How Santos’ new peace deal aggravated Colombia’s drug war

Colombia’s renegotiated peace deal shows that the “war on drugs” will be hard to dismantle
Americas Quarterly (US)
Wednesday, January 25, 2017

The chapter devoted to “solving the drug problem” in the first version of President Santos’ peace agreement was far from perfect. But it was the first time that a peace accord had included a section that addressed all aspects of the illicit drug phenomenon. The initial version also provided for methods such as voluntary eradication of coca crops, a consultation process with peasant communities to jointly define with the government a substitution plan, and the decriminalization of drug use. The new agreement, by contrast, attempted to appease some early opponents by reintroducing the option of forced eradication of coca and limiting the consultation process with coca-growing communities.