Colombia: Colombia is Fighting Cocaine by Making Coca Farmers Choose “Poverty or Prison”

Jun 10, 2017 | Christopher Crosby, Vice
View Original

Under a canopy hiding his laboratorio from patrolling military aircraft, Ricardo shreds green coca leaves until they carpet the jungle floor like confetti. It’s an initial step in a process that will turn the leaves into a light paste called pastabase, which Ricardo will sell to narcotraffickers after they arrive at his farm and name their price. In turn they will use boats, mules, and even submarines to surreptitiously move 55-gallon drums of pastabase to refineries on the outskirts of the nearby port city of Tumaco.