Colombian President Condemns Hypocritical Cocaine War Over Destruction Of Selva Forests
Sumaira FH Published September 21, 2022 | 12:50 AM
MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st September, 2022) Colombian President Gustavo Petro condemned on Tuesday the hypocrisy of "consumer countries," who profit from fight against drugs, causing irreparable damage to Selva forests and its inhabitants.
The consumer countries allow forests to burn, destroying plants with poisons to hide the disasters of their own society, the president said during a speech to the UN General Assembly in New York, adding that those states insist on destroying the Amazon jungle, regardless of environmental damage, extracting local natural reserves, such as coal and oil, out of a thirst for power and money.
According to the president, the US has been looking for ways to support and lead the fight against drug production for years. At the same time, the appeals of scientists were ignored, and the fight against cocaine had serious consequences, Petro noted .
"Selva and its inhabitants are declared guilty of this plague (drug addiction), which has struck and exhausted the world power. The relations of the authorities are affected by the addiction to money, to perpetuating oneself, to oil, to cocaine and to the strongest drugs that enhance the analgesic effect," the president said, adding that there is nothing more hypocritical than a discourse about saving Selva forests and its population.
Before his speech, Petro said that his government would make efforts to convince coca producers to replace it with other profitable agricultural crops. According to the president, the current policy of combating drug trafficking has completely failed and the approach to this problem should be changed.
Colombia is the world's main producer and exporter of cocaine. More than 90% of the world's coca plantations are concentrated in the so-called Andean Drug Triangle, which includes Colombia, Peru and Bolivia. Coca grows in small quantities on plantations in Panama, Ecuador, southwestern Venezuela and northeastern Brazil. Hundreds of tons of cocaine are shipped annually from South America to the US, the main and most solvent market for narcotic drugs on the continent.
Related Topics
Recent Stories
HEC reviews curricula for environmental sciences degree programme
ICC Asia looking forward to an action-packed Asia Cricket Week
Yuvraj Singh named ICC Men’s T20 World Cup 2024 Ambassador
Greece hands Olympic flame to 2024 Paris Games hosts
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
World must act on neurotech revolution, say experts
Charles & Catherine's cancer diagnoses
Champions Alcaraz and Sabalenka through in Madrid Open
King Charles to resume some public duties during cancer treatment: palace
US defense chief announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
Heavy rains cause damage to Spezand-Taftan railway track
Woman stabbed in Israel, attacker killed: police
More Stories From World
-
Junta-led Burkina Faso suspends BBC, Voice of America for two weeks
13 minutes ago -
Two Kyiv hospitals evacuating over feared Russian strikes
33 minutes ago -
World must act on neurotech revolution, say experts
33 minutes ago -
Charles & Catherine's cancer diagnoses
48 minutes ago -
King Charles to resume some public duties during cancer treatment: palace
38 minutes ago -
US defense chief announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
38 minutes ago
-
Woman stabbed in Israel, attacker killed: police
46 minutes ago -
Israeli-fired unexploded bombs could take 14 years to clear: UN
38 minutes ago -
US announces $6 bn in security aid for Ukraine
33 minutes ago -
Pakistan’s National Day Reception held in Colombo
33 minutes ago -
Erdogan's White House talks with Biden on May 9 postponed: Turkish official
32 minutes ago -
Spanish PM keeps country guessing on his future
32 minutes ago