kylef
Gone
+1,352|6797|N. Ireland
I should point he did state that under Colombian law the reason why Cocaine is still grown is because it is illegal for officials to spray the ground to stop it.
Mr.Dooomed
Find your center.
+752|6632

usmarine wrote:

ok seriously.  stop posting google ads.
Oh, THATS what he's posting? Cause I've seen his posts with nothing there, I always wondered how the hell he is posting nothing and why?

...Ad block is doing a better job then I imagined

KEN-JENNINGS wrote:

He should have mentioned that US led chemical spraying of Colombian jungles has decimated much of the vegetation...
Really? Wtf? Please elaborate on this. Are they spraying to kill off drug crops? Or to destroy "invasive" species? Make room for GMO-corn? Or...?

kylef wrote:

it is illegal for officials to spray the ground
But not illegal for U.S led spraying? Loop-holes anyone?

Last edited by Im_Dooomed (2008-11-18 12:04:39)

Nature is a powerful force. Those who seek to subdue nature, never do so permanently.
KEN-JENNINGS
I am all that is MOD!
+2,984|6936|949

kylef wrote:

I should point he did state that under Colombian law the reason why Cocaine is still grown is because it is illegal for officials to spray the ground to stop it.
I'm not quite sure, but maybe it is illegal for the Colombian government but not illegal for the US government?  I do remember reading some time ago that they were looking at suspending or dismantling the aerial spraying because of safety concerns due to downed planes.

Anyway, I found some interesting quotes on regarding cocaine spraying and your boy Santos:
Officials here in Colombia, meanwhile, from Vice President Francisco Santos to officers in the National Police, which carries out anti-drug operations, are publicly taking a stand that contradicts that of the Bush administration.

"We feel that we're on a stationary bicycle," said Santos the defense minister, referring to the results of the spraying program. "We've advanced very slowly. So we have to change our tactics."

The reasons for the shift are manifold:

Coca, once found primarily in Colombia's south, is now cultivated nationwide. Aerial spraying has prompted farmers to abandon large plots for smaller, more isolated ones in regions where legal crops are often grown next to coca. Crop dusters invariably hit the legitimate crops, too, angering farming communities. Fumigation has also hurt relations with neighboring Ecuador, which says the spray from planes is wafting into its territory and damaging farms. In addition, U.S. and U.N. data show that Colombia, Bolivia and Peru together continue producing more than enough cocaine to meet world demand. Colombia is the only U.S. ally to fumigate drug crops on a large scale.
Here is some insight that more or less echoes my thoughts:
Vice President Santos, though, said the idea is to develop a strategy in which coca farmers are eradicating in exchange for assistance cultivating legal crops. Without such alternatives, said John Walsh, senior associate for drug policy at the advocacy group Washington Office on Latin America, the gains achieved by manual eradication will be reversed with new plantings.
http://www.cocaine.org/colombia/manual.html

Im_Dooomed wrote:

KEN-JENNINGS wrote:

He should have mentioned that US led chemical spraying of Colombian jungles has decimated much of the vegetation...
Really? Wtf? Please elaborate on this. Are they spraying to kill off drug crops? Or to destroy "invasive" species? Make room for GMO-corn? Or...?

kylef wrote:

it is illegal for officials to spray the ground
But not illegal for U.S led spraying? Loop-holes anyone?
Read my post above - I am not sure regarding the current situation if it is still happening or if the US stopped completely.  The main party doing the drug spraying is Dyncorp, a US-based private military contractor employed by the US government.  I specifically know of a handful of lawsuits the company is involved with regarding the spraying of aerial exfoliants and health issues developed on the ground by farmers, along with I think a number of anti-terrorism and human rights issues regarding their (Dyncorp's) involvement in Plan Colombia (the official term for the waste of money that is flowing into Colombia).

Last edited by KEN-JENNINGS (2008-11-18 12:13:02)

kylef
Gone
+1,352|6797|N. Ireland
I wasn't aware of US spraying. With regards to enrichment programs, I think the initial plan was to pay peasant communities something like $200/month to crow legal crops like coffee and ensure that a designated piece of land close to them is not being used for cocaine purposes.

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