A Colombian judge has ordered the suspension of operations to spray coca fields with the potentially harmful herbicide, ammonium glufosinate, as requested by President Abelardo de la Espriella. The ruling, reviewed by AFP, comes as the right-wing leader, who took office in early August, promised to combat armed groups involved in drug trafficking.
To support this initiative, the anti-drug police announced on Thursday that they would conduct “experimental” and “temporary” aerial spraying tests in the Colombian Amazon to assess the herbicide’s use, though the start date was not specified.
The ruling highlights a lack of “sufficient public information to reasonably exclude potential risks to human health and ecosystems” in the Putumayo region of the Amazon, as stated in the decision obtained by France Presse. The World Health Organization (WHO) previously assessed ammonium glufosinate as presenting a moderate health risk.
Colombia had suspended the use of glyphosate, another herbicide deemed “probably carcinogenic to humans” by the WHO, in 2015.
Widespread Coca Cultivation in Colombia
Aerial spraying with herbicides has provoked discontent among certain segments of the Colombian population, particularly among farming communities, Afro-Colombians, and indigenous groups in rural areas where coca fields are located. “Coca exists and must be eradicated, but we oppose the massive use of such chemicals,” stated Jonathan Meneses, director of the human rights foundation “Tiempo de Cambios,” which filed the appeal.
Since Abelardo de la Espriella’s rise to power, the former ultra-wealthy lawyer has positioned Colombia within the “Shield of the Americas,” an anti-drug alliance promoted by the current U.S. president, which includes several Latin American countries such as Argentina, Ecuador, and El Salvador. According to the latest United Nations report, the area cultivated with coca in Colombia reached 261,000 hectares in 2024, with drugs produced financing powerful illegal groups that primarily export them to the United States and Europe.
