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Colombia hits drug plantation
eradication target
Colombia has attained its 2006
target of eliminating 40,000
hectares of drug plantations,
Luis Alfonso Hoyos, director of
the Presidential Agency for
Social Action said on Sunday.
A total of 41,717 hectares of
marijuana, coca and opium
poppies have been eradicated
this year and 50,000 will be
eliminated in 2007, said Hoyos
at a ceremony celebrating the
event, which was held in Balboa,
in the department of Cauca.
Since the start of the 2005
manual eradication program,
Colombia has destroyed 73,000
hectares of the illegal plants.
Most eradication workers are
farmers and protected by police
and soldiers when doing their
jobs.
Hoyos thanked the workers for
showing what he called "bravery,
support and patriotism" in the
face of attacks. Some 26 guards
and 12 workers have been killed
in attacks for which Hoyos
blamed the Revolutionary Armed
Forces of Colombia, the nation's
largest guerilla group.
Nearly 3,000 workers took part
in the program, working in 20 of
the country's 32 departments.
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