Bolivia: Coca report shows increase in cultivated hectares in 2020

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Coca crops in Bolivia increased by 15% in 2020 compared to data from 2018 and 2019, representing a record figure in the past decade, according to a report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the Bolivian government, which blamed Jeanine Áñez’s interim administration for slowing down the eradication process.

The report noted that in the Yungas region of La Paz, the area increased from 16,296 to 18,302 hectares; in the Tropic of Cochabamba from 8,769 to 10,606; and in the north of La Paz from 468 to 510.

Bolivia’s Executive blamed the Áñez administration for the failure to eradicate coca crops during 2020.

“The ineffective government of Áñez never had the will to effectively eradicate coca crops,” said Government Minister Eduardo del Castillo, who denounced that the de facto administration “did not fulfill its duty, and its failed policies had a tremendous impact on the dynamics of the coca markets.”

Del Castillo emphasized that the previous government abandoned the Movimiento al Socialismo’s (MAS) national strategy to eradicate surplus plantations and committed irregularities in the contracting of materials for eradication workers.

The Minister also highlighted that the authorities have already eradicated 5,300 of the 9,000 hectares planned for this year, and criticized the fact that in the same period in 2020 only 675 hectares were destroyed.

In a excerpt from the report that the government portfolio published on Twitter, it is also noted that 2,177 hectares were cleared in 2020, 76% less than in 2019, and the lowest figure since the issue has been monitored.

“There was no will to implement eradication tasks of surplus coca crops, a situation that was resumed with the return of democracy. In other words, the material conditions were created to benefit drug trafficking,” Del Castillo said of the Áñez administration.

The Covid-19 pandemic forced a 178-day halt to coca crop eradication efforts.

Bolivia’s General Coca Law -promulgated by then-President Evo Morales in 2017- sets a limit of 22,000 hectares of cultivation, 10,000 more than a former law.