Colombia to Start Aerial Spraying of Coca Crops Despite Health Worries
The judge paused the seven-day pilot while agencies provide technical data and the court reviews whether the restart meets Constitutional Court conditions.
- On Friday, The Juzgado Tercero Promiscuo suspended the National Drug Council's aerial spraying of glufosinate in Putumayo, grounding the pilot program pending further technical information.
- Colombia halted aerial glyphosate missions in 2015 after the World Health Organization labeled it probably carcinogenic; in 2017, the Constitutional Court established strict conditions for any resumption.
- Resolution 007 authorized a seven-day pilot project using glufosinate, which excluded protected environmental areas and Indigenous or Afro-Colombian territories unless prior consultation occurred.
- Operations remain halted while agencies provide requested technical data, as Judgment T-236 makes presidential drug policy answerable to the communities affected by aerial missions.
- Whoever wants to spray must prove the case first, as the Constitutional Court mandates conclusive evidence of no harm, positioning judiciary oversight as a primary check on Security Plan Abelardo.
27 Articles
27 Articles
Judge suspends Colombia's aerial fumigation pilot
A Putumayo from the southern Putumayo province suspended the government’s announced resumption of the aerial spraying of coca, ordering information that would allow “a sufficiently informed decision on the merits.” Earlier this week, the National Narcotics Council (CNE) ordered the National Police to restart the aerial fumigation of coca, the base ingredient for cocaine, “as […]
The president, who is advancing an offensive to death against organized crime, promotes the return of the polemic aerial spraying against narcocultures in the country that produces the most cocaine in the world. To this end, the anti-narcotics police announced on Thursday tests of "experimental" and "temporal" aerial spraying in the Colombian Amazon to evaluate the use of the herbicide, without giving details about its beginning. Ammonium glufos…
A Colombian judge ordered Friday the suspension of operations to spray coca fields with a potentially dangerous herbicide, the ammonia glufosinate, requested by President Abelardo de la Espriella, according to a decision consulted by AFP. The right-wing leader, who took office at the beginning of August promising that he would crush the armed groups involved in trafficking ...
Colombia to start aerial spraying of coca crops despite health worries
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Colombia will begin testing aerial spraying to eradicate coca crops, the raw material used to make cocaine, for the first time since the government halted one of the country’s most contentious antidrug policies more than a decade ago.
On Friday, September 11, 2026, a Colombian judge ordered the suspension of the tests for spraying coca fields with a potentially dangerous herbicide, glufosinate-ammonium, planned by President Abelardo de la Espriella, according to a decision obtained by the AFP.
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