Stacks of cocaine seized by the Colombian police. The illegal drug trade in Colombia has, since the 1970s, centered successively on four major drug trafficking cartels: Medellín, Cali, Norte del Valle, and North Coast, as well as several bandas criminales, or BACRIMs. [1]

1 day ago · Cocaine "is no worse than whiskey" and is only illegal because it comes from Latin America, said Colombian President Gustavo Petro, whose nation is the world's biggest cocaine producer and exporter.

1 day ago · Colombian President Gustavo Petro said during a government meeting that cocaine is “not worse than whiskey” and that it's only illegal because it comes from Latin America. Colombia, the world's largest producer and exporter of cocaine, has spent decades fighting drug trafficking, but the country ...

2 days ago · Colombian President Gustavo Petro has said that “cocaine is no worse than whiskey” as the production of coca, the drug’s base ingredient, surges under his presidency.

Nov 22, 2022 · Drug production boomed in Colombia during the pandemic. The total area harvested for coca leaves – the main ingredient for cocaine – grew 43% in 2021 according to a new annual survey by the...

Jul 13, 2024 · For decades, one industry has sustained the small, remote Colombian village of Caño Cabra: cocaine. Those who live in this community in the central part of the country rise early nearly...

Colombia and the United States aim to sustainably reduce Colombia’s cocaine production and coca cultivation to 50 percent of 2017 levels by the end of 2023. This goal was reaffirmed at the most recent Counternarcotics Working Group meeting in March 2020 .

Sep 12, 2023 · Colombia is the top coca cultivator in the world, producing 60% of the world's cocaine, followed by Peru and Bolivia. President Gustavo Petro on Saturday appealed to his regional...

3 days ago · In a Colombian cocaine hub, a fragile peace falls apart. The fighting between two armed drug trafficking groups — fueled and financed in part by a booming global cocaine business — has left ...

Aug 4, 2023 · Yet in some parts of Colombia—the country that produces about 60% of the world’s supply of cocaine—white chunks of coca paste are piling up and prices are plummeting. Villages across Catatumbo,...