Colombian Farmers Clash
With Police Over Coca
Leaf Plants
At least 20 Colombian
peasants from a coca
leaf growing area were
injured on Tuesday in a
clash with police when
protesting against a
state anti-drug program
to eradicate their coca
crops.
"We estimated around 20
injured, but none were
seriously hurt,
fortunately," said an
official from the Taraza
Hospital in the
northeastern province of
Antioquia.
Local authorities said
the protestors, armed
with sticks and stones,
had destroyed tolls,
attacked vehicles and
blocked the road which
links the province to
the Caribbean Sea.
"At least 10 trucks were
looted in the early
morning," a truck driver
told the country's radio
station RCN. "The
peasants also took
communications equipment
before stealing the
merchandise."
The demonstrators are
part of a larger group
of 6,000 coca leaf
grower, who oppose state
plans to wipe out their
coca crops, which are
the raw material for
making cocaine.
The peasants began their
protest two weeks ago
and clashed with police
in the towns of Taraza,
Valdivia and Puerto
Valdivia.
Regional authorities
said Colombian armed
rebels, the
Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, are
behind the protests, but
municipal authorities
rejected the claims.
The peasants "are honest
people who make their
living from growing coca
because they cannot find
alternative work," said
Taraza's Mayor Miguel
Gomez.
According to officials
from the country's
anti-drugs program,
1,200 hectares of coca
leaf plantations have
been destroyed so far
this year. They
estimated there are
9,000 hectares of such
plantations in the
region.
The Colombian government
aims to eradicate at
least 100,000 hectares
of illegal crops this
year in a program backed
by the United States.
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