A Small-Town Judge Just Grounded Colombia’s Return to Aerial Spraying of Coca
A circuit court in Puerto Asis suspended the pilot programme. Colombia has been trying to restart aerial eradication since a 2015 ban. The post A Small-Town Judge Just Grounded Colombia’s Return to Aerial Spraying of Coca appeared first on The Rio Times .
A provisional court order in Putumayo has halted Colombia's planned aerial spraying of coca crops with a new herbicide. The Juzgado Tercero Promiscuo del Circuito de Puerto Asís suspended the operation while seeking further technical information. The order targets any spraying of glufosinate ammonium from the air in the department, as per Resolution 007 of 2026 issued by the National Drug Council.
The pilot project, which excluded protected environmental areas and Indigenous or Afro-Colombian communities, was meant to be a test of the spraying, not the start of a routine fumigation program. Colombia had previously sprayed coca using glyphosate, known as PECIG, but suspended the programme in 2015 due to the WHO's classification of glyphosate as possibly carcinogenic.
The Constitutional Court in 2017 ruled that any return to aerial spraying must be based on conclusive evidence of no harm to health or the environment, with the burden on the government to prove this. Glufosinate ammonium, the new herbicide, is not glyphosate and was withdrawn from EU use. The Puerto Asís court did not rule on toxicity, only suspending the operation until the necessary information is provided.
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