Colombia drug-spraying ‘hits weakest’
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The top human rights official in Colombia has urged the government to suspend the US-backed aerial fumigation of illegal coca crops in the south of the country. The Colombian state’s human rights watchdog, the People’s Defender, accused the authorities of damaging the health of locals and the environment in the province of Putumayo. Every year the American Government finances the aerial fumigation of more fields of coca and poppy, the raw materials for cocaine and heroin, and every year the number of hectares under drug cultivation goes up, along with the amount of virgin forest destroyed. Yet this year, with the blessing of hardline President Alvaro Uribe, more hectares than ever will be fumigated. Peasant victims The policy has long been criticised by human rights groups and environmentalists. More : news.bbc.co.uk |