Colombian crop dusters escorted by U.S.-supplied Black Hawk helicopters roared late last month over the razor-backed mountains of Colombia’s Grand Massif (Gran Macizo Colombiano) in the southern state of Cauca, raining herbicide on coca and poppy plantations and sparking angry protest around the world. After a year’s respite in Cauca, fumigation has been stepped up throughout the state, which together with five other southern Colombian states is responsible for 75% of the nation’s coca production and nearly all of its poppy production. But the U.S.-funded program, which has failed to rein in drug production, faces growing opposition, in part on environmental grounds. Representatives of the UN’s Drug Control Program (UNDCP), the European Community, and international environmental groups denounced the renewed campaign in... [Log in to read more]