Colombian President Gustavo Petro has warned that his government will not completely eliminate forced eradication of coca crops, as it will continue to be carried out in those places "where voluntary substitution agreements are not made".
Petro advocated in his inauguration to rethink the current approach to the fight against drugs. In a series of messages published on Twitter on Thursday, he called for the "immediate implementation" of the National Comprehensive Crop Substitution Program (PNIS), as well as for favoring the development of "licit" plantations.
He has also clarified that suspending aerial spraying of crops, a tactic criticized for years for its indiscriminate nature, "is not permission to plant more coca plants" in Colombia.
The director of the National Police, Henry Sanabria Cely, assured this week in declarations to 'El Tiempo' that the security forces will not use glyphosate in their actions nor will they forcibly destroy plantations, while waiting for the new global strategy to be defined.
Colombia had already stopped using aerosols to indiscriminately spray crops in 2015 due to health concerns about their use, but still continues to use workers who, under police custody, destroy plantations by hand.