The cocaine trade has strengthened in other parts of Latin America as the United States has in recent years focused its war on drugs on Colombia with the help of President Alvaro Uribe.
The joint effort resulted in the capture of Diego Montoya, also known as “Don Diego,” in September. Montoya was said to be responsible for 70 percent of the cocaine smuggled into Europe and the United States.
Officials have noted an increase in illegal cocaine production in Ecuador. The police and military have seized about 100 acres in a remote area of northwest Ecuador this year, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Though the amount of cocaine is small compared to the crops found in Colombia, U.S. officials say the increase could be due to Plan Colombia, a U.S. program pressuring Colombian drug cartels.
Meanwhile, the cocaine trafficking business is strengthening in neighboring Peru, according to BBC NEWS.
Cocaine production rose by eight percent from 2005 to 2006 according to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.
This is the highest figure since 1998, though it doesn’t surpass the peak for coca production in Peru in 1992.
Seven suspected members of the Shining Path guerilla group were killed Tuesday in Ayacucho, a region known for coca production, just two months after 20 members of the group in other coca-producing regions, according to The Associated Press.
The Shining Path provides protection for drug-growing communities in the Andes regions in return for some of the drug trade profits. And in the Huanuco region of Peru, cocaine production accounts for 58% of agricultural income.
Farmers say that the cocaine crop provides for their families in a world economy where others, like corn and coffee, do not.
