Colombia said it would resume aerial spraying of coca crops for the first time since 2015, as Medellín heeds US calls to combat record cocaine production.
The trial initiative sprang from recent talks between Colombia’s new rightist president and US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, The New York Times reported; the diplomacy signaled a shift in the Trump administration’s anti-narcotics tactics as it seeks to assert dominance in the Western Hemisphere, but Rubio warned that Washington would “still blow up ships if need be.”
Crime and violence concerns topped a regional poll this year, and the swift embrace of Washington’s hard-line playbook in Colombia, Peru, and Ecuador reflects “just how desperate leaders are to show progress,” a Latin America expert said.
