A partial solution: the Colombian government, the FARC and the drugs issue at the peace talks

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A partial solution: the Colombian government, the FARC and the drugs issue at the peace talks

29 May 2014

On May 16th the Colombian government announced an agreement had been reached with the FARC guerrilla on the latest issue under discussion at the peace talks in Havana, Cuba: “A Solution to the Problem of Illicit Drugs.” The points agreed upon, which were provided in an accompanying text, suggest some positive steps away from the repressive, militarised approach which has been so disastrous for the people of Colombia and the region.

In a break with the official discourse of the past, illicit drugs are separated from the internal conflict between the FARC and the government. There is a recognition that “the continuation of [illicit] cultivation is linked partly to the existence of conditions of poverty, marginalisation and weak state presence, as well as the existence of criminal organisations dedicated to narco-trafficking.” Eradication operations have been a mainstay of government policy, but if the agreement holds this looks set to change. The FARC have long been calling for crop substitution and alternative development in rural areas, and while the government has adopted some piecemeal efforts, the text implies such initiatives will now take precedence and will be guided by the freshly created “community assemblies”, thereby granting some local democratic governance to drug policy. Crop destruction should be voluntary the text says, but in cases where growers refuse the government will go ahead with forced eradication. Fumigation is not mentioned, but the head of the government delegation to the talks has said spraying would remain an option in “extreme cases.” The text notes that the FARC remain opposed to spraying and want all eradication to be manual.

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