Despite agreement, Colombia's drug trade has tripled

A decade after Colombia signed a peace agreement with the FARC guerrilla group, the nation's cocaine production has tripled. The landscape of illicit drug manufacturing has shifted dramatically, with armed groups now primarily driven by economic gain rather than the Marxist ideology that once characterized the FARC. These new groups have significantly advanced production methods, leading to higher yields from coca leaves.

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Now we are dealing with groups that are primarily driven by economic interests.

Nora Taquanas, a leader in an indigenous Colombian community, told the Financial Times that the nature of the armed groups has changed. "For FARC, cocaine was more a means than an end," she explained. Previously, groups like FARC, formed in the late 1980s, financed their rebellion through cocaine trade, often by taxing coca farmers and protecting smugglers. However, with the FARC's disarmament in 2016, a new generation of armed actors emerged, focusing solely on maximizing profits from cocaine.

The United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reports that profits from cocaine production have doubled in the past 20 years. This surge is partly attributed to increased demand in Europe, which has seen record drug seizures in recent years. In 2023 alone, European authorities confiscated 419 tons of cocaine, with consumption levels now nearly matching those in the United States, according to the European Medicines Agency.

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For FARC, cocaine was more a means than an end.

Colombia's former Vice President Humberto de la Calle, who led the 2016 peace negotiations, has called the agreement a "complete failure." He argues that the problem is more complex today because the armed groups are more integrated within civilian populations, making military intervention difficult. The conflict, which spanned 52 years, claimed over 200,000 lives and displaced millions.

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If you send the military into these areas, who are they going to shoot at?