Colombia Eradicates
Illegal Crops On Border
With Venezuela
Colombia began on
Thursday to destroy
illegal crops near its
border with Venezuela as
part of an
anti-narcotics program
by the government,
police said.
"The aim is to destroy
3,000 hectares of
illegal crops," said
Jorge Flores, police
commander of North of
Santander province.
Flores added that under
the plan, some 17,000
hectares of coca and
poppy were eradicated in
the first quarter this
year.
Colombia is the largest
drug producer in the
world, with about 800
tons of cocaine a year.
In 2003, the Colombian
government launched an
anti-narcotics strategy,
encouraging some 66,000
families with allowances
or alternative plants to
give up planting coca, a
raw material for
cocaine.
The strategy is expected
to help eradicate about
100,000 hectares of coca
plants in 2008.
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