The Impact of the Andean Trade Preference Act Twelfth ... - USITC

(table 4-1, figure 4-1). 306 Net coca cultivation in the ATPA region in the past three years(2003-2005) reflects its lowest level since the ATPA program began in 1991.Bolivia and Peru initiated major forced coca eradication campaigns in 1997 and 1996,respectively, that reduced their illegal net coca cultivation by 57 percent in Bolivia from1998 to 2000 and by 66 percent in Peru from 1997 to 2000. During this time, roughly 1995-2000, coca cultivation in Colombia expanded by some 170 percent as coca farmers(cocaleros) planted new fields in areas controlled by antigovernment rebels. In 1999,Colombia began its counterinsurgency and counternarcotics campaign—PlanColombia—which included U.S. assistance with aerial eradication of drug crops through theuse of herbicides. According to U.S. Government estimates, coca cultivation in Colombiafell from a peak of 169,800 hectares in 2001 to 105,400 hectares in 2005, a decrease ofnearly 38 percent, as a result of intensive eradication efforts, especially aerial spraying. 307In contrast to recent reductions in Colombia between 2001 and 2005, during the same periodcoca cultivation expanded 33 percent in Bolivia, to 26,500 hectares, and 18 percent in Peru,to 38,000 hectares. Nonetheless, coca cultivation in these two countries remains at levels farbelow those of a decade ago, at nearly one-half the peak level in the case of Bolivia and onethirdin the case of Peru.Although this chapter focuses on coca cultivation, it should be noted that opiumpoppies—the raw material used to produce heroin—are also cultivated in Colombia and, toa lesser extent, in Peru. 308Country Profiles on Eradication and Alternative Developmentduring 2005BoliviaEvo Morales, founder of the Bolivian cocalero movement, was elected president inDecember 2005 with support from coca grower associations. These farmers’ unions havebecome increasingly active in challenging government coca reduction programs, which306 A hectare is a metric unit of area, 100 meters by 100 meters or 10,000 square meters, equivalent to2.47 acres in English measure.307Office of National Drug Control Policy, “2005 Coca Estimates for Colombia,” press release, Apr. 14,2006, found at http://www.whitehousedrugpolicy.gov/news/press06/041406.html, retrieved Apr. 18, 2006.However, the 2005 U.S. survey of Colombia also expanded its survey area, revealing coca cultivationpreviously unaccounted for.308 Most of the heroin used in the United States comes from poppies grown in Colombia and Mexico,although opium gum production in these countries accounts for less than 4 percent of the world’s totalproduction. U.S. Department of State, INCSR 2006, p. 12. Although there is no official estimate of poppycultivation in Colombia for 2005, the CNC estimates a steady decline in poppy cultivation in Colombia from6,540 hectares in 2001, to 4,900 hectares in 2002, to 4,400 hectares in 2003, to a major decrease to 2,100hectares in 2004. CNC, Major Illicit-Drug-Producing Nations–Cultivation and Production Estimates,2000-04, July 2005. Although no official U.S. cultivation estimate is available for 2005, Colombian lawenforcement and alternative development program teams estimate their eradication efforts at 2,000 hectaresof poppy eradicated in 2005. U.S. Department of State, INCSR 2006, p. 12.4-4