Coca and eradication four years into Colombia’s “Post-Accord” phase

Four years after the signing of a historic peace accord, hundreds of thousands of Colombian families continue to rely on the coca crop. The government, with U.S. support, has already broken its annual record for forced eradication, during the pandemic, and little of it has been coordinated with food security or rural development assistance. Now, a revival of a controversial aerial herbicide fumigation program is looming.

How are coca cultivating communities responding? How does all of this relate to the peace accord? What might happen if fumigation restarts? What are the costs of eradication, both financially and in terms of rights? Will pursuing the same strategies pursued during the past 30 years really yield a different result? What happened with the peace accords’ crop substitution program? What would a better coca policy look like? How should the new U.S. administration adjust its assistance programs?

WOLA, Elementa, CODHES, the Instituto Pensar of the Universidad Javeriana, the Alianza de Mujeres Tejedoras de Vida, and the Corporación Viso Mutop look forward to addressing these topics on Wednesday, December 9, from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. (U.S. eastern and Bogotá time).

Featuring:
Marco Romero
CODHES, Bogotá

Nancy Sánchez Méndez
Mujeres Tejedoras de Vida, Mocoa, Putumayo

Adriana Muro
Elementa DDHH, Colombia-México

Adam Isacson
WOLA, Washington D.C.

Pedro Arenas
Corporación Viso Mutop, Bogotá

Moderator:
Marcela Ceballos
Instituto Pensar, Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá

Simultaneous interpretation will be available

Register here