Record coca, record murders: the flipside of “peace” in southern Colombia
Even as the FARC disarms, other groups battle for the lucrative drugs trade and kill anyone who stands in their way
IRIN News (UN)
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Wednesday, June 20, 2018
Hundreds of Colombian farmers, activists, and community organisers have been killed over the past 18 months, despite the landmark peace deal that supposedly ended 52 years of war. For them, and for local leaders in the former conflict zones, the war – which left an estimated 220,000 dead and seven million displaced over five decades – didn’t end: it only became worse. Those who advocate for leaving behind the illegal coca economy that has long been the rural regions’ mainstay are growing increasingly desperate, as armed groups vie for the bountiful coca-producing areas and trafficking routes once controlled by the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), which is disarming under the peace accord.
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