily demobilized — 2,009 belonged to the FARC and 359 belonged to the National Liberation Army.